I don't consider it relaxing the border to let Americans re-enter their country without questions once their passport has come back clear and they have been visually identified as the passport bearer. It serves no purpose to ask a multitude of questions, other than to slow down a line that is often slow enough to begin with. If a point of concern comes up during the passport scan, that is one thing. Going on a fishing expedition is another.

If a large majority of people sign up, the benefits of skipping to the front of the line, having a separate line or even using the kiosk all go away. Systems like this only benefit the members if membership is limited. (Just as being elite on an airline is useless if everyone is elite. ;))

(Actually, since I don't intend to sign up for anything like this, I should encourage you all to do so, so I can have the regular passport line to myself!) :)

Here is the GOES Privacy Statement.

I don't think that's an issue with GlobalEntry. It's extremely unlikely that a "large majority" of eligible travelers would sign up. The $100 fee plus the rigamarole of the application and interview will keep membership pretty limited.

In fact, there were only 4,400 active members of GlobalEntry as of December 2008.

Furthermore, how many international trips do most Kettles have in a given year? Maybe Cancun once every 2 years? Canada over the summer? Certainly not enough to justify an additional $100 on top of the cost of the passport. (Actually, it would be $200 for 10 years, which is the length of passport validity for those older than 16.)

Only 20-30% of the U.S. population (#s vary depending on which website you look at) has been issued a passport. We need to keep in mind that FTers tend to have MANY more arrivals into the USA each year than the average person holding a U.S. passport.

I understand the privacy statement. I am just curious as to LessO2's comments and Spiffs and all the other privacy stalwarts comments about the privacy of this program. They would not be thrilled, I would not think, by an agency's own declaration that the DB was secure. I DO NOT want to put words in their mouths that is why I am waiting patiently to see what they have to say and I already appreciate LessO2's comments. :D

I initially had a CANPASS card, which was the Canadian version of Global entry. During that process, I had some concerns, but the way I looked at it, they were asking for stuff I had to produce when crossing the border anyways, so they already had the info. Granted, they took an iris scan, which I hadn't produced before..

I then "upgraded" to NEXUS, the program run mainly by Canada Customs, but used at US pre-clearance centers in Canada for entry into the US. For that, I had to give the US fingerprints, which I have before for different jobs and such, and they asked me the usual customs questions.

Global Entry was an automatic approval since I was already in NEXUS.

CLEAR requires substantially more information than I usually give an airline when flying domestically. That's a huge difference for me, vs any of the GOES-based pre-clearance programs.

Thanks for all of your feedback. I applied for Global Entry based upon this. I'll also go for Nexus but I'll do it next. Plus my work in Canada has slowed -- we sold one of the companies on which I had a board seat and I'm leaving a couple of the others. I had CanPass and I do the Iris Scan thing at LHR (which is free, I think).

Further to that, remember the old "20/80" rule about passengers on a plane and revenue. Divide that up by the number of entry points into the U.S., and it's unlikely you'll see any "crowding" at the kiosks anytime soon.

I did the same thing with CANPASS, then NEXUS. But I got into Global Entry before the "automatic NEXUS" thing was put in place.

Agree 100% with the Clear sentiment.

I think you're bordering on analysis paralysis here.

Think of this another way. It's very likely there's more information out about you among private companies right now. Your bank(s) and your credit card company/companies know a LOT more about you than The G right now.

I've been a CANPASS or NEXUS member for four years now (and Global Entry for six months) and have had no problems.

Anyone? It's my port of entry for almost all my international flights and is conspicuous by its absence from the list....

The Global Entry website does not list Dallas.

I think the best course of action would be to ask them at DFW. I would suggest asking multiple people at different times, as some might have heard about it, some might not have.

I was conditionally accepted into Global Entry and now have 30 days to get to one of the offices. Unfortunately, I don't have plans to be in any one of those airports in the next month. Any thoughts?

You just have to Schedule an interview within 30 days. The interview date it self can be anytime in the future, and is changeable online if your plans change.

I'm going through Dallas from Frankfurt Sunday. I'll ask a few people if I have time.

Is there any chance we would be allowed to use the Crew line?