San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
How to fly through airport security programs
When Carl Christensen and JoAnn Novoson arrived at San Francisco International Airport in April after visiting their daughter in Germany, they waited an hour at passport control.
“It was like a long Disneyland line,” Novoson said.
Soon thereafter, the couple applied for Global Entry, a federal program that lets “trusted travelers” take a shortcut through immigration when they return to major U.S. airports including San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland.
Membership in Global Entry also lets you cruise through TSA PreCheck security checkpoints — with shoes on your feet and liquids in your luggage — at more than 200 airports nationwide, whether you’re flying domestically or internationally.
But enrolling in Global Entry is an adventure in itself.
You must have a U.S. passport or permanent resident card (a.k.a. green card) and fill out an online application that asks for your address, employment and foreign travel history. (Citizens of 11 other countries can also apply for Global Entry.)
After getting conditional approval, typically a week or two later, you can make an appointment for a mandatory in-person interview at an enrollment center. The only one in Northern California is at San Francisco International Airport.
When Christensen and Novoson got preliminary approval in May, the first appointment they could get was last week. Two or three
months is a typical wait for an appointment at SFO, said Frank Falcon, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which runs Global Entry. The interview office is open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week. On Thursday morning, the couple drove from home in Salinas to SFO. The interview started within five minutes of the scheduled time. It lasted five minutes. “I hope it was worth it,” Novoson said.
If you pass the interview, you walk out with a Global Entry number, which you can use immediately for international air travel. A card will arrive later, but you only need it for Mexican and Canadian border crossings and cruise ports.
There’s an alternate route for people who have been conditionally approved but can’t get an interview before they leave the country. They can interview when they arrive from a foreign trip at participating U.S. airports including San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland. Just follow the “Enrollment on Arrival” signs. If all goes well, they walk out a Global Entry member.
There is also a Twitter bot (twitter.com/ GOESbot) that alerts followers when SFO appointments open up.
You can also try a walk-in appointment at SFO. You could be seen if someone cancels an appointment or wait all day and go home emptyhanded, Falcon said. You must pay a $100 nonrefundable fee to apply for Global Entry, but if you’re accepted, it’s good for five years and includes automatic enrollment in TSA PreCheck, a separate program run by the Transportation Security Administration. TSA PreCheck, by itself, costs $85 for five years and has no immigration benefits.
Global Entry has another benefit that PreCheck lacks. After October 2020, you can no longer use a regular state-issued driver’s license or ID card to board a domestic flight. You can use a Real ID, which is a license or ID card with enhanced security features, or one of about a dozen other forms of acceptable ID including a passport, military ID or Global Entry card. Membership in TSA PreCheck is not acceptable for this.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles started issuing Real IDs, along with regular driver’s licenses and ID cards, in January. You must get a Real ID in person and the paperwork is more complicated than a regular license. This has led to long lines and long waits for appointments at the DMV.
If you don’t mind carrying your passport on domestic flights, there’s no need to get a Real ID — or Global Entry — just to fly domestically after October 2020.
The main benefits of Global Entry are using TSA PreCheck at security checkpoints and speeding through passport control. Upon arrival at SFO from abroad, Global Entry members go to a kiosk, get their passports and fingerprints scanned, complete a customs declaration and get a printout that they show to an officer, then proceed to baggage claim.
Travelers without Global Entry go to a different bank of kiosks to have their passports and fingerprints scanned and a photo taken. They answer some questions, get a receipt and wait in line to see a passport officer. These lines can be long because there are so many people and they haven’t been prescreened. Depending on your place in line and how many flights arrive at once, your wait could be minutes or more than an hour.
Kihyun Yoon of San Jose, a Global Entry member for two years, said getting through immigration typically takes five or 10 minutes with Global Entry, versus an hour without.
Tech-savvy travelers without Global Entry can also skip the long immigration line by downloading the Custom and Border Protection Mobile Passport app on a smartphone. You first enter passport information into the app. When you arrive at a participating U.S. airport (including San Francisco and San Jose but not Oakland), you complete a “new trip” by selecting your arrival airport and airline, taking a selfie and answering some questions. Then you get a QR code on your phone that you take to a Mobile Passport Control express lane. Mobile Passport is free but doesn’t include TSA PreCheck.
Global Entry doesn’t prevent you from getting stopped for luggage inspection. Nor does it promise you won’t be subject to additional screening at the airport. (Neither does PreCheck.) And it doesn’t put you on the fast track when you arrive at foreign airports, except for three in New Zealand. (Australia has an express process for U.S. Citizens whether they are Global Entry or not.)
At a few foreign airports, mostly in Canada, all U.S. citizens pass through U.S. Customs and Border Protection before boarding their homebound flights. These preclearance locations also have Global Entry kiosks.
Like many travelers, Gary and Sally Bauman of San Anselmo say they enrolled in Global Entry mainly to get PreCheck. Although some people not enrolled in PreCheck get it on some flights, Gary travels with a band and it’s frustrating when some members get it and some don’t.
It’s easier and quicker to enroll in PreCheck than Global Entry. You still must be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. But if you don’t have a passport, you can use a state-issued driver’s license or ID card and certified copy of your birth certificate.
You must visit a PreCheck enrollment center staffed by outside contractors, but there are seven in the Bay Area and it’s easy to get an appointment or be seen without one, TSA spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said. The $85 fee application fee is nonrefundable, so make sure you don’t have a disqualifying offense.
Within days of a PreCheck visit, most people can get a “known traveler” number online and begin using it immediately, Dankers said. PreCheck doesn’t issue cards. Instead, you enter your “known traveler” number (PreCheck or Global Entry) when you book a flight with 53 participating airlines.
PreCheck lines are typically shorter than regular lines, mainly because most passengers can walk through without removing their shoes, lightweight jacket, belt, liquids, tablet and laptop computers. And they typically walk through a metal detector rather than a body scanner.
Finally, check to see if your credit card will reimburse Global Entry or PreCheck fees.
Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender @sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kathpender
Enrolling in Global Entry is an adventure in itself.