20+ Airport Hacks for Faster Security, Immigration, and Boarding with Leigh Rowan

Summary

Podcast Summary: All the Hacks with Chris Hutchins - Episode 20+ Airport Hacks for Faster Security, Immigration, and Boarding with Leigh Rowan

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Introduction

In Episode 20 of All the Hacks with Chris Hutchins, host Chris Hutchins teams up with his guest Leigh Rowan to unravel over a dozen strategies to streamline your airport experience. From bypassing lengthy security lines to expediting immigration and boarding processes, this episode is a treasure trove for frequent travelers seeking efficiency and comfort. Below is a comprehensive summary capturing the key discussions, insights, and actionable tips shared during the episode.

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1. Planning Your Trip to Avoid Airport Lines

Key Focus: Selecting optimal travel times and utilizing technology to anticipate airport traffic.

• Avoid Peak Travel Periods: Leigh emphasizes the importance of traveling during off-peak times to minimize wait times. He states, “Key peak travel periods are important to take a look at” (05:13).

• Utilize Apps for Real-Time Updates: The hosts discuss the effectiveness of apps like My TSA and My Flight for checking real-time security line statuses. Leigh notes, “There are two apps that I found—My Flight and My TSA—that share airport wait times” (11:29).

• Research Airport-Specific Hacks: Leveraging platforms like Reddit, Leigh suggests, “There are resources out there, whether it's Reddit or the traditional wait times or airport-specific hacks on how to get through different security lines faster” (06:05).

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2. Efficient Check-In Strategies

Key Focus: Online check-ins and innovative baggage handling to save time.

• Online Check-In: Both Chris and Leigh agree on the necessity of checking in online 24 hours in advance. Leigh advises, “Check in 24 hours in advance” (06:50) to avoid last-minute hassles and secure better boarding positions.

• Alternative Bag Check Options: They explore options beyond standard check-in counters, such as drive-through bag checks available at specific airports like Tampa and Dubai. Leigh shares, “Dubai also allows you to do this, too, where you can basically send your bag ahead of time from your hotel directly to your Emirates flight” (08:00).

• Baggage Forwarding Services: Services like Ship and Play and Luggage Forward are highlighted as effective methods to transport luggage directly to destinations, eliminating the need to handle bags at the airport. Leigh explains, “We scope them out, see who's the cheapest, make sure that the hotel and the Dolomites will be able to receive the baggage” (09:52).

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3. Navigating Security Lines with Ease

Key Focus: Maximizing benefits from programs like TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, and Clear.

• TSA PreCheck vs. Global Entry: The discussion differentiates between TSA PreCheck, which streamlines domestic security processes, and Global Entry, which offers expedited immigration for international travelers. Leigh states, “Global Entry is both an international program... in Global Entry, you have to do the interview” (19:50).

• Clear Membership Advantages: Clear membership allows travelers to bypass regular security lines entirely. Leigh remarks, “Clear lets you skip the line...you usually don’t need to bring your ID out” (25:00).

• Reserved Security Lines: Programs like Den Reserve at Denver International Airport offer reserved security slots, enhancing speed without additional membership requirements. Leigh advises, “If you're flying outta Denver, there's no reason not to check out Den Reserve three days before and book a spot” (15:25).

• Using Airport-Specific Entry Points: Some airports offer alternative security entry points, which can sometimes be shorter or less crowded. For example, Leigh mentions, “At LAX, you can pay for the private suite experience” (36:54).

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4. Expedited Immigration Processes

Key Focus: Leveraging Global Entry, Mobile Passport Control, and other specialized programs to breeze through immigration.

• Global Entry Benefits: Leigh highlights that Global Entry not only speeds up entry into the U.S. but also offers reciprocal benefits in countries like Mexico, Canada, and Korea. He emphasizes, “Global Entry is a little laborious, but it's worth it” (20:00).

• Mobile Passport Control App: For those ineligible for Global Entry, the Mobile Passport Control app serves as a free alternative to expedite customs and immigration processes. Leigh strongly recommends it, stating, “Just can't highly enough recommend it. Number one, it's free” (47:53).

• APEC Business Travel Card: This card facilitates quicker immigration for business travelers in the Asia-Pacific region. Leigh shares his personal experience, “I went through this [APEC Business Travel Card], but was denied” (58:22), advising, “if you're a frequent business traveler to Asia, you absolutely should add this to Global Entry” (59:21).

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5. Boarding the Plane: Tips to Get Onboard Fast

Key Focus: Strategies to expedite the boarding process and minimize delays.

• Early Boarding Through Status and Payments: Airlines often offer early boarding options for premium passengers or those willing to pay extra. Leigh mentions, “You can pay for early boarding” (45:57).

• Using Lounges for Priority Boarding: Accessing lounges can sometimes offer the privilege of boarding directly from the lounge, bypassing general lines. Leigh notes, “At some places like Emirates Business First, they board from the lounge” (45:57).

• Light Packing: Traveling with carry-on luggage only can significantly reduce boarding times. Leigh advises, “If you travel so lightly that you don’t need overhead space, then you just board less” (46:32).

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6. Additional Tips to Enhance Your Airport Experience

Key Focus: Supplementary strategies to further streamline your journey through airports.

• Using Greeters Services: Hiring a greeter can assist in navigating complex airport layouts, handling baggage, and expediting through security and immigration. Leigh explains, “Greeters are very good at getting it back” (28:55).

• Preparation and Documentation: Ensuring all travel documents are in order, including visas and electronic travel authorizations, is crucial to avoid unexpected delays. Leigh emphasizes, “Make sure your documents are in order before you leave home” (51:58).

