Can I use DirecTV as my bill? That is the only thing I have with my address on it...

Global Entry did me great last week in DTW...cleared Customs/Immigration in 2 minutes, and jumped a whole bunch of passengers that had just come in from Asia at Security with PreCheck.

Today in DTW, not so much. Got in from AMS, and to the exit in about 3 minutes. Got sent to secondary since apparently 24 hours in AMS is suspicious (even though ALL of my trips are 3 days or less as an employee). PreCheck post Customs wasn't open, and I waited 15 minutes for a Male Assist. Lovely...

How did the officer know the duration of your trip? Did he or she ask while collecting the slip?

Yep. Gave me the third degree at the exit to customs. I believe the questions were:

"Where did you go?"
"How long were you gone?"
"Who were you with?"
"Why such a short trip?"
"Why no checked bags?"
"Are you bringing contraband back into the US?"

Honestly. Yes, it was a short trip. All of mine are. I've done AMS two times last year for the DAY (5AM arrival, 5PM departure) and it didn't cause too much issue. My coworker (also an employee) doesn't have GE, and breezed through.

Oy. :rolleyes:

I had a somewhat related experience at IAH about 5 years ago, before they built the one-stop lane and the dedicated GE exit lane for carry on only, when I only had just a carryon after a "long trip" overseas. (I have had GE almost since the start when it was just three airports including IAH).

The guy at the customs exit saw that I only had a carryon and asked how long I had been gone, and could not believe I did not have checked bags for "such a long trip" even though I was living at my overseas home at that time and go back and forth often. He was shocked and I kept asking him, how many bags should I carry so I will know for next time and he just kind of mumbled. I told him I was not at liberty to discuss in public what I did but they had it on file with GE and he let me go. One of the more odd GE trips, but again this was early on when not even everyone at IAH seemed to know about it. Interestingly this agent had a very thick French accent.

In the end, it seems there is no right answer. The agent can develop suspicions for too few bags, too little, and 100 things in between.

Overall the program has still been a huge positive for me and I like compared the other available options out there...give it time and it should still work out nicely.

As for the feckless TSA, well, good luck with that :D

Non-members of any age/relation to members get no special privileges. They cannot join you in skipping the line.

Sign up your family so they can join you. Convince your colleagues to sign up, or leave them behind.

My wife signed up for GE last spring. Prior to her getting her approval, on more than one occasion, we had agents tell us that I could not use the kiosk with her but allowed us to go to the front of the line together. This has happened at LAX twice, MSP and ATL. Agree that this is not policy but seems to not be enforced very effectively.

I'm a Canadian with GE. I live in Vancouver. Last weekend I travelled to the USA with my wife - She doesn't have GE so we used the 'new' CBP automated passport control kiosks.

From my perspective, the experience was almost identical to GE (absent the fingerprints) -

- Scan passports
- Take picture
- Answer some questions on the kiosk
- Proceed to officer
- Answer his 'where are you going what are you doing' questions

...enter the USA.

So seems that for a Canadian, the only remaining advantage to GE (at YVR at least) is if things are busy you move to the front of the line.

Quick question since my memory sucks...

When I enter via Global Entry and get my slip, there is no "line" for me. In the past, I've just walked up to an Immigration officer even if they were speaking with someone else and handed them my slip (I wasn't trying to be rude - I actually thought you just hand it and off you go). Perhaps it's better to wait... but where? If I wait by the machine that provides the slip, other people walk up to the immigration officer and I just stand there. But if I walk up when he/she is clearing someone else I come off as rude. What is the policy here? Do I just wait til it opens then aggressively walk up beating the next non Global Entry person to the officer to give him my slip?

At passport control you can walk through to the baggage claim if you get the "show receipt at exit" receipt. If you get the X with "report to passport control" then just flag down a CBP officer. Some airports are setup better for this than others. ORD has a CBP desk after the kiosks where an officer clears you even if you don't get the X. My times at TBIT at LAX I remember thinking I'd really have to swim upstream if I got the X, but it never happened. At other airports: EWR, DFW, SFO there has been a CBP officer by the kiosks helping people use them or get to a booth if they get the X.

But again, if you don't get the X you can normally walk straight to the baggage claim area and just hand the receipt to the CBP officer at the exit of the customs hall. (Non-GE people would hand in the blue customs declaration form.)

This is not what the immigration office told me. I received the slip without the x. But he said I was required to hand it to him (or show it to hom, I don't recall exactly) before proceeding to the baggage area. That's what I'm wondering about. The immigration officer is otherwise engaged at LAX and I'm supposed to walk up to him while he's with someone else? I recall it feeling aggressive on my part when I last did it. Is that the proper way?

At most airports there is some officer in the path from any of the booths or the kiosks to the baggage claim area who does look at your slip. But absent some sign or some person I would just proceed from the kiosk toward the baggage claim. If CBP wants to see the slip they will have someone in place to do so. Jumping from the kiosk to a booth with a valid (non-X) slip would be a rather strange thing to do - what would prompt you to do that?

As the previous poster said, some airports are setup in a way where you have to present the receipt to an officer before getting to the baggage hall (like ORD). Others - I've only been through TBIT at LAX - don't have anyone (or at least didn't as of a year ago). If you get the X (random or bad fingerprints) or O (declaration), you then have to report to passport control to get a stamp on the receipt to show at the customs exit. If you get the "show receipt at exit", then I would do exactly that unless there's been a change in procedure?

I'm not sure what prompted me - I wasn't sure what to do. I think initially I was very unsure - so I just tried to walk on through to baggage. But they stopped me and said I need to see your slip.

Sounds like I just get my slip at the computer and then walk on through (as long as I don't get x or o on it. I'll give it a try.

At JFK T8 (AA), after the CBP passport check stations one proceeds directly to baggage claim, so if you are GE with NO checked bags, you go to the "customs" agent station with your non-X slip. If there is a line, the station on the right has an EXIT sign, which gets you to the front of the line.
Only once in nearly 20 trips, was there an agent stationed between passport check stations and baggage claim.