I was reading the comments on a NYT article on the ridiculous lines for TSA screening, and encountered a mention of clearme.com. It is not altogether clear (pun intended) from the website exactly what it does, so I wondered if anyone knew about it. Although since it seems to cost $15/month I am unlikely to use it.

I am very reluctantly coming to the conclusion that I should probably pay for Global Entry this year, as it doesn't seem like security theater is going away anytime soon and I would like to be sure of making my Dallas connection on the way back from Asia. I thought two and a half hours should be adequate, but not with these lines, especially as it seems I will need to buy food, even though it is a lunch time flight and I will be in first!

I haven't heard of clearme.com.

Cheryl and I do like having global entry.

I don't know what airline you are lying, but I've found that I'll get fed on domestic flights in first class even if it doesn't say so online.

I assume you're on American. Recently flew to and from Asia out of DFW with connecting domestic flights. I was told there was no food on the domestic legs but there was breakfast on one and snacks on another late night one.

And get Global Entry! We have gotten through JFK, EWR, DFW, ORD passport control and customs in less than 10 minutes each time.

It is on American. when I booked there were two meals on the Tokyo-Dallas leg and one on the domestic leg. Then they sent me a change email and now there is just one meal on the international flight!

Wonder if that is grounds for changing the booking... (to a different airline).

And then there's this. It's just called Clear, so looks like a different company with the same idea.

http://www.cntraveler.com/stories/20...rport-security

We just scheduled our appointments for TSA pre-check, as we're mostly flying only domestically now.

Global Entry seems to have gone up to $100, and I would have to drive two and a half hours each way for the interview, even though I live 15 minutes from an international airport. So much for wanting people to sign up!

You can have your Global Entry processed at any airport that has a facility for interviewing such as when you are changing planes.
Keep checking on the website for your airport. When we started looking we would have had a 1.5 hour drive, then a second location opened one hour away and finally our own airport 20 min away. This all happened very quickly. Good luck. We paid $100.each for Global Entry two years ago, one of our better investments.

Clear is only for domestic US Flights; as I was suckered into it for lack of a better word, by their staff recently at BWI last September, as I was milling around waiting for an international flight to Iceland. I was in the SouthWest area of the airport, as the International Terminal is ALWAYS a ghost town there, and they approached me. I didn't ask if it included international, as I just assumed. I signed up that day there, 30 day free trial, they did my prints and retina right in the airport, and boom I was done. Then I said. great, where do I go now, they asked where are you flying, I said Iceland, oh we dont do anything outside the US. Dohh!

I was gone for two months and got back and my card was not charged (I made sure of it), and I asked them for another 30 days a month ago, and they said to contact them, which I have not yet. But every where I fly to across the US, and its a lot, I see CLEAR, especially in Boston and the entrance way to get past the nasty lines with Clear, is ALWAYS empty. Then again I make sure to book flights outside of the dreaded window of 5am to 4pm to avoid such crazy crowds at TSA, but still, from what others have said, its worth the price, at least for domestic flights. I have never looked into GLobal entry and the like, usually because I rarely encounter long lines anywhere...but again my flights are usually after 4 or Red Eyes.

Be sure you're booking with U.S. carriers. Last year I booked on Lufthansa and again this year. Outbound Global Entry did/does me no good because Lufthansa is non-participating. Arriving back in the U.S. I stopped at a kiosk at Customs, entered my passport and I was out the door. It could not have been quicker.

....Global Entry seems to have gone up to $100....

Global Entry from day one has been$100 for 5 years.

....Outbound Global Entry did/does me no good because Lufthansa is non-participating......

There is no such thing as outbound Global Entry. It is only good for entering the US and used only for immigration and customs.

As a "courtesy" TSA Pre-check is added to Global Entry so that you gain access to the Pre-check lines IF the airline participates in the program and puts the Pre-check mark on your boarding pass. Most US based airlines participate and most European do not.

@luvtotravel ""I stopped at a kiosk at Customs, entered my passport and I was out the door. It could not have been quicker""

What airport was this? Did you have to use the kiosk, place your passport in, and go to an agent who matches you up to a printed photo that is taken at the kiosk to your photo and info on your passport as it is with coming into JFK internationally? Or with global entry, the kiosk situation is different?

KHP101, I went through Customs in Los Angeles. I used the kiosk and that was it. Did not deal with a person...no one checked my list of items purchased. It really was kiosk and out the door.

luvtotravel - didn't you have to go first thru immigration before you went through customs? How long was that?

GE (along with TSA Prrecheck) may be one of the best $100 I ever spent. GE aaves a huge amount of time upon return to the US and TSA PreCheck saves some time with going thru security on the outbound flight.

Clear was on NBC news this evening. They did a segment on the long lines and how to beat them. Clear was one of the options. Its $179 per year, you can sign up on the spot.

>didn't you have to go first thru immigration before you went through customs?

Coming in through ORD yesterday, after the GE kiosk the signs explicitly said to just bypass immigration and proceed directly to baggage collection and/or customs.

But the GE kiosk was immigration, right?

Correct, with GE you go to the kiosks which is immigration. Then you get your bags and proceed to a special line for GE people to go thru Customs.

...but it used to be that after the GE kiosk, one still had to stop and have an immigration officer approve passage. This latter step was not encountered.