TSA Pre Check

[GetToLivin]

The AMEX Platinum card offered this as a reimbursement upon enrollment, so look into your CC because you never know what perks they might have. Husband and I both have Global Entry which includes Pre-Check and its been a great perk we'll never let expire. If anything, there's peace of mind knowing you most likely won't have a long wait, and yeah, not taking off shoes and belts and unloading computers, etc, IS nice. One less thing to deal with. We've used Pre-Check several times and beat the lines on a regular basis (we fly out of DFW/DAL often). Regarding Global Entry, we used this after our trip to Mexico in 2021 and we were one of 5 people in DFW using it, so we had ZERO wait through customs, whereas the normal line was backed way the heck up. 

 

What I will tell you about Global Entry is that they are back logged by 9 - 18 months. I submitted my 15 year old's application in March and haven't received so much as a conditional approval, which is nuts because he's a kid and there's really no "record" to look through, lol. So if you don't have time to wait, just get Pre Check and consider Global Entry if you find you're going to be doing a lot of international travel. 

[Seville2Cabo]

8 minutes ago, GetToLivin said:

The AMEX Platinum card offered this as a reimbursement upon enrollment, so look into your CC because you never know what perks they might have. Husband and I both have Global Entry which includes Pre-Check and its been a great perk we'll never let expire. If anything, there's peace of mind knowing you most likely won't have a long wait, and yeah, not taking off shoes and belts and unloading computers, etc, IS nice. One less thing to deal with. We've used Pre-Check several times and beat the lines on a regular basis (we fly out of DFW/DAL often). Regarding Global Entry, we used this after our trip to Mexico in 2021 and we were one of 5 people in DFW using it, so we had ZERO wait through customs, whereas the normal line was backed way the heck up. 

 

What I will tell you about Global Entry is that they are back logged by 9 - 18 months. I submitted my 15 year old's application in March and haven't received so much as a conditional approval, which is nuts because he's a kid and there's really no "record" to look through, lol. So if you don't have time to wait, just get Pre Check and consider Global Entry if you find you're going to be doing a lot of international travel. 

My wife just renewed hers. Took 2 days

[GetToLivin]

1 minute ago, Seville2Cabo said:

My wife just renewed hers. Took 2 days

For my DS he's new to the program and the backlog is referring to new enrollees, not renewals.

[SRF]

On 10/11/2022 at 8:53 AM, klfrodo said:

I not only have GE and TSA Pre-check. I also have Clear.

The Pre-check line might be 50 people deep. I bypass, go to Clear which never has a line, then automatically go to the head of the TSA line, get verified that my ticket has Pre-Check on it, and off I go.

 

Clear is the trick.

 

Leaving ATL last year, I was REALLY glad I had Clear and Pre-Chek.  The Pre-Chek lines were long.  The normal lines insane.  And even about a 5 - 10 minute wait in the Clear line.

 

I get my Clear discounted due to airline status.

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

16 hours ago, Tom47 said:

It does and we have used it.

You must had applied separately as GE costs double what NEXUS costs.  We applied for SENTRI, which is basically NEXUS for Mexico, and we had to specifically request GE be included.  I don't think NEXUS automatically gets you GE.  At least I can't find that on the CBP site.  But, then their www site isn't the most informative.    https://ttp.dhs.gov/

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

2 hours ago, GetToLivin said:

What I will tell you about Global Entry is that they are back logged by 9 - 18 months. I submitted my 15 year old's application in March and haven't received so much as a conditional approval, which is nuts because he's a kid and there's really no "record" to look through, lol. 

There is no rhyme or reason to getting conditionally approved.  Our son, who lives in San Antonio, applied for him, DIL, and our grandkids (16, 13, & 11).  The grandkids were approved in ten days.  DW and I applied for renewal, as soon as we could, in November 2021.  She was approved in April 2022 and I'm still waiting.  Then I tried to schedule her interview for San Diego area and soonest was April 2023.  Luckily I kept checking the CBP www site for cancelations and got one for December 2022.  At least they are granting two year extensions.  

