Does water count as food? On the plane in business class, they leave a 1/2 liter container of Evian, which I rarely finish on the plane. I have kept it and taken it home with me. I answer the food question on the GE kiosk with "NO".

Went through ORD on Monday, and it's the first time they actually looked for the CBP sticker on the inside back cover. They said it's supposed to be checked every time. Not sure why, since you scan you fingerprints and passport so they know you're in the system.

Priority labeled bag came out in the first 10, I was on my way from plane to bag recheck in only a few moments. (But they neglected to put my bag on the next flight, so delivered it at 2 am.)

Yup, stop looking for the bad guys don't want to inconvenience any one.

FB

Who's "they"? I presume you mean the customs official (since the immigration officials wouldn't even see your passport if you use the kiosk) but that doesn't make much sense to me....??

Yes! Correct! I just used a kiosk at JFK this past Monday and looked very closely at the checklist on the screen. It actually did not include the word "food" anywhere. Instead, the question said, "Are you carrying fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat or meat products,..." etc. Nothing as broad as "food."

So.....maybe it's okay to check "no" if bringing through candy/chocolates. I will try to remember to ask the next time I encounter a CBP officer who knows how GE works. I'm still going to avoid bringing any food back. The officer at my initial interview was adamant about declaring absolutely anything and everything that can be consumed as food.

Did you have a receipt spit out of the kiosk with an "X" on it? If not, when did they check for the sticker?

Same here. The officer who did my interview in MCO said the same thing.. However, I would rather declare, instead of guess and run the chance of losing my GE privileges...

Yeah, the car info doesn't matter anymore. I think so many people complained about having to call a NEXUS center with each rental car that they figured the fact that everyone in the car has to have NEXUS is enough.

Too bad I didn't see this. I would have been happy to talk about both.

No X. After you wave your passport and receipt at the person at the desk who's checking regular folk through, you then proceed to get your bag and exit the area That's when they take the receipt and that's when they checked for the CBP sticker.

I mentioned the same thing last month here, but I have been through ORD two additional times since then and not been asked for it.

Also of note...

My expiration is actually over 5 years away. It is tied to my birthday. I applied in December 2009. I interviewed in Feb, and it expires in Sept 2015.

6.5 bonus months!

I hope renewal is handled online, just "give us your cash" and 5 more years are added on!

I do have a pressing question. Why is GOES not standard for all opt in people. It amazes me when visiting some countries the automated gates and organization vs something like LAX/ORD/IAD where it becomes a rat race and the foreign line is 25 people, and the American / PR line is 270 people.

Seems to me citizen should have optin approval for GOES during all new passport applications / issuance. Replace 20 CBP employees with 20 GOES gates.

As passports are renewed over 10 years, the lines disappear and citizens only need to meet with an agent if there is a extraneous issue.

While I can see that it would be nice to be able to provide all passport holders with GE, the requirement for the additional interview (at specific airports) and the collection of biometric data would be a killer.

99% of the people that I know to be holders of passports only get them for their "one trip in 10 years to the Bahamas" and most of the time they are applying for the passport within a couple of weeks of their travel (poor planning, but the norm).

If these folks were tied up having to travel to a distant airport to be asked the 10 questions that I was asked 2 weeks ago to get my GE, there would be a backlash... and most people don't understand "opt-in" vs "opt-out"..

It would be nice if the people that did the passport work at the post office were allowed to do the ICE/CBP questioning, but...

-K

Familiar with the tale about King Midas and the golden touch? Mythical King Midas got his desired golden touch, and look at the unintended consequences of that.

Massive federal government workfare program change of this nature won't result in replacement of CBP employees by machines as much as it will result in redeployment of CBP employees. You'll likely get your kind of way in some form, but it will probably come with a higher proportion of searches and more intensive interrogation as the resources will be freed up for that.

Another new member here. Applied at the beginning of February, conditional approval Feb 12, interview today at SEA (took about 20 minutes), and before I got back to the office I had an email from GOES that my membership was active.

The CBP officer that interviewed me was very friendly. She said that the program has become quite popular. Her calendar for today was booked solid for the whole day. No kiosk to practice on, through, she walked me through a powerpoint with the various screens.

I've read through most of the thread and didn't see this asked. My apologies if it has.. Once you are approved, how do you handle passport renewals? Mine expires in a little over a year and I noticed the last two times my passport number, etc. has changed.