Tag Archives: Global Entry

February 4, 2026 · 5:26 am

Flying economy overseas – win some, lose some; how to fix a global entry cock-up; and thoughts on the new passport biometrics, new required UK ETA visa for US citizens, and global entry pros and cons.

Our flight on United from Chicago to London on a January Monday was surprisingly pleasant. The plane had tons of empty seats so we could stretch out. (I had three seats to myself. I may have even slept for an hour or so.)

Not so lucky on this return flight from Munich to Chicago on Lufthansa today, on a February Sunday. The plane has harder seats and is packed. The big guy in front of me reclined his seat, leaving me cramped and claustrophobic, even when I reluctantly reclined my seat, inflicting crampness on the guy behind me. It felt like the big guy’s seat was in my lap.

When I complained to the big guy, he didn’t budge. He argued that he was reclining because the person in front of him had reclined her seat. She created a chain (reclining) reaction, as the sympathetic flight attendant called it, when I sought her help. Reclining is bad enough but when the recliner is big, there’s even less space for the unfortunate passenger behind him/her. I knocked his seat whenever I got up, by accident of course. Oopsy.

And I got the flight attendant to request that he raise his seat during the meals so I could plausibly maneuver eating. (Truth is I didn’t eat. The food was awful. Except for Lindt chocolates served at the start and end of the flight.)

One more complaint: we had to check our luggage before we got on the flight to Munich, allegedly because our bags were “too big” which is bullshit. Our bags are regulation-small. The real issue was that the plane was full so it was presumably running out of luggage space by the time we boarded in the last group. But there was room in the luggage compartment above us!

I couldn’t find a direct Barcelona-Chicago flight, which explains our connecting flight in Munich. Next time I’ll try harder to avoid this. The first flight was about 2 hours, followed by a confusing transfer in Munich that involved going through passport control, complete with fingerprinting and photographing by a bored agent who blew a bubble with her gum (really) while she was scrutinizing my passport and tapping whatever on her computer. Why is this necessary for a one hour layover in the airport? On the plus side, this 8.5 hour flight is arriving an hour early. Amen!

Another good thing: Although D. couldn’t use his global entry on our departing flight to go through expedited TSA pre-select because of a government cock-up (his global entry lists his middle initial while his passport lists his middle name — the two need to be the same to use TSA preselect), he was able to use the global entry line when arriving back in the US. But, as with our October 2025 Italy trip, global entry didnt save much time. The regular line wasn’t long and moved quickly.

Building detail, Barcelona (on “block of discord”)

To correct/fix the global entry name, it’s fastest to go to the office at O’Hare or downtown— no appointment necessary. We learned this only after finding a real human to talk to, which took some time. We couldn’t get a real human on the phone at the two state of Illinois offices. I kept pressing the AI chatbot until I got a 202 number that led to a real human providing real help.

We’re still getting use to the new biometrics passport control, which means you no longer show your passport or deal with a human when returning to the US. You just wait for your photo to be taken and then get a flimsy piece of paper saying global entry (or regular entry) that you give to an agent quickly and move on. I also miss having my passport stamped when arriving in the UK. Instead it’s all computer and biometrics. We did get a passport stamp when entering Spain and even when entering Germany as we were transferring planes in Munich with a brief layover.

Still another good thing: the newly required ETA (“electronic travel authorization”) Visa to enter the UK for US citizens worked without a hitch. (I brought a paper copy of my proof of Visa, just in case.) Getting the ETA online also was quick and easy, which is as it should be, this new requirement appears to be more about tit-for-tat (if the US requires Brits to get a visa to enter then the UK now requires the same of yanks) and a fees shakedown than about security or immigration control.

Global entry continues to disappoint

The latest issue: global entry gave Dirck a name that differs from his passport name so he cannot use it on this first attempt for a trip to Europe. grrrr. Homeland security put his middle initial instead of his full middle name on his global entry. His middle name is on his passport and his ticket. Everything needs to match, especially for international travel.

This is incredibly frustrating especially since it took months to given get an application interview after applying. We applied on the same day and mine took maybe a month.

Meanwhile, one perk of having global access/tsa preselect is gone. You no longer have to take your shoes off going thru regular check-in. And we’ve seen little difference in the time it takes me to go thru tsa or global entry vs. dirck going through regular.

Also, Dirck automatically received a global entry card, which turned out to be useless in this situation and not needed in general. And I never received a card, although I requested one several months ago after it didn’t automatically arrive.

So my advice based on our experience to date: skip the hassle and expense of global entry and maybe also tsa preselect.

Getting Global Entry – piece of cake, to my surprise

I admit to having a somewhat irrational fear of government bureaucracy, especially now, during Trump 2.0, when people have been detained during seemingly routine bureaucratic visits and whisked away without due process. Granted I am a white, older, American-born, middle class woman so much less of a target in Trump’s America than an immigrant and/or person of color. I’ve also been wary of bureaucratic ineptitude, a perception stoked sadly by the Trump administration’s distain for government AND its decimation of government, with mass firings of federal workers.

So I was surprised that getting Global Entry – which will allow me to bypass long lines when re-entering the country after an international flight – was a piece of cake. Not that this is necessarily typical. I got lucky. My husband applied at the same time that I did and is still awaiting word that he’s jumped through the first hoop (“conditional approval.”) In my case, conditional approval arrived via email a day after I applied. I’m told this is the luck of the draw. Sometimes three members of a family will get conditional approval swiftly while a fourth member has to wait awhile.

Even the next step went well for me: a face-to-face appointment with immigration folks, either in downtown Chicago or at O’Hare. I picked O’Hare and today I made it to the airport and back in two hours, with a bonus: a surprise email received on the Blue Line train notifying me that my Global Entry was approved! It helped that everything went unexpectedly well with transportation – no horrific traffic jams on the drive to the Western stop of the Blue Line at 8:30 a.m.; the O’Hare El train came just as I arrived and took about 35 minutes; the 25 minute trek to the Global Entry office, a drab office tucked behind a baggage carousel (#12) in faraway Terminal 5 (international flights) was easy. I arrived 35 minutes before my 10:20 appointment and hunkered down in the sterile waiting room, but was called within five minutes.

Although I’d been warned that the immigration interviewer would be taciturn, mine couldn’t have been more pleasant. (Apparently my early arrival worked well for him.) He verified some application information and corrected one error that listed Chicago as my birthplace. (It’s Detroit). I piped up that I forgot to list one country (among others) that I visited during the past 5 years on my application. No problemo. He asked if I had a criminal record or immigration violations and then took my fingerprints (using a scanner to get images of my thumb and four fingers of each hand…my first experience fingerprinting). Then he patiently answered my questions (several about why my husband’s application process wasn’t as swift). And away I went after about 10 minutes. He told me I should hear back later today or on Sunday – after my fingerprints were screened by the FBI (or some such).

The Global Entry is good for five years and also includes TSA Precheck, so I can avoid the longer lines at security when arriving for a flight. I’ve rarely found the lines that awful but friends urged me to get global entry since we travel internationally a lot. But I probably won’t use mine until my husband’s goes through so hoping that happens soon! And now, if only, there was a way to avoid the sometimes long lines at customs/immigration when arriving at Heathrow and other international airports.

Here’s the official spiel: Global Entry is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Trusted Traveler Program that allows expedited clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travelers upon arrival in the United States. The application fee is $120, and membership lasts for five years. All applicants must undergo a background check.

Available to use at land borders

Global Entry Benefits

Available at major U.S. Airports

Reduced wait times in expedited processing lines

TSA Precheck access

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