Fort Lauderdale and Global Entry / NEXUS

[Hlitner]

Yep. My wife had hers done while we were on vacation in Orlando (an appointment locally would have been two months later). Even was able to get a start of day appointment so minimal time lost at WDW. Done a few days before departure, she had Pre-Check for our flight home.

 

I would have done the same except I had it even better. Working for an airline at our HQ, our security people (who work closely with with CBP and TSA) had arranged for CBP to come in and do on-site interviews. So done at work before the Orlando trip.

 

But when my wife went for hers with me along, the CBP agent at Orlando was aghast that I had not had the kiosk demo that they do at normal locations (no kiosk brought along for our in-house interviews). But ironically, the first place I used GE was at Guam where because Guam has their own Customs (keep in mind that despite the common use of "Customs" to mean the entire process, Customs only deals with admissibility of property; Immigration deals with the admissibility of people) separate from U.S. Customs, Global Entry is only used for the Immigration piece and the kiosks there do not ask the Customs questions. So much for the demo since it didn't match the experience (but did a few days later when returning to the U.S. mainland via Japan).

 

We had our CBP interview at BWI and there was no Kiosk demo. I guess they assume that frequent travelers have enough common sense to handle a Passport swipe and touch screen.

 

Hank

[Robinsoncruiseso]

We have Nexus cards as we travel into BC from Washington frequently. Our cards work as Nexus, Global Entry and TSA pre-check. Best $50 investment ever. Flew through the GE line at port of Fort Lauderdale. No issues whatsoever. Have had issues at the port in San Pedro, California as apparently, they don't know what a Nexus or Enhanced Drivers License is and attempted to deny us re-entry to US from Canada by sea!!!

 

FYI - We had the retinal scan done during our interview. Much more stringent interview requirements than a passport.

[vjmatty]

We're doing the same as your wife. We're at Old Key West at Walt Disney World until late March and were able to book appointments at MCO for the same date and time. Interviews at home would have required a 1½ hour drive each way. Doing it here will be much more convenient.

 

 

Hello neighbor across the lake :)

 

I thought of that as well for when we're in CA, but wanted to use the GE on our departure flight since we're flying out of JFK which has the worst security lines ever.