I got Global Entry last fall, and have sung its praises ever since. After waiting two and a half hours in customs returning from Manila
last summer I knew I had to sign up! Now no matter how long the line customs takes about….two minutes. It’s amazing. Plus you get TSA Pre-check, saving time at the airport every time I fly. The price can’t be beat–$100 for five years of Global Entry and Pre-check. If you have questions about it, check out my post on Global Entry FAQs. (Pictured: Visconti Soft Leather Passport Cover)
A frequent traveler friend of mine recently returned from Europe. An early member of GE, she helped to convince me of how great it is way back. She had renewed her passport before going, and just kind of assumed that would automatically carry over to her Global Entry membership. Unfortunately not. When she got to the kiosk it didn’t recognize her new passport. Cue sad trombone.
She learned the hard way that you must change the passport number and expiration date on the GOES website yourself. She said it’s reasonably easy to ensure go in and make the updates, but that she wishes she had known before her last trip! So this is just a heads up—if you renew your passport make sure you update the GOES site. Save yourself some headache!
Readers, do you have Global Entry? Any tips for those considering it?
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Always read the fine print… but we all know this
Thanks for the tip!
Global Entry is a fabulous timesaver, and well worth the $100 cost.
Thanks for the info. Now, do you have to reapply when the 5 years is up??
For some reason the “sad trombone” comment made my laugh really hard. Nicely done.
I just got to use my GE for the first time returning back to ATL from an international trip. My first tip is that if there’s a line at the first set of GE kiosks, proceed all the way to where the customs lines are, there are additional kiosks. My second tip is that for those processing customs through ATL, about a month or two ago they installed kiosks for ALL passengers that is basically identical to GE (you don’t have to fill out a customs form). That being said GE is only worth it for pre-check if ATL is where you normally fly into for international flights.
Nice post. I have enjoyed my Global Entry for the most part. No issue with U.S immigration when I flew in from France in March, but I have not been consistently getting my TSA PreCheck status domestically. It seems that different airlines have different policies. Although I entered my Global Entry number in the frequent flyer accounts of each of the airlines with which I had a frequent flyer account, my boarding passes were not printing off with the TSA PreCheck designation . . . . One airline requires that the name on the frequent flyer account be exactly the same as my passport name; some airlines required that my known traveler number (Global Entry Number) be entered in each reservation, even where the frequent flyer account number for the airline already is entered in the reservation. I have found it very frustrating to figure out who-needs-what to get my PreCheck with my Global Entry status. I think I am almost “there” after several months of trial and error . . . .