Finally! All done with everything For GE!

Testing it out tomorrow night! Talk about good timing.

Just a mini story:

Applied on the 17th, conditionally approved on the 19th. Interview was today at 10am. Went in at 9:55, was back in my car at 10:02. No interview whatsoever. Just took photo, etc.

Dealing with CBP and GE can be very frustrating! I initially applied in January and was conditionally approved and went to have my interview and the CBP officer had some questions about an arrest I had 38 years ago when I was 17. I explained the details as best I could but he said he needed more information from the court or police record and gave me 30 days to comply.

I explained that I was leaving for the UK for a month and doubted I would be able to get the information he needed in time but he said he could only give me 30 days and to come in and talk to a supervisor if I got the paperwork. Upon returning I got a letter from CBP at my GOES log in page saying I had been turned down for not complying in the time frame specified. So I wrote to the CPB Ombudsman with details and also persued getting the documents that I had originally been asked for. This was a real pain in the neck as the records were so old but I finally got what I a detailed copy of my arrest record and that the charges were deferred for lack of evidence.

Having not heard anything from the Ombudsman since I wrote him I logged into my GOES account only to see that I now had a brand new conditional letter of approval. So I tried to schedule an interview here at IAH and the soonest available appt. is in mid September when I will be away in Australia for 6 weeks and unable to make any kind of appointment until I get back.

I went to the office to speak to someone, especially a supervisor as I had initially been told to do and the CBP agents were of no help at all and could not be bothered. They said they were booked up and not allowing any walk-ins even after I explained my situation that I leave for Australia in 8 days and won't be back until mid October, well after the 30 day timeline that my letter of conditional approval gives me. The agent shrugged his shoulders obviously not caring if I get disqualified for time reasons again.

Going to try on Monday to go by and track down someone in charge but this is getting to be too much trouble! :mad:

The 30 day deadline is for making an appointment, not fulfilling it. You can schedule an appointment for after your return from Australia, even if that date is more than 30 days away. The only requirement is that you select an appointment slot in the next month.

Without reading any posts I just want to reaffirm a response to the title of this thread. Yes it is worth it. I have had it since 2009 and has saved me the stress of wondering about making a connection. Also I don't have to be one of those people after getting off your international flight who can be described as: "It's obvious although I'm walking, I'm walking as fast as I possibly can without running, just to get in front of you at the immigration line."

I casually stroll up to the GE line and out in 30 seconds and then walk past the masses of people stressed at the customs line with luggage looking at me wondering why I think I'm special and can just walk unimpeded in another lane and just hand them a slip of paper.

Really does help cut down on the stress of international travel.

Through LAX customs, bag pickup, immigration, and drop off in 8 minutes from the airplane door yesterday -- including the walk from T4 into Bradley. Is it worth it? Oh, heck yeah.

I did the reverse on Friday TBIT -> T4. Including reprinting the AA boarding pass for Precheck, I was in the Flagship Lounge within about 30 minutes of landing. (This was with with checked suitcases and dropping them off/repacking them for the bag drop.)

This was a case of landing in T4 (from Shanghai) and having the T4 immigrations closed and using the secured walk into TBIT. Didn't time the TBIT-back-to-T4 walk + security, but I don't think it could have been a full 20 minutes... security was pretty quiet, and out of a 90 minute connection had time for a shower and some cranberry juice and pretzels up at the AC.

Took me 2 minutes to go from plane to curb yesterday in ATL. Helped that our arrival gate was right next to the Customs Hall and there was a GE kiosk right at the bottom of the escalator. Was absolutely great to be off the plane at 6:49 pm and on the curb at 6:51.

Does ATL have a dedicated GE line at customs?

Applied on 8/23 got email on 8/27 (wow - less than three working days!).
The problem is that the wait @ SFO is more than two months, and so is at most places I checked. EXCEPT, they take appointments the next day @ JFK.

Any guess/reason why?? (other than the obvious, they have fewer requests or a bigger capacity). Is there another center that has quick responses?? Not sure that I'd book a trip to JFK to get this done, but the SFO appointment would be after two international trips that would greatly benefit from GE.

I would not be surprised if the free GE for UA Plat and 1K has anything to do with it considering SFO is a hub.

I'd say just check every city thats cheap and easy for you to get to that has avilability.

Concourse F does on the far right side along the wall.

When I landed though, it was closed but there was no one at the other desks as we were the first arrival of a few to get in and between being in Business Class, having GE and only having my backpack and briefcase I beat everyone else out through customs.

It's been a while since I've cleared in E, but I do recall them having a dedicated GE line for customs as well.

Bolding mine: Had my interview at SFO yesterday (8/27) and brought a fellow F/t'er with me who was approved with an interview scheduled for October hoping they would take her as a walk in and using the CBP Officer's words, "we can't do walk-ins as we''re hammered thanks to the Airlines giving it away for free and the best bet is for her to keep checking the calendar to see if an earlier date has opened*"


*which is what I kept doing when I was approved on August 3rd as I was originally October, 8th, then mid-September opened up followed by August 27th

am i reading this correctly, that you'd consider flying across the country to save maybe a couple hours coming back from your international trip?