Or my upcoming short trip to C:eek:l:eek:mbia!

Less than an hour? ;)

Used GE for the first time on Monday, LAX T2 (AF). Had a little trouble getting the fingers right but that was it. Otherwise it went very smoothly. I wish I had done this long ago.

Next time will be ATL where I have short-ish (1:20) connection but won't have luggage so I am counting on this to give me time to drink a Sweetwater 420 in the SkyClub (just about the only good thing about transiting ATL)

Here is a question for the pros: Sometimes I will bring back more than a liter of beer (record was 10 liters but I was younger then :) ). I have always declared it on my blue for and have been waived thru as the duty on beer is like .14 cents / liter -- not worth the paperwork to collect. The one time I was made to pay it (20+ years ago) the customs official was very pissed off -- at the agent who sent me over to pay it.

So when this happens, I guess I have to say I'm not within the limits when filling out the screen. That will give me the X. What I don't want to do is piss off a busy CBP officer with my 14 or 28 cents (exact change, please). Any advice?

N:cool:, but still not a long trip. I've got a couple of 12 hour GRU trips coming up t:cool::cool:.

It sounds cheesy but "be honest". You still should get front-of-the-line when the X comes out. You might want to have a blue card filled out just in case. On one of my X's they made me fill out the blue card right there at the booth, and I was still on my way in less than 2 minutes.

Ciao,
FH

If you plan to connect via ATL with a liter of beer you will have a problem if only using carryon luggage since you have to clear security again and would be in violation of the liquid restrictions. That does not answer the duty question but should help you avoid the hassle of losing your beer or having to improvise a way to check a bag.

I always check when carrying beer -- when a brewer gives me a special present from his/her private stock I want to make sure I get it home to enjoy it :)

Most, if not all, GE kiosks are next to the crew lane and generally the protocol is to just get into that line when you get the X, so it shouldn't be an issue.

What happened when I brought back more than $800, is that the crew lane guy (who was in a pretty surly mood at 7 am or whatever) said "no, we won't be filling out the Blue Form" and stamped the back of the card with the entry stamp, wrote "$ Duty to Pay" and sent me on my way. I then presented the card to the customs person and was directed over to the place they calculate the duty and paid. The customs lady, the duty lady and my friend who works at CBP all thanked be for my honesty, as they all said that it was virtually impossible that I would be caught.

Oops! My next return will be through SFO on UA, and will be my first trip with GE. Hope there are free kiosks when I arrive.

Not in my experiances. Often times the booths nearby are unmanned. This happend at Dulles, Intercontinental, Miami, and Newark to me just in the last 5 weeks of int'l flights.

Also, the few time I get x'd now I go straight to the front of the line, wave the receipt and my CBP sticker and get next-up privies. I have been told the protocol is to go to the front each time. My US CBP contacts say the same thing.


one point of GE is to avoid lines.

Ciao,
FH

Does Global Entry give you any advantage when entering into Canada?

I'm concerned about a connection on an upcoming SYD-YVR-YYZ-DCA itinerary.

Unfortunately, no. It will not help you entering Canada or entering the US at a Canadian airport with pre-clearance (including YYZ). You need to have NEXUS to help in both these circumstances.

At YEG I was t;)ld that I could have used the Nexus lane to enter the US thanks to my GE membership. I only discovered this after waiting 25 minutes in the regular preclearance line.

So wasn't that useful then, no? :)

Can you use the Nexus line if you were to fly in again? or was that a one-time only deal?

This was flying *out* of YEG. When I got to the fr:rolleyes:nt of the preclearance line (after a 20 minute wait) I asked why they didn't do GE. The line minder said they were getting signs and GE kiosks but that next time I could just go to the front via the Nexus lane and show them the sticker in my passport to skip the line.