Edited October 13, 2022 by ATSEAMYLIFE

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

1 hour ago, SRF said:

 

Clear is the trick.

 

Leaving ATL last year, I was REALLY glad I had Clear and Pre-Chek.  The Pre-Chek lines were long.  The normal lines insane.  And even about a 5 - 10 minute wait in the Clear line.

 

I get my Clear discounted due to airline status.

We are sort of comparing apples to oranges.  TSA pre and Clear are only good for departing a US airport.  GE is only good for arriving back from overseas.  I let my TSA pre expire once I got my GE/Sentri card as I got an entirely different TTN on my Sentri card.  We came back from Hong Kong to SFO using GE and it was great.  We were at the curb with our luggage in about 30 minutes from walking off the plane.  Regular line was about 1.5 hours.  Same when we came back from Germany.  

[GetToLivin]

15 minutes ago, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

There is no rhyme or reason to getting conditionally approved.  Our son, who lives in San Antonio, applied for him, DIL, and our grandkids (16, 13, & 11).  The grandkids were approved in ten days.  DW and I applied for renewal, as soon as we could, in November 2021.  She was approved in April 2022 and I'm still waiting.  Then I tried to schedule her interview for San Diego area and soonest was April 2023.  Luckily I kept checking the CBP www site for cancelations and got one for December 2022.  At least they are granting two year extensions.  

 

I wish there was some rhyme or reason, lol! I just assumed the smaller the background check, the easier, but nope! I will mention that I did call today as I'm at the 7 month mark for DS. I talked to an agent and he told me at the 8 month mark, you can call and ask for them to expedite the application. He said there is no guarantee they'll actually do it, but apparently at the 8 month mark they'll at least create a request for you. I called 202-325-8000, at some point I pressed 0, then got the prompt for Global Entry, etc, which was 5 (if I remember correctly).  Just placing in case it helps anyone else waiting.

[RobInMN]

3 hours ago, GetToLivin said:

What I will tell you about Global Entry is that they are back logged by 9 - 18 months. I submitted my 15 year old's application in March and haven't received so much as a conditional approval, which is nuts because he's a kid and there's really no "record" to look through, lol. So if you don't have time to wait, just get Pre Check and consider Global Entry if you find you're going to be doing a lot of international travel. 

My wife & I started the GE process in Feb, just weeks prior to the Pandy out break. It took 1 year before we finally got conditional approval and could schedule our interview, which we were able to do fairly quickly.

We booked a couple cruises with our daughter and her boyfriend. Boyfriend had to renew his passport, so his was delayed for that, but my daughter was conditionally approved in a reasonable amount of time, but they wanted to wait to go to the airport for the interview together (makes sense - that's what my wife & I did). Boyfriend just got his approval a little over a week ago.

But now try finding an interview appointment!!!!! Unless you want to go to a land boarder crossing with Canada, you can't schedule anything, anywhere that I checked. Not even just booked out 'x' months. It just flat out says "no appointment available". We're about 4.5 hours from International Falls. We might do that. not sure.

The only other option appears to be that if you are returning from an international flight, you might be able to do the interview right then as you are going through CBP.

What a mess.

 

Edited October 13, 2022 by RobInMN

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

2 hours ago, GetToLivin said:

For my DS he's new to the program and the backlog is referring to new enrollees, not renewals.

GE/Sentri renewals are running several months also.  However, you can get lucky once you are conditionally approved and reschedule your interview by checking the CBP www site every morning for cancelations.  I was able to move DW interview from April 2023 to December 2022.  On July 5th I logged in and there were interviews open for that afternoon and all day the 6th.  

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

3 minutes ago, RobInMN said:

The only other option appears to be that if you are returning from an international flight, you might be able to do the interview right then as you are going through CBP.

 

That's how our oldest son did it at LAX returning from Cabo.  If you are approved and the GE interview office is open, you just walk up and they do the interview right there.  He had his GE cards in the mail five days later.  

