Clearing immigration at SFO last Wednesday afternoon, ALL us passport holders were directed to a single line. There was no queue for Global Entry. There were no Global Entry kiosks. Single queue for everyone. I simply walked up to a single camera for facial recognition. Five second to get a green checkmark and answer "Anything to declare?" and I was through.
Non-US passport holders still queued for agents in the booths.
Oh, that’s interesting. I came in through Salt Lake City in May and there were still dedicated lines for GE.
Are they trialing a new system at SFO?
Must be a recent development. When I went through 3 weeks ago there were seperate lines for GE and those with US passports but without GE.
Edit. Trial of a new GE system.
https://thepointsguy.com/news/global-entry-camera-capture-technology-trials/
Global Entry is still worth it.
I'm guessing you have GE. That could be one of the reasons you got through quickly. Without GE, you might be selected to talk to an officer.
I belileve they are updating the system. I entered JFK two weeks ago. The older GE facial recognition machine gave me a hard time. When I was moved to one of the newer machines, I was through in seconds. Suprisingly, GE had the older machines but MPC had the newer ones.
Should something happen to the new technologry, if you can prove you have GE, you will be escorted to the front of the line.
I've only used it twice so far for clearing Customs, and both times the GE line was quick and easy, but the regular line wasn't all that long either. So maybe I saved ten minutes each time. And that's fine and well.
But for those twenty minutes I've "saved" I spent HOURS applying for GE and going back to the airport for the interview and of course paying the fee. (Hopefully I'll use it many more times so it eventually pays off!)
I'll also mention that my husband and I applied on the same day and he got his approval the very next day, and mine took four MONTHS. I didn't even get it in time for the trip we had planned, so he got to use it and I didn't. But even then I was only a few minutes behind him.
Of course I have used it many times to go through the PreCheck line, and that is a benefit although regular PreCheck would work just as well for that and is easier/cheaper to get.
So far I have not found it to be worth it in time saved versus time and money spent, but I only leave the country maybe once a year, so someone who travels more often might reap more benefits.
Besides the value of clearing passport control with little or no issue, it has a lot of value with TSA Pre-check.