• Bringing a Pen: A simple yet often overlooked tip is to carry a pen to fill out customs forms promptly. Leigh humorously adds, “Bring a pen. I can't tell you the number of people I've seen that don't have a pen” (61:56).

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Notable Quotes

• Chris Hutchins: “Airports can be a nightmare or they can be a breeze. It all comes down to knowing the right strategies.” (00:02)

• Leigh Rowan: “Lines are the worst. I'm even like the anti pre boarding line guy.” (03:50)

• Leigh Rowan: “If you're flying multiple times a year, you probably have TSA Pre or Global Entry, which makes a huge difference.” (06:05)

• Leigh Rowan: “Check in online. There are some cities where you can check in and go through security faster.” (07:28)

• Leigh Rowan: “If you're going to be flying, make sure you have online check-ins sorted and know your security options.” (41:22)

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Conclusion

Episode 20+ of All the Hacks with Chris Hutchins serves as an essential guide for travelers aiming to enhance their airport experience. By implementing strategies such as leveraging TSA PreCheck, Global Entry, Clear, and utilizing innovative services like baggage forwarding and greeter assistance, travelers can significantly reduce waiting times and increase overall efficiency. Additionally, meticulous preparation, including securing necessary documentation and utilizing technology, further ensures a seamless journey from departure to arrival. Whether you're a frequent flyer or planning your first international trip, the insights shared in this episode are invaluable for transforming your travels into a hassle-free adventure.

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For more detailed strategies and exclusive deals mentioned in this episode, visit AllTheHacks.com.

Transcript

[Chris Hutchins]

Airports can be a nightmare or they can be a breeze. It all comes down to knowing the right strategies. So today, with the help of my good friend Lee Rowan, we are going to make sure you know more than a dozen different tricks and hacks to skip security lines, breeze through immigration, and avoid all the big travel headaches we'll cover. The basics, like whether Precheck, Global Entry or Clear are worth it, but we're also going to go deep down the rabbit hole and share things that I didn't even know existed until I spent hours researching this episode. So assuming you don't love wasting your time in crowded lines, I think you will love this one. I'm Chris Hutchins. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend or leave a comment or review. And if you want to keep upgrading your life, money and travel, click Follow or subscribe now. Let's get into it right after this. This episode is brought to you by Trust and Will. It is so easy to overcomplicate simple tasks. Believe me, I love doing so much research, but some things don't always need to be so over complicated that they end up getting put off forever, like creating a will or Trust. So check out Trust and Will because they make estate planning so straightforward and simple, you can do it from your couch. Their platform is attorney designed, specific to each state and most important, customized by you at every step. I can tell you firsthand how great Trust and Will is because we use them to set up our estate plan years ago, long before they were a sponsor because it was quick, easy and way less intimidating than it seems. In a few guided steps, we had a solid plan in place to protect our family and we were able to customize it to match all our nuanced preferences about what happens to our savings, who's going to be the guardian for our kids, our dog, and so much more. I can't tell you how much peace of mind we have knowing we got all this taken care of. And it was so easy to update after we had our second child. So let trust and will uncomplicate the process for you. Protect what matters most in [e-mail] trust and and will to get 15% off plus free shipping. That's 15% off and free [e-mail] TrustAndWill.

[Lee Rowan]

So I want to ask you one question first. Yeah, aside from today, how early do you get to the airport?

[Unnamed Guest]

I mean, that's like saying which child is my favorite, right? There's always a different answer depending on the day and depending on the need. I think as a general rule of thumb, I'm a kind of person who doesn't want to be stressed at the airport. So I'm getting there early enough, but not too early. I want to make sure I enjoy lounge, I want to make sure I get through security without any problems. If there's passport control or immigration or anything else, want to make sure I have that taken care of. But generally for a domestic flight, I'm an hour to an hour and 15 ahead of time. Especially when I'm traveling with kids, maybe that's an hour and 30 because I know we're logging a lot of stuff. For an international flight, it's not much more than that, honestly. Departing from the States maybe an hour 45. They always say get here two, three hours early. No, I don't really want to do that. I don't want to be killing so much time that my kids are running around bored in the airport.

[Lee Rowan]

So I don't know. I probably have a slightly different perspective because I don't have to add travel time which I think adds the uncertainty because we live so close to the airport. I domestic flight, no checked bags, leave the house an hour before, get to the airport 45 minutes before. And I always have extra time. Yeah, but that's for like the I'm going to la, I need to do a thing. Not the I want to get to the airport early and have a meal. Same with you. With kids, we're there earlier. But if it's an international flight, maybe we're there earlier just because we want to eat before we get on the plane so that we can sleep on the plane. Assuming we're flying in business with points. But I think there's one thing we can both agree on is that no matter how early or late you get to the airport, none of the time we want to spend at the airport, whether it's before takeoff or landing, is in a line at security, at immigration, at customs. You might want to get here two hours early, three hours early, you might want to get here 45 minutes early. I think we can all agree that no matter what time we get here, we don't want to be waiting in line.

[Unnamed Guest]

Lines are the worst. I'm even like the anti pre boarding line guy. Like I'm just not going to like get there with the gate lice and beating the cattle line to try to get on. I'm just going to take my time getting on because I don't want to.

[Lee Rowan]

Wait in lines, period.

[Unnamed Guest]

Full Stop.

[Lee Rowan]

So what we put together, I think, I would argue based on my quick research on this episode, is the most comprehensive guide to how to skip all the lines at the airport. And so I think we're going to start as early as when you think about traveling all the way up until when you get there, when you land, immigration, everything. So first off, if you want to avoid the lines when you're planning your trip, based on today, by the way, we're recording this at the airport. We had come here thinking wouldn't it be fun if we tested some of these things?

