George Hobica: TSA PreCheck Expanding, Breezes You Through Airport Security

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Since 2001, multiple schemes have been floated to get passengers through lines at security and customs more quickly. Some were marginally successful, others failed, some never got off the ground. But with Global Entry, a customs fast-track solution in the making forever and finalized this past year, are we finally getting it right? Let's take a look at this increasingly popular program, which has travelers saying nice things about airports for a change.

What is it?

Global Entry is a voluntary program, co-developed by United States Customs and Border Patrol that offers you expedited service when re-entering the country via customs and immigration. This means no more dreading the immigration or customs lines in the arrivals hall when you return home from overseas - just walk up to the automated kiosk, check-in and go on your way - no filling out paperwork, no nothing. In addition, Global Entry members are automatically eligible for the increasingly popular TSA PreCheck service, developed by the Transportation Security Administration, designed to whisk low-risk types through the security checkpoints with less hassle: no removing laptops, shoes, jackets or liquids/gels.

Where do I sign up?

Head to www.globalentry.gov, fill out an online application and pay your $100, non-refundable application fee. Note, however, that you will be required to schedule an in-person interview at one of the Enrollment Centers, located at airports around the country. (Make sure you live close to one of them, the complete list is located on the Web site.) An official will sit with you, ask you a lot of personal questions (don't get nervous) and then you'll either be approved or rejected for the program; membership lasts for five years.

Who qualifies?

The program is not only open to American citizens, permanent residents will also qualify, along with Mexican nationals and citizens of The Netherlands and South Korea. (The list of qualifying countries is expected to grow in future.) Also, Canadian citizens can sign up for the pre-existing NEXUS border crossing program available there and receive the same benefits.

Who shouldn't bother?

If you've got a criminal record, have ever been in arrears, customs-wise, in any country on the face of the earth or have previously tangled with US immigration, save yourself the trouble of signing up.

How to beat the system

There's no way around the interview process, but there are ways to avoid paying the application fee. Got an American Express Platinum card? They'll reimburse you the $100, and the $100 paid by any additional cardholders on your account. Citibank's Citi Prestige cardholders also qualify for this benefit, as do Global Services, Premier 1K and Platinum members of United's MileagePlus program. Also, if you're already a member of the existing programs that the U.S. government operates in partnership with the Canadian (NEXUS) and Mexican (SENTRI) governments, you're set. Designed to get you and your car over the border faster, membership in these programs also allows you to use Global Entry at any American airport. The NEXUS program only costs $50 for five years, so join that and you'll save a nice chunk of change. (All in, SENTRI ends up costing a little more than Global Entry, but at least if you're a member, you don't have to pay another $100.) With both programs, make sure to check that you've got the correct fingerprints and documentation on file before attempting to use Global Entry, or you'll be kicked to the next available immigration agent for the standard screening.

Oh, and a little more about PreCheck...

Again, Global Entry members are automatically enrolled in the program; all you have to do is make sure you enter your known traveler number when booking your flight - you'll get that once you're admitted to Global Entry. Once again, you're at an advantage - passengers without membership in Global Entry have to be invited to participate in PreCheck by their airline (if their airline is participating), and access is generally determined by their frequent flyer status.

Why it's worth it

It shouldn't be too difficult to see the benefits. With both Global Entry and PreCheck, you've very nearly eliminated all of our least favorite things about airports - waiting in line at security, being forced to take off shoes and remove little baggies of toothpaste from our luggage, waiting in line at immigrations, waiting in line at customs. Talk about VIP status.

More tips on skipping airport lines:

Skip The Lines With Priority Boarding

Global Entry Gives You VIP Immigration When Entering U.S. Airports

Follow George Hobica on Twitter: www.twitter.com/airfarewatchdog

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Plane Crash Bodies Found On Runway At San Francisco Airport

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SAN FRANCISCO — After nearly 11 hours in the air, the passengers and crew aboard a jumbo jetliner traveling from Seoul to San Francisco were looking forward to a quick and uneventful landing as Asiana Airlines Flight 214 approached the airport from over San Francisco Bay. What they got instead, without a word of warning, was terror, panic and confusion.

The Boeing 777 slammed into the runway on Saturday morning, breaking off its tail and catching fire before slumping to a stop that allowed the lucky ones to flee down emergency slides into thick smoke and a trail of debris. Firefighters doused the flames that burned through the fuselage with foam and water, and police officers on the ground threw utility knives up to crew members so they could cut the seat belts of those who remained trapped as rescue crews removed the injured.

