Quick question for everyone:
(Apologizes ahead of time if this has already been answered/discussed).

Is GE worth it for someone who doesn't travel that often internationally? I travel internationally once or twice a year, but when I do, it's usually out of LAX and we all know how LAX gets sometimes. To be honest, $100 isn't that big of a expense in the scheme of life.

Thoughts?
Thanks

I'd say yes. I've only used it once so far and feel like it already paid for itself. With a 5 year validity I expect I will get more use out of it and it will just keep paying for itself over and over (I only travel out of the country 1-2 times per year).

Agreed, in addition, GE integrates with TSA's Pre-Check program. So depending on which airports you fly out of, that might be an even bigger perk.

Awesome! Thank you both for your responses.
I'm going to take the plunge and apply!

Have a great day!

I travel internationally 1-2 times a year (more this year), so yeah, the time saving isn't huge.

While I applied because I hate standing in lines, my main reason is to avoid getting grilled by CIS agents in a bad mood with a pissed off look on their face. I don't want / need to feel like a criminal when I come back to my country, or that look of contempt / disgust when you tell them you just came back from a translant MR.

And like you said, $100 isn't that big of a deal.

Also, if you travel to/from Canada, consider NEXUS. IF you do, make sure you apply NEXUS and them GE, not GE and then NEXUS. You save $100 that way.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/pract...get-nexus.html

Just a quick update:

Applied on 2/7, conditionally approved on 2/8, had my interview on 2/9 at LAX and I had a "welcome" letter in my email about 20 minutes after the interview.

Doesn't get any easier than that! The CBP guys at LAX were awesome...friendly, nice, a sense of humor and had me out of there in less than 15 minutes! Plus they took me early, which they obviously didn't have to do. Very excited to use the new program in the next month or so!

If you first get a NEXUS card ($50) you will get Global Entry for FREE afterward. It's a bit cumbersome to get the NEXUS card if you're not near a US-Canadian gateway (such as Seattle, Detroit, etc) because that's where the interviews are conducted, but the process itself is pretty painless. Except for the wide-angle camera they use to take your picture - it will show you what you will look like after you've aged 20 years!

I applied on a Thursday, got conditional approval exactly 24 hours later on Friday and had my in-person interview the following Monday morning when I had a flight out of JFK. The entire process was fast & easy. No video, just a few questions, fingerprints, picture and demo-kiosk. I did get the CBP sticker on the back page of my passport.

On the other hand, my boss applied the same day as me and has yet to hear anything two weeks later. Weird.

I was told at my interview "Do not stand in any lines, even with luggage at customs. Walk to the front of the line, show your ticket and be expedited". I even asked her twice, "really? even at customs?" and she said "Yes. If you see a long line of people with carts, walk to the front of the line. Do not stand in it."

I looked into that, unfortunately I don't live close to the Canadian border (Southern Cali) and I don't have any immediate plans to travel to Canada. Thank you for the suggestion!
And I'm interested to see how my picture turns out on the Global Entry card...he made me take my glasses off and I'm blind as a bat so I don't even know if I was looking at the webcam hahahha!

Thanks to this forum I am planning to do this. I have an upcoming trip to Canada and will be spending some time near a border.

I couldn't find a list of places where they do the NEXUS interviews, just lists of offices. Does anyone have Ontario experience?

I'm going to be near Lansdowne, listed here:
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/contact/l...xtype15-e.html
Hoping the interview can happen there!

You want NEXUS Enrollment Centers:
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/tr...xus_enroll.xml

And you'd be better off in the NEXUS thread. Lots of talk about the different offices there:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-c...on-thread.html

Thanks wcj1! Hadn't seen that thread.

re: the dreaded X - one more datapoint

There seems to be some algorithm that can trigger this, beyond checking "the wrong boxes" that require a visit to secondary. When I got to the secondary agent, I got a "oh, you're a code something-or-another" you'll have to wait for the agent in charge.

No idea, but have used it several times since with no X. He just asked where I'd been, who I was meeting with, etc etc. Seems to be something triggered by which airline/location pre-reported you flying to the U.S.

Frankly, if the system does do that, points to them for actually systematically recognizing unusual travel patterns.

No kidding about that camera. I thought they had photographed the wrong guy, as in some senior citizen that snuck into camera range ...it did not help that they photograph you from a high angle

anecdote: arriving at IAH today from LHR nearly the entire flight crew of my plane hit the GE kiosks plus many pax hit it as well. For the first time I saw nearly all of IAH's15 kiosks full. I didn't have to wait but the entire row was nearly filled up with more arriving pax hitting them behind me. that was a first for me to see and I use IAH usually at least a couple times a month.
They claim IAH has the most kiosks and is the "leader" in Global Entry but for the first time today it really looked packed.

At iah They are also really pushing and advertising the one-stop connecting flight immigration service letting in-transit int'l pax and those with no checked bags skip the long lines. Are any other US airports getting on the one-stop bandwagon?

as an aside we did have to wait while armed DHS CBP "cops" and a plain clothes (not suit just biz cas) came on and "escorted" 3 people off the plane. That had people looking around and chatting.

Also at LHR they had the UK border agency doing outbound checks at the desk before security at Terminal 4. Quite annoying guy checked my passport. It seems one is supposed to be "chipper" with then as he berated me for not being cheery and polite. I wasn't rude mind you, just blunt and non-plussed.
Am done ranting, time for sleep.