[Unnamed Guest]

There was no testing possible there. Surprisingly Friday, pre holiday Friday even feels like here in the Bay Area there are literally zero lines. There was a one minute line at TSA PreCheck and two minutes for the general TSA, which is incredible.

[Lee Rowan]

Yeah, I was like, oh, let's look at the app, see if the apps that tell you how long the lines are accurate. Let's you and I each one go through clear, one not go through clear. What do we need to find out?

[Unnamed Guest]

Couldn't even do that.

[Lee Rowan]

Yeah. So unfortunately we couldn't put those things to the test. We came on a day where that wasn't an option. However, we're still going to talk about it. So I think when you're planning a trip, if you want to avoid the lines, there are times. Sounds like Friday after President's Day weekend is a good time to come to the airport to avoid lines. What do you think are not good times to come to the airport if you're planning a trip?

[Unnamed Guest]

Obviously key peak travel periods are important to take a look at. But I would also say anytime you're hearing the TSA, put an output into the press releases around, you know, get to airports early this weekend. Like listen, right. Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. Easter, spring break, whatever. But I would also just take a look at, there is a website that you can check. It's not always accurate, not always great for the TSA wait times at the airport. Just take a look at that and see what kind of the trends are looking like on the day of your travel and see if maybe you're going to get to the airport and be surprised by three hour lines somewhere. No matter what you do, there are resources out there, whether it's Reddit or the traditional wait times or airport specific hacks on how to get through different security lines faster. That could work for you. That would help you game out how you're going to do it for each of the airlines that I fly when it's a New experience. I always want to kind of understand what is my security expectation. How long should I be planning on being at the airport ahead of time to make sure I can get through that line as fast as possible?

[Lee Rowan]

I will say yes. Avoiding holidays and off peak travel can increase your likelihood that you won't be stuck in line. But the reality is, by the time we're done with this, I don't think you should be waiting in any lines. And that's not to say there's no lines like I've waited in lines. You waited in lines even when we had all the line skipping tools and tricks. But I have never waited in a line so long without knowing that I might. Right. If I'm changing planes in a foreign country, flying economy, and I have no status and no fast track, I plan that I'm going to wait in the line for a long time. But when I'm planning, there are ways to avoid. Probably 15 minutes would be the max. If you budget 15 minutes, you should be good. So let's go through all the things that you should do to make sure you're through security as fast as possible. And the first is just to check.

[Unnamed Guest]

In before you get to the airport 1000%. We always check in 24 hours or sometimes 30 hours, depending on the airline in advance to make sure that we have boarding passes in hand. We understand if our known traveler numbers or our fast track security or our premier access or whatever is showing on the boarding pass. And if it's not, that's the time to troubleshoot it as a day in advance. You definitely don't want to be at the airport with very little time to spend and you got to wait into a line at the counter to talk to somebody to actually get a boarding pass. You're not doing it right. So check in 24 hours in advance. You know, for some airlines like Southwest, that's almost a requirement. Right. If you don't check in and get a better boarding pass, you will be waiting in line in the back of the B's or the C's in a bad boarding position, which is never what you want.

[Lee Rowan]

So you want to check in online. There are some cities. I pulled up a few. Hong Kong, for example. At Hong Kong Station, Kowloon Station, you can actually check in and go through security, is that right?

[Unnamed Guest]

No, you can check your bag, but you check your bag security.

[Lee Rowan]

Okay. So you can check in your bags and avoid that. Obviously if you're checking bags at the airport, you can't avoid going to the counter, but you can check your bags at curbjack. I believe Tampa Airport is the only airport that I found where there is a drive through bag check at the rental car area. I'd never heard that till doing research for this episode.

[Unnamed Guest]

Dubai also allows you to do this too, where you can basically send your bag ahead of time from your hotel directly to your Emirates flight, which is pretty cool. That doesn't unfortunately work when you're coming back to the States. So it works when you're going onwards to other destinations. If you're flying Emirates, if you look into this and do a little bit of research on your airline in particular in the city you're flying from, there may be some opportunities like you're saying that would allow you to do a city check in and alleviate lugging your bags to the airport.

[Lee Rowan]

Yep. And just waiting in line to check in. There are some places where the check in line is a pain. Now you can, with some tickets or status on different airlines, go through the Premier line or the Elite line or the I just paid $20 line. When we were traveling Paris Orly on Trans Savia, we paid the premium fee to be able to have the expedited line, which meant that we went into the short line but we didn't have status.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, I don't think there really is A status on Transavio or Ryanair EasyJet. But yeah, those are great ways of, especially with families saving time and getting ahead.

[Lee Rowan]

Yep. And so that was one. And then in Japan you can use luggage forwarding services which are really amazing and actually very fast and efficient. The downside being when you're using them, it's not instant. So if you need your bag the second you arrive somewhere, you can't do that. But you can send your luggage, you know, instead of having to lug it on the train, instead of having to lug it to the airport. I went online and I looked. There's two companies I found Luggage Forward and Ship and Play where you can order your bags to be shipped ahead of time internationally. And the prices were not as high as I thought. And so I looked San Francisco to Paris, 200 bucks for 25 pound bag. 400 bucks for a 50 pound bag. Take seven days. Ship and play was 245 for 50 pounds. But if you have a clear membership, which we'll talk about in a little bit, 50% off, two to four days. So is $245 a good price? You probably are only going to pay 50 to $75 to check the bag at the airport. So yes, it's more expensive, but it might be a lot less hassle.