[Tom47]

1 hour ago, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

You must had applied separately as GE costs double what NEXUS costs.  We applied for SENTRI, which is basically NEXUS for Mexico, and we had to specifically request GE be included.  I don't think NEXUS automatically gets you GE.  At least I can't find that on the CBP site.  But, then their www site isn't the most informative.    https://ttp.dhs.gov/

I have used NEXUS/GE at Newark airport, returning from Europe.  I applied only for NEXUS and did my interview at Whirlpool Br., N. Falls, NY  I know that NEXUS is $50 vs $100 for GE  My interview was with both US Customs(CBP) and Canada Customs.   The GE kiosk at Newark recognized both myself and DW w/o a problem.  I know about SENTRI, but don't cross the Mexican border and don't need it.

We had to cross into Canada to have a picture of our eyes taken, for Canada Customs airport express lanes    I recommend NEXUS if you live close to Canada border.   We recently renewed w/o an interview.  We have clean records 

You may have NEXUS interviews confused with NEXUS privileges.   NEXUS interviews can be done at Preclearance airports in Canada,  and land border crossings..  US airports only do GE interviews.

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

1 hour ago, Tom47 said:

I know that NEXUS is $50 vs $100 for GE  My interview was with both US Customs(CBP) and Canada Customs.  

Interesting, so the hack is apply for NEXUS pay $50 and get GE for free.  We had to request GE during our interview with CBP for Sentri.  It didn't cost us anything since Sentri is more than GE as Sentri includes enrolling vehicles, which GE doesn't unless you pay an extra $40.  Had I done better research I would have just done GE as there's many more enrollment locations than Sentri and it's the same lane crossing into the US from Mexico.  If you interviewed with CAN officials does NEXUS have any benefits entering Canada from US?  MX doesn't care about any CBP programs.  

[Tom47]

1 hour ago, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

Interesting, so the hack is apply for NEXUS pay $50 and get GE for free.  We had to request GE during our interview with CBP for Sentri.  It didn't cost us anything since Sentri is more than GE as Sentri includes enrolling vehicles, which GE doesn't unless you pay an extra $40.  Had I done better research I would have just done GE as there's many more enrollment locations than Sentri and it's the same lane crossing into the US from Mexico.  If you interviewed with CAN officials does NEXUS have any benefits entering Canada from US?  MX doesn't care about any CBP programs.  

NEXUS lanes are available at many land border crossings  both ways  on Canada/Us border.  That's why we had interviews with both Canada and US customs.   Whirlpool Bridge is a NEXUS only bridge and although the Canada Customs officer allowed us to cross free of charge w/o NEXUS, we had to reenter at another bridge(Rainbow)  Plus  there is the Canada Customs Airport benefit.  I did some research on this and I am a retired US Customs Inspector(20 years ago).

NEXUS includes GE, TSA Precheck and Canada airport express.  It's a bargain.

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

1 hour ago, Tom47 said:

NEXUS includes GE, TSA Precheck and Canada airport express.  It's a bargain.

That is a bargain since it's the cheapest Trusted Traveler program CBP offers.  

[Tom47]

44 minutes ago, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

That is a bargain since it's the cheapest Trusted Traveler program CBP offers.  

There is a discussion of all of these programs here  

 

[iuki]

No flames please!  🙏🏼
 

If any of you lied about your weight on the application, were you questioned about your weight during the TSA Pre-check interview?  Asking for a friend. 😇

Edited October 14, 2022 by iuki
grammar correction

[time4u2go]

4 minutes ago, iuki said:

No flames please!  🙏🏼
 

If any of you lied about your weight on the application, were you questioned about your weight during the TSA Pre-check interview?  Asking for a friend. 😇

Why would anyone lie about their weight on this?

[iuki]

Just now, time4u2go said:

Why would anyone lie about their weight on this?

Give you one guess.  😉

[LadyZolt]

11 hours ago, SRF said:

 

Clear is the trick.

 

Leaving ATL last year, I was REALLY glad I had Clear and Pre-Chek.  The Pre-Chek lines were long.  The normal lines insane.  And even about a 5 - 10 minute wait in the Clear line.