By the time the 307 people on the flight all were accounted for several hours later, two Chinese teenage girls found outside wreckage had been confirmed dead and 182 transported to area hospitals. But as harrowing as the crash was, survivors and witnesses were just as stunned to learn that the toll of deaths and serious injuries wasn't much higher.

"When you heard that explosion, that loud boom and you saw the black smoke...you just thought, my god, everybody in there is gone," said Ki Siadatan, who lives a few miles away from San Francisco International Airport and watched the plane's "wobbly" and "a little bit out of control" approach from his balcony. "My initial reaction was I don't see how anyone could have made it."

Vedpal Singh, who was sitting in the middle of the aircraft and survived the crash with his family, said there was no forewarning from the pilot or any crew members before the plane touched down hard and he heard a loud sound.

"We knew something was horrible wrong," said Singh, who suffered a fractured collarbone and had his arm was in a sling.

"It's miraculous we survived," he said.

A visibly shaken Singh said the plane went silent before people tried to get out anyway they could. His 15-year-old son said luggage tumbled from the overhead bins. The entire incident lasted about 10 seconds.

Another passenger, Benjamin Levy, 39, said it looked to him that the plane was flying too low and too close to the bay as it approached the runway. Levy, who was sitting in an emergency exit row, said he felt the pilot try to lift the jet up before it crashed, and thinks the maneuver might have saved some lives.

"Everybody was screaming. I was trying to usher them out," he recalled of the first seconds after the landing. "I said, `Stay calm, stop screaming, help each other out, don't push.'"

San Francisco Fire Department Chief Joanne Hayes-White said the two who died were found on "the exterior" of the plane. "Having surveyed that area, we're lucky that there hasn't been a greater loss," she said.

Airport spokesman Doug Yakel said 49 people were critically injured and 132 had less significant injuries.

The flight originated in Shanghai, China, and stopped over in Seoul, South Korea, before coming to San Francisco, airport officials said. The airline said there were 16 crew members aboard and 291 passengers. South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said that the plane's passengers included 141 Chinese, 77 South Koreans, 61 Americans, three Canadians, three from India, one Japanese, one Vietnamese and one from France, while the nationalities of the remaining three haven't been confirmed. Thirty of the passengers were children.

Chinese state media identified the dead as two 16-year-old girls who were middle school students in China's eastern Zhejiang province. China Central Television cited a fax from Asiana Airlines to the Jiangshan city government. They were identified as Ye Mengyuan and Wang Linjia.

At least 70 Chinese students and teachers were on the plane heading to summer camps, according to education authorities in China.

Asiana President Yoon Young-doo said at a televised news conference that it will take time to determine the cause of the crash. But when asked about the possibility of engine or mechanical problems, he said he doesn't believe they could have been the cause. He said the plane was bought in 2006 but didn't provide further details or elaborate. Asiana officials later said the plane was also built that year.

Yoon also bowed and offered an apology, "I am bowing my head and extending my deep apology" to the passengers, their families and the South Korean people over the crash, he said.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye offered her condolences to the families of passengers and said her government would make all necessary efforts to help handle the aftermath, according to her spokeswoman Kim Haing.

"I offer my deep condolences to the families of the passengers who suffered from the unexpected Asiana plane crash," South Korean President Park Geun-hye said, according to her spokeswoman Kim Haing. Park said that the South Korean government will make all necessary efforts to help handle the aftermath, according to Kim.

Based on witness accounts in the news and video of the wreckage, Mike Barr, a former military pilot and accident investigator who teaches aviation safety at the University of Southern California, said it appeared the plane approached the runway too low and something may have caught the runway lip – the seawall at the end of the runway.

San Francisco is one of several airports around the country that border bodies of water that have walls at the end of their runways to prevent planes that overrun a runway from ending up in the water.

Since the plane was about to land, its landing gear would have already been down, Barr said. It's possible the landing gear or the tail of the plane hit the seawall, he said. If that happened, it would effectively slam the plane into the runway, he said.

Noting that some witnesses reported hearing the plane's engines rev up just before the crash, Barr said that would be consistent with a pilot who realized at the last minute that the plane was too low and was increasing power to the engines to try to increase altitude. Barr said he could think of no reason why a plane would come in to land that low.

Kate Belding was out jogging just before 11:30 a.m. on a path across the water from the airport when she noticed the plane approaching the runway in a way that "just didn't look like it was coming in quite right."

"Then all of a sudden I saw what looked like a cloud of dirt puffing up and then there was a big bang and it kind of looked like the plane maybe bounced (as it neared the ground)," she said. "I couldn't really tell what happened, but you saw the wings going up and (in) a weird angle."