[Unnamed Guest]

A hundred percent. Here's where we use this, right? If you're going to be, let's say, going to Florence and spending a week there and then going up to the Dolomites and going skiing, you don't want to have all your ski gear with you in Florence while you're there. So what we do is we use, whether it's ship sticks or luggage, free luggage, forward ship and plant any of these kinds of providers. We scope them out, see who's the cheapest, make sure that the hotel and the Dolomites will be able to receive the baggage, of course. And then we ship those ahead of time before somebody leaves the States. So that way their bag is in Europe. By the time they get to Europe, they're in Florence having a great time. They can simply waltz into the Dolomites, their bag's already there. Highly recommend using this also to send stuff home from Europe or from Asia when you're on a long trip, it saves you time and it does save you money in the end.

[Lee Rowan]

Yeah. So if you can't pay for the premium line, status obviously helps. Almost every airline, except some of the budget ones, have some form of status and some form of reciprocal status if you're flying on a partner airline. Did an episode 182 all about all the shortcuts to elite status. We're not going to talk about how to get status, but I will say that being able to walk through the short line Southwest saved us at least 30 minutes last week flying to Salt Lake City and then plenty of times in United. We walked by the United line for the premier bag drop was much shorter than the other line. Both were very short, though. So today was the day that none of this mattered. But there are a lot of days where I'm traveling where all of this matters. So that's what happens before you get to security. Once you're at security, let's talk about some options.

[Unnamed Guest]

There's a lot of ways of getting through security the best possible way without having to wait, but also by just being savvy and looking around, seeing what your surroundings look like.

[Lee Rowan]

So you talked about. Check the TSA website. There's two apps that I found.

[Unnamed Guest]

There's my flight, MI Flight and my tsa. My tsa.

[Lee Rowan]

Oh, yeah. And those two apps share airport wait times. So that's one option, one that we thought we'd uncovered today, which actually I still think would be a good option on another day where there is a lot of Traffic is not always going through the security line for the terminal you're flying out of. There are some airports where this is a terrible idea because they are not connected. And I've done plenty of searches that are like SFO T1, T2, Airside Connection, and you can find out whether they're connected or go to the airline website. But what we noticed today was that United at SFO has expanded into Terminal 2, but all the check ins in Terminal 3. So the only airlines that actually have check in desks at Terminal 2 were Breeze and Air Canada, which have, I'm going to guess, no more than five flights a day. And so going through terminals two security and then walking over to terminal one or terminal three would be incredibly fast if there was a long line there. And I've multiple times at SFO when I was flying out of Terminal 3 and it was a mess, walked over to international, gone through International and walked.

[Unnamed Guest]

Back a hundred percent. And this also works, by the way, for lounges, right? If you're going to be going like maybe we are, to a lounge in a different terminal, you can use the security apparatus in that terminal, go to the lounge and then walk airside to.

[Lee Rowan]

Your gates or even leave if you really wanted to. You could go to the international terminal in some airport, go to the lounge if you get there, or have a super long layover, leave security and go through another one. You are allowed to go through any airport security at any terminal at the airport, at least domestically, even if your flight is not there.

[Unnamed Guest]

The kicker here is just do not do that when you're traveling internationally. You can't really leave once you've stamped your passport and you've exited the country.

[Lee Rowan]

Yes, it kind of depends. Here in the States you don't go through immigration when you leave, so you can go to the international terminal. But in a lot of countries I would say this is not advice I would take, but domestically I very often, if I get to the airport too early or have a really long layover, I'm going to go find the best lounge. And actually this quick preview, I'm going to be recording an episode, not today, about all the different lounges, lounge access, everything. So we're not going to cover that. Though if we ever get a text back from the club at SFO where we intended to record this episode, we're going to head over there and pause and resume this episode. So alternate ports of entry. I remember when I went to school in Colorado, there was always this optimal thing where you can go through the main Security and then you can take the little people mover tram or there was the ability to go through a little bridge that went over to terminal A or Concourse A and you could go through security there. And I don't know if this is still the case, but that line when I was in college was always so much shorter. And it turns out as I did research, the bridge that you walk over is the only bridge maybe in the world at an airport where you can walk over moving planes that move under you.

[Unnamed Guest]

Seattle also has one going to their customs. But yes, you're right, there's very few bridges like that, which is kind of fun. The thing about these, how do you uncover this information? Right. There's thousands of airports around the world, thousands of different ports of entry into those airports. Reddit is a really great place to do this, where you can really embarrass some Redditors who've done an excellent job laying out the best security access points, times of day, et cetera. So I'd highly recommend that. And note that things do change. Checkpoints here, even at sfo, one of the busiest airports in America, are only open for time periods, depending on the flights that are happening. So if you go to the international terminal and expect that it's going to be fully staffed, it may not be. So be aware of that as well.

[Lee Rowan]

One thing that I'd never heard of until I started researching this and actually I was researching Denver to see if that terminal A concourse thing was there, and I found this thing called Den Reserve and up to, I think three days in advance, you can reserve a time to go through security and it's totally free and it's not affiliated with any program. Anyone can go to the Denver Airport website, find Den Reserve, say on Sunday morning at 9:00am, I want to go with three people through security. And it's a fast track through security that doesn't require you to have TSA pre, doesn't require you to have clear or anything else.

[Unnamed Guest]

But keep in mind that you're still going to have to like take out your laptop and you take your shoes off, all that stuff. It's not getting you through that part of security, it's getting through the line waiting part.

[Lee Rowan]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

A lot faster, which in an airport like Denver can be really important. Those lines, even with TSA PRE, can be 45 minutes an hour long sometimes, which is crazy.

