Global Entry Fan Club

BTW, I was told twice by TSA Pre people that the program will be extended to include international flights "quite soon" but tehy had no dates, nor can I find any official reference to that change. Oh, how I want that change!

Same experience for us, and the CBP guys were so nice to our kids. There were 4 of them there and no waiting, so even though we had an appointment, we wouldn't have needed one.

We did our interviews at EWR this past Sunday and they told us we wouldn't need appointments for the kids at JFK next week. Somehow I missed that kids needed their own Global Entry now, so we didn't apply for them at the same time as us. Applications are in now and we are hoping to get them approved on Wednesday before our flights to Paris. I will report back on the experience with the kids. As for us, we were in, had our interviews, and were back at the car in less than a half hour. Can't wait to use it for the first time.

The CBP guys @ SFO were very nice also. We missed our initial interview due to late arrival (weather at SFO, of course). They had no problem seeing both our kids, joking with them and putting them at ease. Didn't bother with the videos since us parents already saw them. Hope you enjoy your trip!

You too, frankmu! And Jeff the Wanderer too- enjoy!

Ugg... I had forgotten to check on the status of my wife's and my applications. We were provisionally approved within a day of applying, scheduled our interviews for a couple weeks later, did the interview a month ago, and haven't heard anything or gotten our cards. I just logged in, and the latest status update is still that I have an interview scheduled. I guess I get to have fun tomorrow trying to figure out what happens. I'm going to be VERY ticked if they managed to take our fingerprints and photo without actually submitting it and if we have to go back.

Our next international trip is in a few weeks, so I'm really going to be ticked if it can't be addressed by then. And my wife has work travel in the meantime, so she won't be available to go back to the office next week.

Got my approval before I got to the car. Sorry about your glitch, autolycus.

Now I just need to book some trips to come back through customs & immigration from. Well, earlier than July, anyway.

The guy said he was going to approve us but it wouldn't officially take effect until possibly the next day. I didn't think about it again because our trip was still a couple months out at that point. Someone in this thread mentioning getting their cards is what reminded me to look. The office we went to isn't open yet, so I'll have to try calling later... blech.

My wife had the same issue. I got my confirmation email quickly, but she didn't get anything for a few weeks, so I ended up calling HNL, and she was approved a few days later. Hope it goes well for you two, it makes a huge difference coming back.

I had my confirmation before we left the airport and my wife had hers before we pulled out of the parking lot. I'm hoping it will be just as quick for the kids so that we can put their numbers in our reservation before checking in for our flight and then try out the TSA Pre-Check too. I guess before I get ahead of myself though, I should still be hoping that we get the conditional approval before Wednesday morning. Just talked to the Global Entry folks at JFK and they said there would be no problem bringing the kids in without an interview. Unfortunately she also said they have had a large increase in applications and conditional approval might take an extra day or two. I just need them by Wednesday at 10....pretty, pretty please Global Entry Gods?

OK, good news! I got someone on the phone later this morning. He asked if the officer who processed our fingerprints, etc. had asked for any additional info or documents. I said no, in fact he had said he saw nothing that would prevent approval and that it should happen by the next day. The guy on the phone this morning took our GE numbers and said he'd let the processing officer know that something hadn't taken. I got the status update email this afternoon. Status is now approved. So thankfully it just took one phone call to get it straightened out. I assume a button wasn't hit a month ago for some reason. Mistakes happen, I suppose.

The $100 application fee is the best $100 I have ever spent! My flight from NRT to SFO was delayed and I could potentially missed my JFK connection. Got off the plane at the very far end; I ran to clear immigration and customs with carry-on; cleared domestic security and made it to gate 84 within minutes the door was closed. To top it off, my upgrade cleared and it was held for me.

Had my child fingerprinted last week at EWR. No appointment was made, just walked in. Took few minutes for them to update his profile, check his passport and have him fingerprinted and sticker applied to his passport.

He used his GE privileges on our return from Europe without any issues. Took 3 of us under 2 minutes to go through Passport control plus customs and this was because 3 of us used the same GE kiosk

I actually had a pretty awful experience at SFO trying to take my son through with us. My husband and I have GE but at the time kids under 14 were not allowed still. However, that didn't stop the customs officer from ripping me a new one for not somehow knowing that kids are allowed now...even though this was in early February and not actually publicly announced. He then proceeded to reprimand me for thinking that I was allowed to go through the 'crew' line just because we had GE. He was being 'kind' enough to give me a break and let me use the crew line as a one time deal but that 'next time' I had to wait through the whole ridiculous line. So in essence, no special privileges for us having GE while our son did not.
Now that kids are allowed, I applied for my son but wasn't required to pay the $100 fee. I thought it was a mistake but at the end of the form it showed the fee as $0. Did anyone else have this happen or did you all pay for your kids applications? I tried calling the LAX GE office for confirmation and the officer who answered knew absolutely nothing. So, do any of you guys have any advice? We have an international trip in 2.5 weeks so I really would like to get his GE approved by then. It is still showing as pending review but I'm not sure if it is just because there are a ton of applicants or if it is because no fee was paid...ideas?

Sorry to hear about your experience. I'm glad we got GE for our kids, you will too.

I paid $100 each for both kids. Have you looked at his GOES webpage? On the left hand side, there is a line that says "View Payment Confirmation". It will take you to the page with credit card confirmation, tracking ID, and other info that may be of help when making your phone call again. Good luck!

So I'm confused. Got my card today, says I need to activate online. I see no "Activate Membership Card" link. Should I be looking somewhere other than where it tells me to?

Edit: found it. I had to be logged out to see it. I had my window size too small to see it when I logged in.

Just applied for GE yesterday!

Congrats!

This club have its own importance. Because there are many members who share all the information related to place. All types of knowledge are available here on one click. I also get knowledge and plan my tour for many countries.
singapore emcee

Welcome to MP, thomasmite996!

Oh man I hope this happens soon. They told me that the domestic legs of interntional journeys are not eligible. I had to wait ::gasp:: 8 minutes at ORD after a long PVG-ORD flight... Oh well.

I have Nexus (which includes GE) and it must be the best $50 investment I've ever made. It's saved me well over $50 of time the first time I used it and you feel like a VIP whenever you go through customs/immigration and security (in Canada).

How long did it take to process the application and to schedule the interview?

I applied on 7/15, got conditional approval notification on 7/31 and was scheduled for an interview on 8/2. I think that's pretty good processing time.

Took my wife and I less than 24 hours to get our condidtional approvals and be able to schedule interviews. Could have scheduled the interview for the next day, since their were open time slots, but it was most convenient several weeks later, so we took longer for that than we could have.