Travel days are always filled with excitement and anxiety. We are anticipating our destination and looking forward to enjoying the trip. For the actual transit, the kids still get pumped up about airplane rides and the endless screen time we allow on these days. Anxiety normally comes into play when we are wrangling our luggage, trying to get through security, and then collecting ourselves at our destination city (made even more stressful if that involves customs and passports). One way to reduce a large part of the travel day stress is to obtain TSA Precheck or Global Entry (GE). Both of these ease the requirements to get through airport security, and Global Entry makes customs returning to the U.S. a tad easier.
Despite our travel over the years, we just got around to applying for Global Entry this past year. I think that we both were under the impression that it would be a huge hassle and not worth the ordeal. I found out by happenstance that one of our credit cards would cover the fees for the cardholder, and I started looking into it some more. While the process didn’t look to be exactly minimal, it was not as much of an obstacle as I had previously assumed. There are a few different programs in the Trusted Traveler Programs. We debated between TSA Precheck and Global Entry and ultimately decided that the Global Entry (which includes the perks of TSA Precheck) would be best for us. Anything to reduce a long wait at customs!
Comparing TSA Precheck vs Global Entry
TSA Precheck
- Makes the airport security process easier
- Costs $85 per person, 5 year membership
- All accompanying travelers under 12 years old allowed in the TSA Precheck lines with an adult with a TSA Precheck membership
- Operated by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (U.S. TSA)
- Background check, in-person interview, and fingerprinting
Global Entry
- Perks of TSA Precheck (expedited airport security lines for both domestic and international travel)
- Faster U.S. Customs lines when returning to the U.S. from an International trip
- International arrangements with partner countries to facilitate travel
- Costs $100 per person, 5 year membership
- Every traveler (any age) must have membership
- Operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
- Background check, in-person interview, and fingerprinting
For our family, we decided to go with Global Entry. We travel internationally almost as often as domestically and over the years have seen customs lines that I know would be a challenge for our kids. The additional cost (and logistics) of getting memberships for the kids were worth it for us. Yes, it would be an extra $200 to include the kids, but thinking about the overall cost of a typical trip, it’s not really a huge expense, especially when divided by x number of trips over 5 years. Well worth it to make a travel day go more smoothly. If you don’t see yourself traveling internationally too often, you might come to a different conclusion. Whatever works for your family!
Minimize your costs by using credit card benefits!
Many rewards cards offer to cover the cost of these membership fees for the credit card holder, but this perk is not widely advertised. Scott and I both have Chase Sapphire credit cards that reimburse up to $100 in Trusted Traveler Program membership fees every five years. With this, our own membership fees would be no cost to us, with either TSA Precheck or Global Entry. Unfortunately, this benefit does not extend to other family members, so to get the full benefits of Global Entry, we still needed to pay the membership fees for the kids. As I mentioned above, we did weigh this when deciding which program to use since the kids (under 12 years old) are allowed to accompany us through TSA Precheck security lines even without their own memberships. Our deciding factor was the thought of waiting in a long customs line after a long haul flight and the potential resulting meltdown.
I should also mention that the reimbursement “process” with the Sapphire card could not have been easier. Once the Global Entry membership fee was charged to the credit card, Chase automatically flagged the charge and automatically credited the amount back to my card. Seriously, about as efficient as it gets!
Global Entry application
You can start the application process from the comfort of your own home – the first step is to apply online on the Global Entry website! From this site, click on the Apply Now section on the far right of the page. Then select Global Entry. From here, you will be redirected to login.gov to create a Global Online Enrollment System (GOES) account.
This is where things start to get a little cumbersome. You will need a separate GOES account for each person, which requires a unique email address for each account. Yes, even your toddler will need a separate account/email associated with the account. To split up the workload, Scott and I were each in charge of ourselves and one child. As a part of creating these accounts, you will be given a “personal key” to use to verify the account later. It is crucial to keep this key. I saved screenshots of the screen with the key for safe keeping.
The next step is to complete the online application. Understandably, this is quite a detailed application. Fill out everything honestly and as completely as possible. You will then submit the application to wait for Conditional Approval. This is also where you will pay the membership fee. Your application is then reviewed and the bulk of your background check happens before you get the Conditional Approval.
Conditional Approval is required before you can schedule your interview, but this approval sometimes comes extremely quickly. For me and my daughter, I submitted our applications on a Monday and had conditional approval by that Friday. Scott and our son received theirs along the same time frame. HOWEVER. We didn’t realize that we had these approvals for a few weeks later. We never received emails to our associated email accounts. I just happened to log into my GOES account to see if there was an updated status, and lo and behold, there was a message in the account that we had Conditional Approval. So make sure to keep logging in to check.
Scheduling an in-person interview was the next hurdle. We are fortunate that Houston has several Global Entry Enrollment Centers, but unfortunately, finding an available time slot was hard. For all of the central locations, the wait was many months. Since we were highly motivated to get our approval before anymore travel, we opted to drive to the north side of town to the Enrollment Center at our large international airport, George Bush Intercontinental (IAH). The centers in airports are typically the least busy, so we were able to make appointments all grouped in time slots together for a few weeks out. We planned to go all together as a family.
