three tips to speed your way through the airport

SFO International Terminal, photo from Wikicommons

A friend was asking the difference between the TSA PreCheck and Global Entry programs, so I thought I'd share my answer among a wider audience. As you are well aware, getting through airport security is a sometimes quite time-consuming endeavor. Moreover, travelers returning to the US from international destinations can find themselves in distressingly long immigration lines. Fortunately, there are ways to alleviate some of the stress of waiting in queue.

Good: TSA Pre✓ — If you only fly domestically, this is the easiest and most economical way to speed your way through security. Once you're approved for TSA Pre✓ (a 2-3 week process), you'll be issued a Trusted Traveler number. Be sure to enter this number into each of your frequent flyer (FF) accounts. Whenever you book a flight using your frequent flyer account, your Trusted Traveler number should automatically be added to your reservation. (If you don't have any FF accounts, you can directly enter your Trusted Traveler number into the reservation.) The cost of TSA Pre✓ is $85 for a 5-year membership.

Better: Global Entry — If you travel internationally, apply for Global Entry instead. This service costs $100 for a 5-year membership and includes TSA Pre✓.  A mere $15 more ($3 a year) scores you the benefit of a much shorter wait at US immigration. Global Entry members use special kiosks, bypassing the long lines. An additional benefit — a separate, much shorter line to clear customs.

Applying for Global Entry is more involved. You'll have to apply online and be interviewed in person. The wait for interview appointments at some airports can be extremely long, but once you apply and receive your preliminary approval, you can have that interview upon your first return from an international trip. The immigration agent will perform the interview.

assorted TIPS

a) Many premium credit cards will refund your membership fee, once every 5 years.

b) If you don't see "TSA Pre✓" printed on your boarding pass, call the airline. Make sure your Trusted Traveler number is in the reservation. They'll add it and reissue the boarding pass.

c) When using the TSA Pre✓ line, keep your shoes on. Keep your toiletries, your computer, and your other electronics in your bag. Just put your bags on the conveyer, keep your shoes on, and walk on through the magnetometer. I love not having to remove my shoes; it adds a certain dignity to the experience.

Best: Global Entry + CLEAR — Before you can even enter the security line, your ID has to be checked. Sometimes ID checkpoints have excruciatingly long lines. CLEAR kiosks are found at 24 busy airports (with some notable omissions), and CLEAR can save some serious time. A CLEAR kiosk will identify you by your fingerprints or iris, and a CLEAR agent will then escort you to the very front of the line of passengers waiting for security.

Tip: before applying for CLEAR, get a free Delta SkyMiles account. There is a special CLEAR discount for SkyMiles members, $99 per year vs. $179 per year.

Personal Testimonial: There were humongous lines at SFO's terminal 2 for a recent Alaska flight I took to Baltimore, both before and after the ID checkpoint, but with CLEAR and Global Entry/TSA Pre✓, I was literally past all of those lines in about a minute.

Bottom line: Spending money can get you front-of-the-line service. Are you worth it? You betcha!

copyright (c) 2018 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

top five tips for the best airport experience

SFO International Terminal, photo from Wikicommons

There were HUGE lines when I entered Terminal Two at SFO a week ago. Finding yourself at the back of a slow-moving queue can stress out even the most experienced traveler. Try these strategies to ease your way through the airport and make flying a pleasurable experience. Usually.

(1) Plan your arrival. I'm one of those travelers who has anxiety about getting delayed in transit, arriving late, and feeling like I have to rush to make my flight and find overhead space. So I plan accordingly. 8:15 a.m. flight from SFO? Coming from the East Bay? Because the Bay Bridge has huge rush-hour back-ups at the toll plazas, I took BART. I parked at the North Berkeley BART station, having taken advantage of BART's airport long-term parking program — it cost me just $28 for four weekdays + Saturday. Took the 6 a.m. train, got into SFO at 7 a.m. The AirTrain deposited me, five minutes later, at Terminal Two.

(2) CLEAR-ing the security lines - part I. It goes without saying that I checked in online and already had my boarding pass in hand. But arriving at the terminal, I saw HUMONGOUS lines clustered in front of the security area, hundreds of fellow travelers who had arrived before me. But not to worry, I have a membership in CLEAR, $99 per year for Delta SkyMiles members. I went straight to the separate CLEAR check-in area where there was no line. They identified me using biometrics on file (fingerprints or iris scan), stamped my boarding pass, then escorted me to the very front of the snaking lines.

(3) PRE-CHECKING your way through security - part II. Enjoying TSA Pre-Check is the best part of having Global Entry. I didn't have to remove my shoes. I didn't have to remove electronics from my bag. I didn't have to remove my one quart bag of toiletries. I just placed my carryon and my briefcase on the conveyer, walked through the magnetometer, and waited for my bags to emerge. That was literally the longest part of the security check. The entire process required maybe two minutes.

