Mini-Trip Report
- Review: Sheraton Herndon Dulles Aiport Hotel
- Review: Red Hot & Blue Restaurant
- Tailside At The Trailside: Washington & Old Dominion Trail, Herndon VA
- Here’s Why We Got Global Entry And How We Got It For Free
Have you ever wished you could skip the long security and immigration lines at the airport when you travel?
If so, there are couple of programs you can apply for that speed up the process: TSA Precheck and Global Entry.
Shae and I were both approved for Global Entry last month. I’ll explain that process in a moment along with how we got the two $100 application fees for free.
Just before that though, I wanted to give a quick guide to these two programs, what they do and how they’re different.
TSA Precheck
TSA Precheck is a five year membership that enables you to speed through security at US airports. According to the TSA website, 97% of Precheck passengers waited less than five minutes at security in April 2017.
There are a couple of reasons why you get through more quickly:
- There’s a dedicated TSA Precheck line at most airports
- You don’t have to remove your shoes, belt, laptop, liquids,etc.
TSA Precheck costs $85 for the five year membership. To get approved, you submit a quick online application and schedule an appointment at one of the ~400 enrollment centers nationwide.
The appointment takes about ten minutes where they’ll verify your background check and take your fingerprints. You’ll then be given a Known Traveler Number (KTN). When booking flights in the future, just add your KTN and you’ll be able to speed through the airport.
If you ever travel internationally though, you’re probably better off getting Global Entry instead. Here’s why…
Global Entry
Global Entry is a program that’s run by the US Customs and Border Protection agency. Passengers enrolled in the program get expedited clearance when arriving in the US on an overseas flight. Similar to TSA Precheck, you provide the airline with your Known Traveler Number when booking your flight.
Rather than waiting in the long immigration lines, you go directly to an automatic Global Entry kiosk. Provide your passport or permanent resident card, have your fingerprints scanned and then complete a customs declaration.
And that’s it. You just grab your receipt and go pick up your bags.
Like TSA Precheck, Global Entry is a five year membership and costs $100. Although that’s slightly more expensive than the $85 for TSA Precheck, it includes TSA Precheck for when you travel domestically.
That means you’re effectively paying $15 for the ability to speed through the airport when returning on international flights. Having spent hours in the immigration line at JFK airport, I’d happily pay $15 to bypass that.
How We Got Global Entry For Free
There are several credit cards out there that give you a statement credit when you apply for Global Entry status. These include the Chase Sapphire Reserve, American Express Platinum (both the Personal and Business versions) and Citi Prestige cards.
A downside with these cards is that they come with high annual fees. They’re usually around the $450 mark, although the American Express Platinum Personal card fee recently increased to $550.
Just as a sidenote, I never thought I’d ever be willing to pay a large annual fee for a credit card. However, we both got $2,500+ of travel from each of our cards thanks to the signup bonuses and other travel credits. It was therefore worth paying the annual fees, at least for the first year.
We’d been planning on getting these cards anyway, so each of us getting a free $100 Global Entry credit was a bonus.
Another nice thing about these credits is that they were applied to our account automatically – we didn’t have to contact American Express or Chase.
My credit showed up a few days after I made the payment:
As did Shae’s:
In case you’re wondering, the screenshots look different as I paid with my American Express Business Platinum card and Shae used her Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
The Global Entry Application Process
1) Online Application
To get Global Entry status, you first have to complete an online application. Part of the application involves detailing everywhere you’ve lived and the job(s) you’ve held over the previous five years. Those sections could therefore either be quick to complete or pretty lengthy depending on your personal situation.
Other than those sections, the application form wasn’t difficult to complete. Just be sure to double and triple-check all the information you enter, both for accuracy and spelling. The $100 fee is non-refundable, so you don’t want to have to submit a second application because the first was declined due to a typo.
Shae completed her application on February 1 and I completed mine on February 2. On February 12, Shae received an email asking her to log into the Global Entry account she’d created when applying. That contained notification that she’d been conditionally approved. I received the same conditional approval on February 15, so it took less than two weeks for both our applications to be processed.
2) Schedule An Interview
The second stage of the Global Entry approval process is to schedule an interview at an enrollment center. Most of these are at large airports, although there appear to be some centers located elsewhere.
Our closest enrollment center was Dulles Airport (Washington DC) which is a 3-4 hour drive away. There’s a new center in Richmond VA which is closer, but they’re only open Tuesdays and Thursdays.
You’re able to view all available appointment times at the enrollment center for the coming months. We knew we’d have to travel up on a weekend and saw that there were a couple of slots available on Saturday April 15, 2017, so we booked both of those.
Driving up early on a Saturday morning and driving home that same afternoon wasn’t enticing though. We therefore figured we’d make a weekend of it and booked a stay at the Sheraton Herndon Dulles Airport. The hotel has a free airport shuttle, so we used that to get to and from our interview.
3) Have The Interview
Shae’s Global Entry interview was scheduled for 12:15 and mine was at 12:30. We therefore had the hotel shuttle drop us off at the airport at about 11:45 to give us enough time to find the office we needed.
The shuttle driver knew where the office was, so he dropped us off directly outside. Heading into the airport, we only had to walk straight ahead for a minute or two before we arrived at the office.
There was a small entrance room with about ten chairs and a sign on the office door advising applicants to just take a seat and not knock on the door. A minute or two later, one of the US Customs and Border Patrol agents came out to collect our documents. As Shae’s a US citizen, she only had to provide her passport and driver’s license. I’m originally from the UK, so I had to provide my passport, driver’s license and Permanent Resident card.
Even though we’d booked appointments 15 minutes apart, a different agent came out shortly after and had both of us come in together for a joint interview.
We were asked a few questions, like what countries we’d visited in the last few years and if we could be trusted. I don’t know why, but interviews like this always make me nervous even though I know I’m not a dodgy person!
The agent took a photo of Shae and scanned her fingerprints and thumbprints before doing the same with me. He then advised us that we were all done and that we’d hear from them shortly as to whether or not our applications were successful.
We didn’t have to wait long.
While walking out of the airport, we both received an email at 12:21 to advise us of a status change on our accounts. We were approved!
Global Entry Cards
A week or so later, we received our Global Entry cards in the mail. You don’t have to carry these with you when flying overseas as your KTN takes care of that. Instead, they’re used when driving into the US from Mexico or Canada and at sea ports (presumably if you go on a cruise).
Important: you have to activate the Global Entry cards before they can be used. Shae’s card arrived before mine and I didn’t read her paperwork completely. Thankfully I noticed the full instructions when my own card arrived a couple of days later.
Summary
Global Entry can be very worthwhile if you travel internationally, particularly if you have a credit card that offers a $100 application credit. You’ll bypass the lengthy immigration process and speed through security before flights.
The application process is relatively painless and will be even easier if you live closer to an enrollment center than we currently do.
Even though most of our travel over the next five years will be domestic because of our 50 state road trip, we’ll still be going on overseas trips. Shae’s off to Jamaica with a friend in September, while we’re both spending a month in Australia and New Zealand at the end of this year. We’ll also likely fly somewhere in 2019 as it’ll be our 15th anniversary. We’ll therefore be getting some good use out of our membership from now until 2022.
Leave a Reply