The government’s may be as close to successfully waving a magic wand as I’ll ever get — because it can sure make an airport’s customs lines disappear.
Granted, I’m nowhere near the first to try the program, which allows expedited entry for low-risk international travelers arriving in the United States. But until now, I was too cheap to pay the $100 to apply for the five-year enrollment.
Then in November, Wells Fargo announced it would to certain credit card holders, a benefit already given to some and customers.
I couldn’t resist. Even for domestic flights, Global Entry is a boon because it automatically qualifies participants for the . That program, which began in 2011 and debuted in Denver last summer, streamlines passing through security screening without having to fuss with laptops, liquids and shoes.
Enrollment was easy at globalentry.gov. More challenging was finding a time on the online calendar for the interview at Denver International Airport, which was booking six weeks out.
Since being able to speed through the line wouldn’t do me much good if my family couldn’t, I applied for all three of us. (There is no discount for children’s applications.) I scheduled our interviews 15 minutes apart.
Once we were buzzed into the drab office, my daughter was the first to be questioned at the counter, while my husband and I waited around the corner.
Asked by the agent why she was applying, she explained we traveled a lot.
“In other words, your parents told you to,” he joked.
I went next, and was also cleared, though we had a hard time getting the scanner to read my fingerprints until the agent told me to rub my hands to warm them.
When my husband was questioned, it turned out that U.S. Customs and Border Protection was able to conjure up a bit of ancient history. Its background check pulled up his 1985 arrest in London when he was 17 years old.
Applicants for the Global Entry program are asked if they’re under investigation, have outstanding warrants or any convictions.
My husband’s arrest, for planning to explore a World War II bomb shelter beneath a Tube station after its location was revealed in a Time Out magazine article, was dismissed with a conditional discharge. That resolution, however, wasn’t showing up in the computer.
The agent was helpful, explaining he had to deny the application, but it could be appealed if my husband obtains the court records from New Scotland Yard.
You link your Global Entry number to their passport and frequent flier accounts online, so I was able to qualify for TSA PreCheck within a few days, and used a Global Entry kiosk in Houston two weeks later when returning from a vacation in South America.
I didn’t have to fill out the blue customs form. Instead, I scanned my passport and my fingerprints at the kiosk, and it spit out a receipt, which I handed to a customs agent before heading to baggage claim. The efficiency of the Global Entry system was no illusion. I was through in a minute, while my husband and hundreds of others waited in line.
Even without magic wands, things mysteriously disappear, and so it is with the United MileagePlus Global Entry benefit. Global Services, Premier 1K and Premier Platinum members have only until Jan. 31 to request a payment code that can be used for the Global Entry fee. After that, the benefit will be discontinued.
Karen Schwartz is an award-winning freelance travel journalist based in Colorado. twitter.com/ WanderWomanIsMe.
Global entry and more
Global Entry:
TSA PreCheck:
Credit card perks:
American Express reimburses the fee for Gold Corporate Card Members, Consumer Platinum Card Members, Corporate Platinum Card Members, and Business Platinum Card Members; Wells Fargo for those with a Invitation Signature Visa card, and Citibank for Prestige cardholders.