Global Entry Interview at IAH
To prepare for the interview, there are several documents you need to collect. You will each need your passports and another form of identification, and proof of residency. For ourselves, Scott and I brought our driver’s licenses as our additional identification and we brought birth certificates for the kids. We also brought utility bills as additional proof of residency. Obviously we didn’t have any bills or evidence of residency with the kids’ names, but their passports along with birth certificates were enough. We also printed out everyone’s Conditional Approval letters just in case.
Since we had to drive across town for our interviews (and yes, each person has to be present, including the small children), we made a day out of it as a family. Our interview times were grouped together in the mid morning, so we waited for morning rush hour to die down and headed up to IAH.
The Enrollment Center is located in Terminal E, outside the arrivals gate. The office is in the far corner, opposite side of the lobby from the restrooms. If you are standing in the lobby facing the Arrivals Exit, it is to the right, and there is plenty of seating while you wait for your appointment. We parked in the airport parking garage and found the Enrollment Center easily. Then there was a bit of confusion because there was no sign-in sheet or way to check in, and the office doors were marked with signs saying to not enter. According to the other people waiting in the area, personnel would periodically come out and call people back to the office. So we just waited patiently (thanks to lot of snacks for the kids) until our turn was called.
Even though we all had different appointment slots, we were allowed back as a group. The interview process consisted of a few simple questions. Like, do you travel for business or vacation? Do you normally travel as a family? We also took pictures for our Global Entry cards and Scott and I were fingerprinted for the final screening step. (Children are not fingerprinted.) It was a very simple appointment and the agents working in the office were very friendly. All in all, we were at the airport maybe an hour. Not bad at all!
I should note that both parents are not required to be present (like they are when applying for a passport), but I do think our interview went more smoothly with us all together. Wrangling the kids was easier with two adults, and having all of our identification and evidence of residency together was helpful.
Shortly after your interview, your application will be approved. I think we all got our approval before we made it home from the airport. Once your account is approved, the Global Entry membership number becomes your Known Traveler Number (KTN) for your TSA Pre-Check benefit. And just like that you are ready to go!
You will also receive your Global Entry cards in the mail within two weeks. Make sure you activate your cards when they arrive. If you have air travel planned before the cards arrive, no worries, you only need the card for land and sea ports of entry. You are still good to go through airports.
Putting Global Entry to Use
Booking Flights
The Known Traveler Number (KTN) is your key for using your Global Entry membership. The easiest way to use this is to go ahead and add your KTN to all of your airline profiles. We almost exclusively fly United since we live in one of their hubs, so we made sure to add the KTN to all four of our United profiles. Now when we book future flights, the info should already be there.
For any already existing flight reservations, you should be able to add your KTN to your reservation online. If for some reason you have trouble doing this online, just call the airline. It shouldn’t be a big deal to modify the reservation with your KTN.
Now this is a very important detail – make sure all of your flight reservations are made with your name EXACTLY matching your Global Entry card. For example, if the card uses your full middle name, use that when booking flights. Don’t deviate by omitting the middle name or using an initial. Doing this might create a mismatch between your KTN account and your flight reservation, which would prevent you from getting TSA Precheck.
TSA Precheck Benefits
When you print off your boarding pass, you will see the TSA Precheck insignia in the corner of the pass. This is how you know you are allowed to use the TSA Precheck security lines. If the boarding pass does not have it, there are several reasons that might be the case, but a name mismatch is a common reason why people with KTNs might not be given access toTSA Precheck.
Using Global Entry
When you arrive at the airport for entry back into the U.S., follow the signs that direct you to the Global Entry kiosks.
At the kiosk, you will scan your passport, have your picture taken, scan your fingerprints (adults only), answer the questions on the screen, and pick up the transaction receipt from the kiosk. This process must be completed for each member of your family. The only difference for the kids is that since they don’t scan their fingerprints, a message will come on the screen that says “No biometrics on file”. Lifting the kids up to get their picture taken can also be a little tricky, but you will manage.
At this point you should be allowed to continue on your way to baggage claim. We’ve only traveled with the kids with Global Entry once, and our receipts had an “X” printed on them, so we had to stop at customs passport control booth to answer a few questions. We think this was because the kids don’t have fingerprints on file. I think that the process is still getting smoothed out for the younger travelers, but it wasn’t much of a hassle for us. Since we are Global Entry members, we went straight to the front of the line for the CBP agent and the extra time was probably under five minutes.
Global Entry has already made our travel experience so much easier. The perks of expedited entry back into the U.S. and the quicker airport security lines have eased some of the anxiety that comes along with navigating a travel day. I highly recommend seeking out Global Entry for your family (or at least TSA Precheck if GE doesn’t make sense for you). I honestly cannot believe it took us so long to do it for our family. Less than one year of the benefits, and I don’t think we will ever go back!