[Lee Rowan]

And if you book this and you don't want to use it, it was free, so it doesn't matter. So if you're flying outta Denver, there's no reason not to check out Den Reserve three days before and book a spot.

[Unnamed Guest]

Seattle, Orlando, Schiphol out in Amsterdam. These all are offered as well by those airports. Airports are bringing this on or testing it, beta testing it. So check with your airport website to see if maybe there's something like this that doesn't exist yet. There will be by the time you listen to this.

[Lee Rowan]

So actually where I found most of this information, so I found the Denver one and then I was looking at some of the perks of Clear and we'll talk about CLEAR in a minute. It turns out Clear runs most of the reservation based security line programs except Denver. So I went Denver, didn't find the connection to Clear, went to Clear and it was like, oh, there's some in Canada, there's one in London, Luton, there's one in Rome. And all of those ones except Denver are all run by Clear, but they don't require a clear membership. And so you can just go to the CLEAR website and use these. And in some of them they're free and in some of them they're paid. And if you do have a clear membership and they are paid then they are free. And so clear is a good resource for finding these ability to reserve a spot. But you can also go to the airport website and I think many of them are free. So I would say it's kind of an insurance policy. Show up like we did today and there are zero people. Don't even worry about looking for the pre reserved line but show up at Rome and use what's called Q pass, which I've never even heard of until I researched. Maybe that would be a really great scenario, especially in a foreign country where you probably don't have their equivalent of fast track premiere lines and all that kind of stuff.

[Chris Hutchins]

This episode is brought to you by Green Chef. I'm excited to be kicking this year off, right? And if you want to start creating better eating habits that last, you should be looking at Green Chef because they make it easy with so many dietitian developed recipes that feature fresh organic produce and quality whole foods delivered to your door each week. We've been cooking with Green Chef for almost two years now and we absolutely love it. It's like a cheat code for eating healthy and clean because ingredients are pre portioned, sauces are pre made which means there's less prep and less mess and more time to eat a delicious meal. Even better, they make it easy to eat right for your lifestyle or dietary need. Whether that's Mediterranean keto plant based gluten free and more. Plus you can customize your meals by doubling and or swapping proteins. And if you want to stay on track during your busiest days, they have salads that are ready in five minutes or less ready to blend smoothies and grab and go. Protein packed breakfasts thrive all year with clean, easy meals from Green chef. Go to allthehacks.com greenchef and use code all the hacks free to get started with free salads for two months plus 50% off your first box. Again, that's all thehacks.com greenchef and the code all the hacks free this episode is brought to you by Stable, which is a company that has really made my life better this year. And that's because Stable provides you or your business with a mailing address you can send everything to and they'll scan mail, forward packages, deposit checks, and more. It's really a full dashboard to manage all your physical mail online. And thousands of companies from Formation all the way to Fortune 5000 use stable to automate their mailroom and act as their permanent business address with the irs, state and any vendor. I also love it because you all know I care about privacy, so I actually prefer not to share my personal info with every app or service that asks for a mailing address. So Stable has been incredible for that. Stable is also so easy for you and your team to use and lets you manage your mail from anywhere in the world with a digital mailbox. Best of all, our listeners get 50% off for your first 12 months at AllTheHacks.com stable. That's 50% off your new digital [e-mail].

[Lee Rowan]

Stable so now let's talk about the big one that I think everyone traveling in the United States has heard of or hopefully has, which is TSA Pre and Global Entry, which are technically different. And I know you and I probably have our TSA Pre membership by having Global Entry, but they are different. So Global Entry is both an international program. I actually think you don't have to do the interview at the airport for Pre, but you do have to do it for Global Entry. Is that right?

[Unnamed Guest]

Depends on your status with the government.

[Lee Rowan]

With the government, it's like when they run your your information, they may require you to do it, it may not. But in Global Entry I think you.

[Unnamed Guest]

Always have to also, even for children, which is amazing.

[Lee Rowan]

I brought a six month old to the airport. Obviously she's not going to participate in this interview, but she's here and you can see a picture of her. And by the way, actually I think she was 12 months and the photo we used was six months. So she didn't even look like the photo. But it was a requirement. So Global entry is 120 bucks. There are 40 different credit cards and then bunch of Amex cards that are not part of that 40 because for some reason the Global Entry website lists every card and then says American Express cards. So there are plenty of cards that offer this as a reimbursement. So many that Amy and I summed it up and I think we have 10 global entry reimbursements. So you usually get them every four or five years. Almost everyone in our family that doesn't already have free Global Entry, we have just paid for their Global Entry. So if you don't have access to this and you have a friend that likes to play the credit card game, you might have extra Global Entry memberships available to you. Pre is a little cheaper. I don't know why, but it's 78 to 85.

[Unnamed Guest]

You can also go to like your local staples and like Office Depot and get TSA pre through some of these offline channels as well. But check TSA.gov and they'll have information on how to sign up for both. The Global Entry process is a little laborious, but it's worth it. When you can get through not only security on the inbound side coming into an airport, but also when you come into a new country, those lines are a breeze. I maybe wait a minute for a.

