quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:

...I did use the card one time at a United counter at ORD trying to get a boarding pass with "TSA pre-check" printed on it. Yes, it's in my profile, but when I got that one boarding pass at a Lufthansa gate in Romania it did not have "TSA pre check" on it. I always bring the card but only need it that one time.

Clarification: Pre-check on a boarding pass means nothing at any OCONUS airport heading back to the states. I use it after clearing customs at ORD and catching a short flight home to MLI (Moline IL).

I'm trying to remember, but I think the final ORD-MLI boarding pass is fine if I print them out from the United site or if I get them from a United desk at the OCONUS departure airport. But I think a Star Alliance desk (e.g. Lufthansa) does not add "Pre-check" to the final boarding pass, hence my efforts to get it added at ORD before going back through TSA.

Lufthansa won't, as "star alliance" is just a code-sharing scheme (airlines sharing passengers and flight numbers); they're a foreign airline and won't have anything to do with precheck or global entry.

You can often check in online and put in your information there.

Renewal came today. No interview needed. Got a new card that covers the remaining year of my current term plus the five years following.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Keep checking every day, but don't be surprised if it takes another month for conditional approval.

Thanks. I will keep checking. I'll also post back here once I get conditional approval.

On a slightly related note, I flew from Tampa back to Chicago this past Saturday night. At Tampa, the Pre-Check lane was closed, but a nice TSA Supervisor said "follow me" and walked us to the front of the line.

She tells TSA agent at the scanners "They're Pre-Check". He says "Where's their card?" (I have no idea what that means.). The Supervisor tells him again "It's OK. They're Pre-Check". He just glares at her as she turns and walks back to her station.

Once she's out of earshot, he turns to me with a smug expression and says "No card. No Pre-Check". Then proceeds to make us take off our shoes, belt, jacket, etc. I guess he wanted me to complain, protest or something, but I just looked at him at said "Life's too short".

That might have ruined his day.

You're lucky. I flew to Chicago Sunday morning. After an hour and a half mechanical delay, I'd missed my connection before we left the gate. We got in the air, and held at Chicago, due to weather. We began the arrival, only to find the aircraft ahead had poor braking in heavy snow, so we diverted to Kansas City, where we sat in the airplane for some time. We were finally herded back into the airplane, and taxied to the runway, before the captain announced that the company was sending us back to the gate, and we'd try again tomorrow. Two hundred bucks for a hotel room, as there were no flights out (everyone was diverting), and today didn't look a lot better, so I rented a car and drove ten hours.

But I did get to bypass security on sunday...which got me exactly...nowhere.

Interesting conversation...
When we were originally scheduled for our first interview it ended up being smack dab in the middle of the Gov. shutdown. After things resumed we had to wait about a month to get another appointment at IAD.
During the interview the TSA guy said that we didn't really need the card as everything was tied to our passports but reading the comments here I think we're going to carry them anyway.

Well I am now right at two months since my renewal application and it is still pending review.

Does TSA now do the Global Entry interview? My last interview was with US Customs.

I applied for Global Entry on Mar. 22 and mine is still "pending review" also.

My wife's application was done on Mar. 25, but she was conditionally approved in less than 2 weeks (April 5).

I'm just over 2 months as well.
Oh well, I applied for an expedited passport in Aug 2005 & it was printed & got stuck in a vault in NO when Katrina hit. Since it was 'finished' they couldn't issue another. It finally made it to me ~March 2006.

Additionally, some credit cards will reimburse you the fee if you use the card to pay.

https://thepointsguy.com/2015/...al-entry-fee-credit/

I just got my approval for my Global Entry renewal so it was about 2.5 months from renewal application to approval. I did not need to do another interview. Now just waiting for new card to activate. I am sure glad I did not wait until the last minute before expiration to renew.

quote:

Originally posted by CoolRich59:
I applied for Global Entry on Mar. 22 and mine is still "pending review" also.

My wife's application was done on Mar. 25, but she was conditionally approved in less than 2 weeks (April 5).

I had hoped to do my wife's interview and mine at the same time to save a trip. But, as of today my status is still "pending review" after 2 months while my wife's application was approved in less than 2 weeks.

The only good news is that when I went on the site to schedule her interview, a temporary interview site popped up that will be having interviews one day only and is just 20 minutes away. I pounced on that and got her one of those slots. This will save us at least one trip to O'Hare.

Mine was sent to me without interview in about five days.

My wife had her global entry interview today. I went with her and brought along my passport and a copy of the application off the .gov website. I figured I had nothing to lose asking about my application and, you never know, maybe they might even be able to do something.

It went about how you might think. One agent is sitting there doing nothing. He asks if I have an appointment. "No", I said, "but I submitted my application two months ..."

He cuts me off and says "It's the government shutdown". Then turns away and ignores me.

quote:

Originally posted by CoolRich59:
My wife had her global entry interview today. I went with her and brought along my passport and a copy of the application off the .gov website. I figured I had nothing to lose asking about my application and, you never know, maybe they might even be able to do something.

It went about how you might think. One agent is sitting there doing nothing. He asks if I have an appointment. "No", I said, "but I submitted my application two months ..."

He cuts me off and says "It's the government shutdown". Then turns away and ignores me.

If you haven't been conditionally approved yet, there is absolutely nothing that the agent at the interview place can do or will do.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

If you haven't been conditionally approved yet, there is absolutely nothing that the agent at the interview place can do or will do.

Yeah. What irked me was his attitude. I wasn't really expecting anything, but he could have said just what you said and I would have been fine.

Got conditional approval today (June 20). It took just shy of 3 months (Mar. 22).

Right now the only place to go for the interview is O'Hare airport, which is a pain in the ass to get in and out of. I don't have any travel planned right now, so I'm going to wait to see if they hold interviews at one of the other locations in the Chicago suburbs.

quote:

Originally posted by CoolRich59:
Got conditional approval today (June 20). It took just shy of 3 months (Mar. 22).

Right now the only place to go for the interview is O'Hare airport....

These are showing on the "Choose your location" page:

CHICAGO (Chicago O'Hare International Global Entry EC)
CHICAGO (Chicago Field Office Enrollment Center)
Moline (Moline Quad Cities International Airport)
Peoria (Peoria International Airport)
Rockford (Rockford-Chicago International Airport)

https://ttp.cbp.dhs.gov/schedu...-external&service=UP

We live near Moline but - naturally - that site was not open 5+ year ago so we both went to Terminal 5 at ORD.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:

We live near Moline but - naturally - that site was not open 5+ year ago so we both went to Terminal 5 at ORD.

Moline!? Thanks for giving me some perspective. I live about 30 minutes from O'Hare and here I am complaining while you had to drive from Moline.