Hong Kong Club Reports

[MacNCheeze]

So its worth upgrading to Global Entry from Sentri

If you fly internationally, you'll want Global Entry. SENTRI is only for Mexico / Canada. If you already have SENTRI and only go to Tijuana, it might not matter much to you. If you were applying from scratch, Global Entry is usually preferred because it works traveling back from all countries, is cheaper, and seems to have shorter wait times to get your interview.

[MmaufcFan]

I flew from Medellin to Mexico City on Viva Aerobus last Friday. Mexican Customs announced that special procedures apply to flights from Colombia, due to it being a major source of drugs. We were sniffed by dogs, luggage were sent through X-ray machines; one young woman was targeted, her luggage was opened up and searched carefully.

I flew from MEX to LAX arriving in the afternoon Monday, pulling along my carry-on suitcase. The walk was very long from the terminal to US Customs booths. Couple hundreds people queued up in front of the booths, none was in the GE lanes; I was the only one. A Customs woman told me to go ahead to the dozen GE machines, take my hat and mask off for the picture. The machine already read the GE card in my wallet via RFID, automatically detected and took my picture. It was all done in less than 30 seconds. That was it, I was cleared. The woman said I could go.

Meanwhile hundreds other passengers were waiting in line to be interviewed, body scanned, luggage Xrayed and searched by US Customs.

Get your GE card with the US government's trusted travelers privileges.

So its worth upgrading to Global Entry from Sentri? I am waiting for my passport book since I only have a passport card and it has an option to upgrade to global entry and I will be able to get an appoiintment close to my house in DC as opposed to no appointments available for Sentri except in no where Tx and Arizona. I will upgrade to Global Entry. Thanks.

[BlackThought]

This free tool lets you know of openings at SFO as they become available: https://twitter.com/GOESbot.

And, you can always do interview on re-entry from abroad to US via most airports.

So, fly from a Mexican airport to San Diego airport:

See https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-t...llment-arrival.

Thank you man! I'll keep an eye on it, hopefully I can find a slot that coincides with my flight in Jan.

[MmaufcFan]

Drove back Wednesday morning with a wingman who has no Global Entry or Sentri.

We got in line on Padre Kino in Tijuana waiting to enter the Sentri car lanes by 6:06, supposedly the time for people to go to work and school in SD. That line was long, stretched way back to the first rotary on Padre Kino. Policia Transito had 2 squad cars there with officer directing traffic, allowing blocks of cars to enter Sentri lanes. It moved fairly quick. In the US side CBP had rerouted a number of Ready lanes near the booths into Sentri lanes, total 8, with about 6 of 7 cars waiting in each.

I dropped off the wingman and drove over in the Sentri lane in total 9 minutes. CBP agents were apparently under order to open and check all trunks. Every car had trunk opened. Some agents rifled through the contents, other just looked quickly. We bought a couple bottles of liquor from duty-free stores at discount, all legal, a few brand-name labels were sold for about half Costco's prices.

Pedestrian line was short and thin, stretched back to to overpass footbridge. My wingman did not walk out of CBP building until 7:58, total time 1 hour 52 minutes. We thought it would be 3 to 4 hours, but it was not too bad. The border delays are unpredictable, vary day by day.

It took 10 months for me to get my sentri.

[Captain Solo]

Drove back Wednesday morning with a wingman who has no Global Entry or Sentri.

We got in line on Padre Kino in Tijuana waiting to enter the Sentri car lanes by 6:06, supposedly the time for people to go to work and school in SD. That line was long, stretched way back to the first rotary on Padre Kino. Policia Transito had 2 squad cars there with officer directing traffic, allowing blocks of cars to enter Sentri lanes. It moved fairly quick. In the US side CBP had rerouted a number of Ready lanes near the booths into Sentri lanes, total 8, with about 6 of 7 cars waiting in each.

I dropped off the wingman and drove over in the Sentri lane in total 9 minutes. CBP agents were apparently under order to open and check all trunks. Every car had trunk opened. Some agents rifled through the contents, other just looked quickly. We bought a couple bottles of liquor from duty-free stores at discount, all legal, a few brand-name labels were sold for about half Costco's prices.

Pedestrian line was short and thin, stretched back to to overpass footbridge. My wingman did not walk out of CBP building until 7:58, total time 1 hour 52 minutes. We thought it would be 3 to 4 hours, but it was not too bad. The border delays are unpredictable, vary day by day.

[BrotherMouzone]

So I guess the best solution for those without global entry is to take the $10 bus ride across the border. As the bus as a special lane that bypasses the regular vehicle line.

I'd guess that's one of the better solutions. I've never taken any of those buses / vans that get offered so I wouldn't know anything about them personally but my guess is they are legit.

For those without global entry (such as myself), one way to manage border crossings is to plan ahead and get to the border early to minimize changes of something like missing your flight. USA Customs and Border Protection has this website: https://bwt.cbp.gov/details/09250401/PED.