(4) Lounging in comfort. Even though I was flying Virgin America Alaska, I was able to check in to American's Admirals Club Lounge, thanks to the membership that comes with my AAdvantage Executive MasterCard. (Lounge access is accorded all cardholders on the account, at no additional cost per card.) I relaxed for a short while in a quiet comfortable place, had a small breakfast, and even made a Sabre booking on my laptop computer, taking advantage of the fast WiFi and an actual table.

(5) Get me to the gate on time. I actually messed up on this one, neglecting to pay attention to the location of my gate. It was in Terminal One, about a five minute walk airside from Terminal Two, so I ended up rushing to the gate, arriving after boarding had already begun. Fortunately, my First Class award ticket let me bypass the queue of passengers in economy, and I was able to snag overhead space just behind my seat.

My mantra: I don't mind standing at the front of a long line; I just don't like being at the back of a long line. It works for me!

copyright (c) 2018 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

Trusted Traveler & Global Entry | new website

If you are a frequent flyer, Trusted Traveler is the best investment you can make ... and if you travel internationally, you should definitely enroll in Global Entry (which includes Trusted Traveler status). Here's why.

Tired of taking off your shoes — not to mention slipping off your belt, your overcoat, and removing your laptop and baggie of liquids from your carryon? Trusted travelers are spared this process (and especially having to get dressed again). As long as you're traveling on a participating airline (some international carriers are not), you'll place your carryon on the conveyer, walk through the magnetometer, and pick everything up on the other side. If no one is in line, it can take as little as 15 seconds.

Despairing at the length of the line at immigration? Don't! Global Entry members literally walk around that line. You'll waltz up to a friendly kiosk which will scan your fingerprints, take your photo, and give you a receipt to hand to the officer when exiting (and enjoy a special exit line from Customs as well). You're even spared having to fill out the immigration card, as the touch-screen kiosk gets this information from you.

Did you know there's a new Trusted Traveler website? All current users will need to re-register, but not to worry. I did it this morning, and it's relatively quick and painless. Just have your PASSID number handy before you begin, the "trusted traveller" number found on the back of your global entry card. Surf to the Trusted Traveler Programs website. Click "I'm already a program member" and choose "manage my membership." The website will guide you through the process. Although not as user-friendly as it might be, it's pretty straightforward. For more detailed instructions, see The Points Guy blog.

Haven't signed up yet? I enthusiastically recommend Global Entry and Trusted Traveler. Many credit cards will credit your enrollment fee. To save even more time, you might consider additional time-and-aggravation-saving services such as CLEAR and get a discount if you have a Delta Airlines SkyMiles number.

copyright (c) 2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

skipping the queue | what's it worth?

from commons.wikipedia.com, photo owned by the Saeima Chancellery and used by permission

Here's a long line winding around the corner in Saeima, Latvia. Why so many people in queue? They've come for the Night of Museums, an annual event held across Europe. The following equation describes the phenomenon we're seeing here...

free admission = lots o' people = long queues

... which brings up a question I just responded to on fodors.com: "Just wondering if it is worth buying skip the queue tickets for Versailles." My short answer: Yes!!! Read on for my long answer...

Life is short... Thus begins the provocative headline on a recent advertisement I saw, but I disagree with the ad's conclusion: "Life is short: you should be playing the world's finest golf equipment!" NOT!!! Life is a gift, I would say, so make the most of the time with which you've been blessed!

This is especially true of travel. Say France is on your bucket list, and visiting Paris and touring Versailles are something you've been looking forward to for years. So you plan your trip, spending thousands of dollars on flights and hotels. What that nets you is time in France; you've essentially bought 3 or 5 or 7 days to explore Paris and to experience all it has to offer.

So how do you want to invest your precious time? You could spend hours of your vacation waiting in queue: an hour in line at the Louvre, an hour at the Musée d'Orsay, another hour at Versailles. That time adds up, and you will have squandered that most precious of resources, your leisure time. If 5€ could buy you an extra hour to sit outside a café, sip your cafe au lait, and watch as Paris walks by your table — wouldn't that be worth it?

So, yes, skip every queue you possibly can. Buy your tickets in advance. Get the Paris Museum Pass that gets you right in. Ask your travel advisor about engaging expert guides who can help you experience so much more while making much more efficient use of your time. (And while we're on the subject of queues, get Global Entry and TSA pre-check to avoid those lines as well — the best $100 you can ever spend).

copyright (c) 2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell, a Virtuoso® Member. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

eliminating stress at the airport

This You Tube video, entitled "Stupidly Long Unnecessary Queue at Heathrow Airport," illustrates the issue I'm writing about. Like many of my articles, this was prompted by a question posed in a post on fodors.com. What time should she leave her Paris hotel to catch a flight departing Paris CDG at 10:20 a.m. The advice came back — depart your hotel at 6 a.m. She replied, asking whether it would be safe to leave at 7 a.m.? Answer: NO!!!