 

I get my Clear discounted due to airline status.

We just had to fly out of Seattle and there was a Pre-Check line, a CLEAR line, and then a "Pre-Check CLEAR" line.  Since we have both Pre-Check and CLEAR, that's what we used.  There was one man ahead of us, and one lady behind us, so we didn't wait at all.  Couldn't have asked for it to go faster, easier, or more smoothly than it did.  

[SRF]

18 hours ago, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

We are sort of comparing apples to oranges.  TSA pre and Clear are only good for departing a US airport.  GE is only good for arriving back from overseas.  I let my TSA pre expire once I got my GE/Sentri card as I got an entirely different TTN on my Sentri card.  We came back from Hong Kong to SFO using GE and it was great.  We were at the curb with our luggage in about 30 minutes from walking off the plane.  Regular line was about 1.5 hours.  Same when we came back from Germany.  

 

GE includes Pre-Chek.  Which is why just getting Pre-Chek makes no sense to me.  For $15 more, you get both.   Even if you only make one international return to the US, GE Is more than worth it.

 

Clear enhances Pre-Chek with a shorter line.  You can have Clear without Pre-Check, but that also makes little sense.  Although, I have had that situation as each airline has the option to participate in Pre-Chek or not.  And some do not.

 

And when you get your boarding pass, if you have Pre-Chek, make SURE it is show in the boarding pass, or you cannot use it.

[rudeney]

57 minutes ago, SRF said:

And when you get your boarding pass, if you have Pre-Chek, make SURE it is show in the boarding pass, or you cannot use it.

 

So here's something odd about that...the TSA screeners do not check your boarding card - they only check your ID.  Their system ties to the airline passenger manifests by your name and DOB, so they know if you are a ticketed passenger or not.  Presumably, they should also know if you have Pre-Check or not.  Normally, they have someone standing at the entrance to the Pre-Check line to verify boarding cards.  When we flew out of Nashville recently, they were not checking boarding cards for Pre-Check.  They were only checking boarding cars at the main entrance to the security area, and nothing was said about Pre-Check at all.  I just followed the signs.  

[time4u2go]

8 minutes ago, rudeney said:

 

So here's something odd about that...the TSA screeners do not check your boarding card - they only check your ID.  Their system ties to the airline passenger manifests by your name and DOB, so they know if you are a ticketed passenger or not.  Presumably, they should also know if you have Pre-Check or not.  Normally, they have someone standing at the entrance to the Pre-Check line to verify boarding cards.  When we flew out of Nashville recently, they were not checking boarding cards for Pre-Check.  They were only checking boarding cars at the main entrance to the security area, and nothing was said about Pre-Check at all.  I just followed the signs.  

Interesting.  In my experience, every TSA screener does check my boarding card.  They scan it on their scanner, and check it and my ID.

[scottygirl]

20 hours ago, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

GE/Sentri renewals are running several months also.  However, you can get lucky once you are conditionally approved and reschedule your interview by checking the CBP www site every morning for cancelations.  I was able to move DW interview from April 2023 to December 2022.  On July 5th I logged in and there were interviews open for that afternoon and all day the 6th.  

I renewed my GE in August and it took only 24 hours and no interview necessary.

[SRF]

2 hours ago, rudeney said:

 

So here's something odd about that...the TSA screeners do not check your boarding card - they only check your ID.  Their system ties to the airline passenger manifests by your name and DOB, so they know if you are a ticketed passenger or not.  Presumably, they should also know if you have Pre-Check or not.  Normally, they have someone standing at the entrance to the Pre-Check line to verify boarding cards.  When we flew out of Nashville recently, they were not checking boarding cards for Pre-Check.  They were only checking boarding cars at the main entrance to the security area, and nothing was said about Pre-Check at all.  I just followed the signs.  

 

The "greeters" will not let you into the line without seeing it on your boarding pass.

 

I have had to go back to the check in to get a new boarding pass with it printed on it.