Four pilots were aboard the plane and they rotated on a two-person shift during the flight, according to The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in South Korea. The two who piloted the plane at the time of crash were Lee Jeong-min and Lee Gang-guk.

Yoon, the Asiana president, described the pilots as "skilled," saying three had logged more than 10,000 hours each of flight time. He said the fourth had put in almost that much time, but officials later corrected that to say the fourth had logged nearly 5,000 hours. All four are South Koreans.

Asiana is a South Korean airline, second in size to national carrier Korean Air. It has recently tried to expand its presence in the United States, and joined the Star Alliance, which is anchored in the U.S. by United Airlines.

The 777-200 is a long-range plane from Boeing. The twin-engine aircraft is often used for flights from one continent to another because it can travel 12 hours or more without refueling.

The most notable accident involving a 777 occurred on Jan. 17, 2008 at Heathrow Airport in London. British Airways Flight 28 landed hard about 1,000 feet short of the runway and slid onto the start of the runway. The impact broke the 777-200's landing gear. There were 47 injuries, but no fatalities.

___

Lowy reported from Washington, D.C. Associated Press writers Jason Dearen and Sudhin Thanawala in San Francisco, Scott Mayerowitz in New York, Pauline Arrillaga in Phoenix, Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Louise Watt in Beijing contributed to this report.

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Getting Stuck At The Airport Can Actually Be A Fun Date

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This article originally appeared on DateNight.Is

Summer is travel time. And the unfortunate reality of travel today means that you will, inevitably, be stuck in an airport somewhere waiting for your delayed flight to board on your way to/from your magnificent summer vacay. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Here’s the Date Night Is… guide to planning an unexpected romantic interlude in Terminal Whatever.

The Food Court Feast

Just like at the mall when you were growing up, part of the joy of the airport food court is the vast array of fine dining establishments at your disposal. But why settle for just one? Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to create a full five-course meal of the finest quality by purchasing only food court comestibles. Bonus points for mixing and matching cuisines to create your own amuse bouche.

The Trans-Terminal Pub Crawl

If there’s one thing that airports aren’t lacking, it’s bars. And thanks to the oddball hours of travel, airports are also considered an anomaly of time and space, thus making it perfectly legit to order an “adult beverage" at all hours of the day or night. (Hey, when you’ve been up for 8 hours straight on a red eye, who’s to say whether it’s breakfast or dinner at 6am?)

Sure, you could pick one bar and park yourself there for the time being. But that wouldn’t make for an impressive date. Instead, think of the Terminal as your new neighborhood and take your sweetheart on a pub crawl worthy of the name. Just try to limit yourselves to one drink per stop – we don’t want you getting banned from your next flight.

The Flash-Mob Movie Night

Every gate at every airport nowadays has a television blaring. It’s usually the news. It’s usually on a loop. And it’s usually boring. But it doesn’t have to be.

Turn the wait at the gate into your own little movie night extraordinaire. Step 1: find the little stand selling trail mix and caramel corn and grab a few bags of your favorite screen snacks. Step 2: grab two of the biggest fountain drinks you can find. (Extra credit is awarded for making your drink a "suicide.”) Step 3: plop yourselves down at the gate and dig in, just like you would at the movies. Be sure to whisper so you don’t interrupt fellow movie-goers

BONUS: Major extra credit points if you can get others involved, flash-mob style.

The Great Gag Gift Gathering

You’re at the airport, so presumably you’re about to hop a plane to somewhere. Make your next flight more enjoyable with a series of gifts for your partner. The mission is simple: $20 and 20 minutes each to head in your own direction and gather as many giggle-worthy gifts for your partner as possible. Hide them away in your carry-on and then dole them out as you see fit throughout your flight.

Here’s a few ideas to get you started: coloring book and crayons, puzzle book, Us Weekly or Playboy, your partner’s favorite candy, fridge magnets or equally odd airport memorabilia, the worst t-shirt you can find, a Cinnabon, mad libs.

The Not-Quite-Mile-High Club

The Mile High Club certainly has its own stigma, but if you’re stuck in the airport with your loved one and the mood strikes, do you really want to wait until you’re on a plane with 200 new “friends?" We’ll leave the mechanics of this one up to you...

The Survival Kit

Don’t worry, you’re not entirely on your own in finding the best an airport has to offer. Here are a few of our favorite apps/resources for hunting down the best places in any Terminal:

The Gate Guru App
Foursquare
SeatAlert
iFly Pro

More Date Night ideas from Date Night Is...

Date Night Is... a Chance to Spend a Night Under the Stars

Date Night Is... a Walk in the Park

Date Night Is... 2 (or 3) in the Kitchen

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