Here's my personal approach, knowing that others prefer to live dangerously! I strategize to minimize stress when I travel. When planning my departure time, I take into account everything that can go wrong — including traffic jams, unfamiliarity with the airport and its procedures, and long lines for check-in, baggage drop-off, security, and passport control. I assume the worst scenario and take that into account when planning my departure time.

Some tips for dealing with logistical stress.

(1) Leave yourself plenty of time! I don't mind waiting at the front of a line when I'm early, but I hate waiting at the back of a line when I'm late.

(2) Consider the option of public transportation during rush hour. I often take BART to the San Francisco airport to avoid a drive over the Bay Bridge during rush hour, especially if there won't be enough passengers in the car to use the carpool lanes.

(3) Checked baggage and running late? Use the skycaps outside the terminal doors. MUCH shorter lines, and even if you tip $1 or more per bag, that's a small amount to pay to eliminate stress.

(4) Fly in Business Class or First. You'll enjoy much shorter check-in lines and have priority access through the security lines.

(5) Get Global Entry which includes TSA Pre-Check. The latter gets you into a shorter, quicker line and spares you the inconvenience of taking off your shoes and jackets and removing your laptops and bag of liquids from your carry on. Global Entry saves you from queueing at US Immigration on your return and gets you into an expedited Customs line.

(6) Airport lounges typically provide a haven of sanity when you do get there early and have time to burn. Instead of grabbing a bolted-down seat by the gate, head to your airline's lounge (or use a Priority Pass Lounge). Many credit cards provide lounge access. American Express Platinum gets the cardmember free access into a Delta lounge (or into an Amex Centurion Lounge at a number of airports). There are credit cards that provide American and United lounge access ... and a Priority Pass Select card.

(7) VIP airport services can also save you time and stress where available. At Paris Charles De Gaulle (which the original question was about), you can get both a departure service (meet-and-greet curbside; fast-track through check-in, immigration, and security; lounge access; and escort to the boarding gate) and arrival service (meet-and-greet at the gate; fast-track through immigration and customs, assistance with luggage, and escort to your waiting limo).

copyright (c) 2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

Global Entry | you should definitely get this

Seven months ago, I went online to renew my Global Entry for another 5 years and sign up for a re-enrollment interview. The earliest interview I could get was January 10th, 7 months in the future (unless I wanted to go somewhere other than the Bay Area). So I took BART from North Berkeley to SFO this morning — a one-hour trip and quite the bargain if you have a Senior Clipper Pass.

If you travel internationally, you should get Global Entry. It will make your US immigration much quicker. You get to bypass the long lines snaking up to the desks and go straight to the kiosks. Scan your passport, give them your fingerprints, and the kiosk spits out a receipt that you show at the door when you leave. There's even a separate exit through Customs for Global Entry customers. Here's the link to apply... and some credit cards will reimburse the $100 it costs. A great value, even if it weren't free.

And you get TSA Pre-Check as part of the bargain! No need to take off your shoes, remove your bag of liquids, or take your computer out of your carryon.

Good for five years of expedited travel, be sure to watch the expiration date of your Global Entry membership. Be sure to renew before it expires!

copyright (c) 2017 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

Global Entry can save you time

If you're a frequent international traveler, you should consider Global Entry, the new trusted traveler network established by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

How can Global Entry save you time? If you dread the thought of returning from an international trip and finding yourself at the back of a long queue at Immigration, Global Entry was created just for you. You bypass the long lines and use special kiosks along the wall, adjacent to the special lines used by airline crews. The kiosk will (1) scan your passport, (2) read your fingerprints, and (3) ask you to confirm your incoming flight information. This information should already be in the system, as it has been forwarded electronically to Customs and Immigration when you check in for your flight. (4) Finally, you will be asked to answer the same set of questions you'd normally have to answer on the paper version of the Customs Declaration Form. The kiosk will provide you with a receipt, and that's the only thing you have to show to the exit control officer. It's recommended, however, that you do fill out the paper form in case the kiosk is not operating.

Even if the kiosks are not functioning, you are still accorded front of the line privileges. Head to the front of the nearest passport control line and show the officer your membership sticker on the inside back cover of your passport.

I completed my application process last week at SFO. It costs $100 to apply, but American Express will refund the application fee for Platinum Card Members. Your membership is valid for five years.


Global Entry (search here on Google)

copyright (c) 2011 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.
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