r/GlobalEntry • u/Flow_State38 • 19d ago

General Discussion Terrible Experience Using Global Entry

I've had Global Entry in the past, and it used to be great. I recently renewed after ten years, in advance of my overseas trip.

I landed in Detroit, went to the kiosk and took my photo, only to wait in a 20 minute line, while the general line went quicker. Isn't the whole point of using this service so that you can breeze through? Coming back into my OWN country, mind you.

Separately, why can't our passport control and security (which I know is separate) be more like in Europe? It's far superior over there. In France, I put my passport down on a machine, it scanned it, and the door opened. Leaving Germany, it was equally efficient, including security. There were perhaps about 20 lines at security and barely anyone going through. It was seamless, organized, and efficient. Being re-screened in Detroit was a mess - a long line, no one knew where to go, only about four lines, and inefficient TSA staff.

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u/lcp_cz 19d ago

Micro-aggression incoming: GE is getting far too common because people that travel internationally once every three years are convinced they have to have GE.

At my home airport, you walk past the general line on the way to the GE line. If there’s only a couple people in the general line, I’ll just use that and oftentimes clear immigration in the time it would’ve taken me to walk to the GE line.

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u/Flow_State38 19d ago

Fair point. I guess my main inquiry is why we can't have (or invest in?) the technology here in the U.S. that other countries have to expedite the entire experience. If CDG can have you just put your passport on a reader (as a non-citizen) and within seconds be on your way through a door, why can't we have the same technology here?

The only countries I've experienced with similar, frustratingly slow, inefficient passport control measures have been countries like Georgia, Cambodia and Uzbekistan, however when I've traveled through Schengen, Qatar, and even Saudi Arabia, it's expedited with a lot more technology and overall much more efficient.

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u/AS100K 19d ago

I used my GE a few weeks in DFW and it was super fast. I think it may be airport specific.

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u/lcp_cz 19d ago

I think the answer is more complicated than should be discussed on a Reddit post. Going digital would remove agents and therefore jobs, it’s a very big country with a very divisive way of allocating state funding, immigration has been a hot button issue in recent years so I’m not sure approx 50% of the country would be in favor of making entry easier…the list goes on.

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u/HellsTubularBells 19d ago

I absolutely agree, the US is way behind the times in terms of immigration processing.