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Comment by tayo42 | Hacker News Reader

Global entry is just a fast pass for getting through the border.

I can't tell any difference between arriving with global entry or using the regular lane. Who ever is working the border asks the same dumb questions that they ask in the regular line.

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That's not true. I have Global Entry, and it is dramatically faster. I've not even had to break stride walking past the entry agent.

How can you say that's not true when Ive crossed the border and been asked the same silly questions they ask on the regular line? Its just faster because the line is shorter.

I have GE and haven't even talked to an agent in the last four entries. The last time I didn't have to claim my baggage which was really strange (YVR).

That would still be a benefit even if that was the case, but I frequently do not have to say a word beyond "hello" or "have a good one" to the border agent.

As someone who has traveled extensively with and without GE, your experience is extremely atypical. Not just for myself, not just for people I am acquainted with, but for all of the people I see in the customs lines and watching the speed of the lines. When I was dating a woman who was not a citizen, if we were returning internationally she would have me go through the GE line to go get the car, etc., and I would regularly have gotten through, walked to the car, loaded my luggage, and driven back around to arrivals and still had time to kill while waiting for her to arrive.

This is perhaps the first time in my life I've heard of someone saying that they haven't seen a difference after acquiring GE.

What do you think i mean by "fast pass"?

Yeah it is faster, because less people have it. The line is shorter.

Pay to skip the line, it's not like they're doing anything special at the border.

In the other comment where I replied to you I explicitly mention I barely talk to the CBP officers at all with GE, vs. having a whole script without it.

You barely talk to the the border agents on the regular line though. What are they really doing to check you? Its the same simple questions, where are you going, wheres home, anything to declare then you go through. The regular line for citizens is only long because there's a lot of people in it, not because they're doing anything special.

And I was explicit that I was answering none of that as well. Simple greetings.

Can you tell the difference between stopping at a red light and driving through a green light?

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