[Lee Rowan]

Machine for Global Entry the benefit why you pay the extra $40 but hopefully you don't pay the extra $40 because you have a credit card that covers it is you also get fast track immigration when you're coming back. And it's amazing. The lines at immigration can sometimes be very long. We'll talk about immigration and skipping those lines. Love that Global Entry. The biggest pain is that you have to go to this appointment and you can do an appointment on arrival. So if you're flying back into a bunch of airports in the US you can do your appointment then without needing an appointment. I will say that on arrival is only open certain hours. My father in law was trying to figure this out and his flight landed past that time. So we needed to find an appointment. If you need to find an appointment you can just go to the website called Appointment scanner and I have been very successful using Appointment scanner for securing TSA Global Entry appointments within one to two days. And the only catch I'll say is when they send you that Text or that email, you need to be ready. So I'm like, I'm logged into the Global Entry site on my computer, and then the second I get the text, I go, look, appointments there. Snap it up. Great service. I think we might have a deal on the deals page for appointment scanner, but I can't remember. So have had a lot of success there. But the reason to have TSA Pre and Global Entry for security purposes is at almost every airport, you have one of two options. Major airports. You have a TSA Pre line. And when you're flying TSA Pre, most people know this, but you don't take your shoes off, don't have to take your liquids out. Everything's a lot smoother. And because everyone in that line is someone who's applied for TSA Pre, you not only have these better rules, but you just have more people who know the rules. I rarely see someone in TSA Pre that's bringing huge liquids and stuff they can't have. So that is a huge advantage. There are a few small airports where the TSA Pre is. We give you a card, and the card just means that you can like leave your shoes on, but you can't really do the full experience. But it's still better than not having that. Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

And usually it says you going through that weird scanning machine, you can just go through the regular magnometer and you're fine.

[Lee Rowan]

So big fan of TSA Pre. Lines are often shorter and more efficient as well. So I think if you travel almost at all, if you listen to the show, you probably have a credit card that pays for it. So why not?

[Unnamed Guest]

Last thing I'll say about TSA or about Global Entry is that there are some reciprocal agreements with other countries, which is great. Like you can get a Sentry card, which helps you get into U.S. mexico and Canada alongside getting a Global Entry. So you could actually expedite security or border crossings at other places as well. I think Korea is one of them too.

[Lee Rowan]

So there's a couple things. So there's Sentry and Nexus. Nexus is Canada. Sentry is Mexico. You could do that. So if you only travel internationally to Canada, that's fine. If not, go for Global Entry. What I found crazy was I was skimming on the Global Entry website and there are these international arrangements that were not entirely clear. And some of them you would click on the country. And then this is Korea as an example. You click on Korea and it only actually shows you information about Koreans wanting to use Global Entry. And then in the navigation at the top it says, are you a US Citizen? Then you click yes. And then you find out that there's this program in Korea called the Automated Immigration Clearance Services, ses, which, as a Global Entry member, you are eligible to join, which fast tracks you through Korean security or immigration. Now, how often are you going to Korea? Are you going one time? Is it even worth your time to go through the process of filing this? Maybe not. But I did find that in Mexico, Germany, and New Zealand, there are different various ways that you can speed through security as a Global Entry member in New Zealand. According to this, I haven't been to New Zealand. It says there is a dedicated lane on arrival for US Global Entry members. And the reason all these exist is because the US has entered into some arrangements. So people from other countries are eligible for Global Entry, and some of them reciprocate. I was surprised that of the 20 or so countries, only three or four of them reciprocate. Okay, so on the topic of security, there's one more thing which we haven't talked about, which was clear. Both use clear today. Probably didn't actually save us any time.

[Unnamed Guest]

Didn't need to, but it was kind of nice to have.

[Lee Rowan]

Yeah. And there are times when it does save a lot of time. And what Clear does in almost every airport I've used it is it basically skips you to the front of the line whether you are pre check or not. Most airports, there's a clear plus pre clear, not pre some. There's one clear line, and then after you go through, they split you out. But it lets you skip the line. But it doesn't change what happens at security other than you usually don't need to bring your ID out. Now, I say usually because today I did need to bring my ID out. We did just get a message, though, that we can go to the lounge and finish this. So let's relocate.

[Unnamed Guest]

All right.

[Lee Rowan]

We are now at the club at sfo. We decided to explore a lounge. Free with priority pass. Pretty nice. There's a secret room to the right at the top of the stairs we didn't know about. So that's great. And we were in the middle of talking about clear and how you can skip the line but not change anything about security. Talk about pricing. Clear is 199 bucks a year. It's 119 per family member if you want to add them, or 119per year if you're a government employee. But there are a lot of ways to get clear for free or cheap if you have an Amex green Platinum, Business, Platinum, Hilton Aspire, you get Free Clear. Or at least you get it reimbursed on your card. If you have Delta, Diamond, United, 1K or Global Services, you get Clear Free. And then if you have any Delta card, any United card, or any Delta or United status, you get $40 off. And just being a member of Delta United, which is free, you get $10 off. So no one should be paying full price. Exactly, because everyone gets $10 off. If you don't already have TSA pretty and for whatever reason you don't want Global Entry, you can buy Pre and clear together for 199. So clear is at 59 airports. I don't know what your experience is. Almost every airport I go to Clear.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, most major North American airports, US Airports, also a number of other locations that are non airport as well.

[Lee Rowan]

There are 17 event centers. Like you go to Chase Center, Yankee Stadium, you can use Clear. I've never actually used Clear at an event center.

[Unnamed Guest]

It's a little bit faster, not a ton. Again, it depends on when you arrive and what the line situation looks like. But it's nice to have that dedicated line. If there is that wait, and then.

[Lee Rowan]

There'S one random thing and I'm going to retrace my steps and correct what I said when I talked about those reservation systems that Clear had, I actually think they're all free. But there is something called Clear mobile which is 10 or I guess $9 to $19 is what I found at five airports. So probably something we're not going to be using that often. Savannah, Georgia, Louisville, Kentucky Grand Rapids in Sarasota, Florida are the four domestic places you can use Clear Mobile. I'm going to guess you've never used Clear Mobile.

[Unnamed Guest]

Never have.