That monitors wait times for pedestrian crossings at San Ysidro. MOST of the time (though not always) the estimated wait times are reasonably accurate (I. E. , accurate to within 20 minutes of the estimate or less), though it should be emphasized that those are just estimates. Especially if I have a flight to catch, I monitor that site often and plan accordingly. The site also tracks historical wait times so you can look up how long it typically takes to cross on a certain day of the week at a certain time.

[Dogers69]

Tuesday night report. Both men and woman volume down 60% than last week. But the guys here going up to room every 30 seconds as I wait for a chica. Reduced price at nearby bars.

[ClownDays]

I know a few guys' that have used this service. It's $30 but they all had their appointments moved up to within a week.

https://appointmentscanner.com

I haven't used the service, but can confirm that a bunch of appointment slots randomly pop up that are much sooner.

A buddy of mine could not get an appointment at LAX until July 22, and he randomly checked SFO and found appointments available in Jan 22, but on a re-check, he saw an appointment like 2 weeks out and nabbed it. He just ended up going up to see family, and grabbed his outbound flight on the day of his appointment.

If you're willing to make a day trip out of it (it's worth it IMO), look at the other places where you can have your interview where the location is at the Airport. SFO and PHX have offices in the airport.

[Rambo1969]

I know a few guys' that have used this service. It's $30 but they all had their appointments moved up to within a week.

https://appointmentscanner.com

This free tool lets you know of openings at SFO as they become available: https://twitter.com/GOESbot.

And, you can always do interview on re-entry from abroad to US via most airports.

So, fly from a Mexican airport to San Diego airport:

See https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-t...llment-arrival.

[Fmojo]

The earliest global entry appointment I can find is in March 2022. Need something ASAP.

I know a few guys' that have used this service. It's $30 but they all had their appointments moved up to within a week.

https://appointmentscanner.com

[BlackThought]

Don't believe there is such a Bus?

What bus is dogers referring to? I'm going to miss my flight if I have to wait in line for 4 hours. Is it only 4 hours due to the holidays? My friend told me it was no more than 30 minutes a few years ago.

[Phordphan]

Exactly how I feel. If there was no line cutting a 3 hour wait I could swallow. But the only reason a 3 hour wait is 3 hours and not 1 hour is due to line cutting. The amount of line cutting is probably 2 people cutting for every person in line. Not even counting sentri as line cutting. And where I'm from, cutting a line in a grocery store would lead to a physical fight and maybe worse. Its just not accepted. But these California's are a mellow bunch. Everything you need to know about how the USA government works, with the different $$ corporations, and big business, and $ non profit $ political organizations pulling the strings of our government, can by seen right at the border. Basically everyone tells the border patrol what to do. It wasn't good enough for the border patrol to allow people to cut the line on busses, and have to stand in line for the last 20 minutes. Now they put another line, even faster than sentri, on the right of sentri for bus, people. What bus? Who paid or dqueezed border patrol to do that? I don't know. What I will say, I'm fairly certain, any Americans denied global entry could easily win a lawsuit for all the hours they stand in line while they have organized line cutting, much of it with USA border patrol in cahoots with.

I have news for you. CBP has zero control over the shenanigans that happen on the Mexico side. If there are line cutters, it's Mexico's problem. And Mexico isn't going to do anything about it.

CBP, long ago, was more or less forced to come up with a way to accommodate buses. Processing them through regular lanes isn't practical. You have to have a method of screening all the passengers. So, what do you suggest?

Still, I'm not sure where you get your bus information, maybe things have changed since I quit walking across. But I've taken the bus option a couple times. Sometimes it's faster than standing, sometimes it's not. If you're in a bus, and there are two other buses in front of you, it make take you a very long time to get through. They have to unload the bus, which may have 10, or it may have 50 people on it. They have to process all those people. (Yes, sometimes that line does go quicker than the "regular" lines). They have to inspect the bus. They have to reload the bus. If you're three buses back you're in for a long wait, too.

Of all the times I crossed on foot with SENTRI, I have never had to wait while the bus line was processed. I've also never been threatened with violence the couple of times I got suckered into "cutting" the line for a fee.

[Gregyyr]

I realize it's "Mexico" and all but they really should have some large signs giving people direction on which lines to get into for regular, Global Entry, Sentry. Mexico does many things great as we all know, but they don't need to just do a half ass job with signage as they have for years at the border.

G.

[Gregyyr]

The earliest global entry appointment I can find is in March 2022. Need something ASAP.

One option a friend did was not select his city for the Global Entry interview. He selected some other city (don't remember which but it was like 6 hours east of San Diego) Just because they had an earlier interview date and just did a road trip and got the interview. Saved him several months of waiting.

G.

[MoneyShot]

So I guess the best solution for those without global entry is to take the $10 bus ride across the border. As the bus as a special lane that bypasses the regular vehicle line.

Don't believe there is such a Bus?