[Lee Rowan]

Maybe never even knew about it. I never knew about it until I did this research. The only place that it was interesting was San Jose, Costa Rica. So you can use Clear Mobile, you can get through security faster. I don't know exactly how it works, so I'll let you look it up. But if you already have Clear, it's free. If you don't, it's nine to $19 per person. A couple extra perks about Clear that I didn't know about. So one is they have a bunch of discounts with a bunch of different programs. They're not dissimilar from the discounts you get other ways. So I don't know how big of a deal those discounts will be to you or anyone else. But they do have this thing called Ambassador Assist, which In Denver Dulles in D.C. orlando and Minneapolis. They will help someone with their luggage, security or anything. It's kind of like a greeting service. Yeah, yeah, but it's free. So if one of your family members needs this, or I guess they say they'll help with bags. If you're flying solo, parent two kids to a ski destination, you need help with your bags. Last week we went to Park City. Amy pulled her back. She could not carry any bags if I weren't there. Well, we could have used it because they don't have it in Salt Lake City, but if it was Denver, could have been helpful.

[Unnamed Guest]

Very helpful to airport like that in particular.

[Lee Rowan]

I don't know if you've ever heard anyone that tried this, but there's this program called Clear Scout.

[Unnamed Guest]

I think it's mostly for finding things that are lost at security once it's in the general airport Lost and found. Clear Scout can help you if you do leave something at a TSA checkpoint. They're very good at getting it back.

[Lee Rowan]

It implied that it would also work if I left something at, like, the gate.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, yeah.

[Lee Rowan]

And they could go find it, but I've never used it. It sounds like you've used it.

[Unnamed Guest]

We've used it for clients before. And I'll say that once you get to the general airport lost and found, God be with you. It's impossible getting things back. Even like things you might leave on an airplane that then get turned into the general airport lost and found. We've gotten jackets and iPads and laptops, but for some reason, it's like they kind of poof, disappear once they hit airport lost and found.

[Lee Rowan]

One fun fact, as of yesterday, I think it was American joined Delta and United to all three allow when you lose a bag to share your airtag. So I've always carried airtags in our checked bags just so we know where they are. But now you can actually share that with the three major US airlines to help them find your bag faster.

[Unnamed Guest]

Super helpful. That's cool.

[Lee Rowan]

None of that helps you skip the line, but these are some of the perks of Clear, which I think I have found are worth it. But I have a credit card that pays for it, so debatable on how you calculate worth it. One of the challenges, if you have multiple credit cards and multiple people trying to make the system work so you're not paying anything. So if you had three cards that covered your Clear membership, but you have them all on one account, are you going to be able to bill partially. Everyone, I believe the workaround that I tried was Amy's on one account, I'm on the other. And we tried adding one of her family members to see if it would work. And then set a reminder the day before renewal, remove the family member, let your account renew at full price, change your billing information, then re add them. But the easier thing would be for them to just get their own membership and use that own card. Clear is free for your children. I can't remember at what age. Probably 18. I should have looked that up. But. So you don't need to do that. Whereas Global Entry is also free, but you do need to sign them up. TSA Pre and Clear are free for your kids. You don't need to sign them up.

[Unnamed Guest]

You can bring them through.

[Lee Rowan]

Yes, but you will at the airport. If you have not enrolled your children in Global Entry and you try to use it with your children, it will not work. It will not work.

[Unnamed Guest]

It will not be true.

[Lee Rowan]

Yeah. Other things for security, the premium line. There are a lot of airports where if you have status with an airline or if you paid for premium security, you can go through a shorter line overseas. This seems to be so valuable.

[Unnamed Guest]

It's the jam. And I would say, especially when you're in Europe and in Asia, if you're flying a new carrier to you see, if they offer a premium security line, it's worth it. It's sometimes between 5 and 50 bucks per traveler per trip.

[Lee Rowan]

If you don't have status.

[Unnamed Guest]

If you don't have status. Exactly.

[Lee Rowan]

Or if you're not flying business class, a lot of times business class status include this. Can you tell me there's some hotels that include it?

[Unnamed Guest]

Some hotels do it actually as well, and they'll do it either on the arrival or departure or both, depending on what of status, what the hotel is or what the booking is. But, you know, a great example of this is the Royal Monserrat in Marrakech. Right. They will provide a greeter to actually meet you plainside, which we'll talk about in a minute. Bring you through all the immigration and formalities when you're getting into the country, but then on the reverse on the going out. So it's great because you can save so much time and hassle and again, ask your hotel if you've already made a reservation at a hotel. Ask them if they either have this service available to them, sometimes it is an additional fee or it's sometimes it's included in suite bookings or whatever, or if they know where you can get that for security, in and out of the country.

[Lee Rowan]

I've never seen this. In the US You've probably experienced it more. But there are a lot of countries where, whether it's immigration or security, if you're with a family, they treat you much better.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yes, unfortunately, they definitely don't do that in the US because they don't want to. Everyone here is equal. But yeah, in other countries I've seen it where there's actually separate immigration lines. This can play to your disadvantage sometimes too. When you fly into the Rome airport. Right. If you're a US citizen with a US passport that has one of those little chips in it, you can go through basically a biometric entry gate and get into the country faster. But if you're with children 18 and younger, you can't. So families are actually penalized in that case when you're arriving in Italy.

[Lee Rowan]

But yes, in Mexico, we've often been pulled out of the line and said, hey, you have kids. Don't wait in this line. Go this one right through. Yeah, excellent.

[Unnamed Guest]

And it helps to sort of get the eye of somebody who's minding the security line or the immigration line and make sure that they're aware that you have children with you and they're crying maybe, or you nudge them a little, little bit. But there is no formal. Like you can request this ahead of time or you kind of have to get lucky. Now, there are family lanes that offer security and sometimes immigration as well. In certain countries, again, I would be on the lookout for them the moment you get to the airport. They're not always well signposted, but they'll usually have a little family icon with a stroller and a couple parents and children in tow.

[Lee Rowan]

Yeah, so that's an option.

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[Lee Rowan]

You really want to go all out. There are a few airports where you can circumvent all of this stuff and so I've actually never experienced the first one other than at sfo, but I'm sure it exists at SFO if you have global services status with United, which I've never had but my father has the check in counter has its own backdoor entrance to the front of the TSA pre line which doesn't require clear at all. I'm sure that exists with Delta360 concierge key global services at other airports so that one is one where we can Talk about statuses, but we've done that. So go back to 182. But that's a pretty hard one to do. Even with money. Right. To buy global services, you could spend a lot on flights, but it's not easy.

[Unnamed Guest]

It's possible, but it's not really the way you want to do it, especially for just saving time at the airport. I would say the best way of doing it is to check a. Does your airport have a special terminal, an actual special place that you can pay for access to go to where you're not with the general population? Right. So at lax, that's the private suite. In Frankfurt, that's the first class terminal, that's the Windsor. Yeah. In Heathrow, which we use a lot, it's. There's a number of them actually, all throughout.

[Lee Rowan]

But just to be clear, they're not cheap.

[Unnamed Guest]

They're not cheap.

[Lee Rowan]

We're talking four or five thousand dollars per flight.

[Unnamed Guest]

Per use?

[Lee Rowan]

Yes, correct. Now that's for multiple people, but that is not cheap. I've never done it.

[Unnamed Guest]

Have you done it? The best experience. So in lax, the private suite, for instance, and now there's more private suites coming up. There's one in Atlanta, one coming soon at JFK Internationally as well. Basically, you arrive at what is an, in essence, an fbo. It's on the other side of the airport where the private flights basically leave and depart from. And so you would pull up there, you would actually clear security there. You're waiting in an airport lounge like experience. It can either be public or private or semi public or private. And then you get driven in a car on the tarmac around the Runway to the foot of your gate, which is incredible now.

[Lee Rowan]

And you walk up those stairs or take an elevator bridge.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah. And so you can either be first or last aboard, which is really nice. Some people want to be first, some people want to be the very last on board. So a lot of our celebrities do this. Obviously, it's great to not be seen in the general public. It's a great private experience. If you have the money, wonderful. If you don't, there are some credit cards, Centurion in particular, that have a Centurion suite experience. At some of these suites, they've sort of watered down the privacy elements. So they've upped the level of what a lounge access could be like.

[Lee Rowan]

And I would say, as someone who doesn't care about being seen at the airport, I couldn't come up with a circumstance where I would recommend Anyone spend this $5,000 unless money's not an object. But for the sake of comprehensive coverage of different ways to skip the line.

[Unnamed Guest]

Exactly.

[Lee Rowan]

This is absolutely the best. I do know that if you are flying Lufthansa first class, which you can do with points.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yep.

[Lee Rowan]

You can use the first class terminal.

[Unnamed Guest]

You can.

[Lee Rowan]

If you are flying from the airport. I don't think you can use it when you're connecting.

[Unnamed Guest]

You can use it when you're connecting. As long as the layover is long enough.

[Lee Rowan]

Yeah, that's correct. But if you were in Frankfurt and you were flying out of Frankfurt on Lufthansa, first class, which usually with points, has to be booked within like three to four days. Yeah. So that is a chance to have this experience without paying $5,000.

[Unnamed Guest]

Exactly.

[Lee Rowan]

For the private suites at LAX Windsor. I haven't heard of a trick to get it for free.

[Unnamed Guest]

There's no hack unless you either know someone or you pay five grand.

[Lee Rowan]

Yeah. And there are other airports with first class terminals. I believe there's one in Zurich, but I can't remember. There is.

[Unnamed Guest]

There's one in Munich as well. The first class terminal experience and the private lounge are similar, but they're also separate. Right. Some of them come with tickets. So when you book, for instance, an Emirates first ticket, you get to go to the first class lounge that sits atop the Emirates terminals, which are incredible lounge experiences. That's different, of course, from, let's say, flying Emirates first out of Heathrow, when you can actually use the Windsor Suite or the Emirates Lounge. Right. So there's two separate experiences there.

[Lee Rowan]

So if I booked miles on Emirates first.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yep.

[Lee Rowan]

Would I be able to use the Windsor suite?

[Unnamed Guest]

No, you have to pay for it.

[Lee Rowan]

Okay, but if I paid for Emirates first, I would be able to use it for free. Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

Still have to pay for it. When you look at the private terminals adjacent to airports, they're really airline agnostic. So if you're talking about the Windsor Suite or at lax, the private suite, you could be flying pretty much any airline. There are a couple of exceptions. But you're paying for access to that terminal. You're not actually getting access included with any of your airline tickets. So it's two separate transactions. Whereas with the first class terminal, for instance, in Frankfurt, Munich, if you're flying Lufthansa, you actually get access to that through your ticket. So there's two very different experiences. But worthwhile calling out that when you're at LAX or when you're at Heathrow, you can actually buy access to one of these incredible terminal experiences.

[Lee Rowan]

Yeah. But if you Use points to fly on certain airlines in certain airports in first class you can get a similar experience without spending thousands of dollars.

[Unnamed Guest]

That's exactly right.

[Lee Rowan]

There are some lounges at airports that might have their own entrance.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah. There's actually a number of them in fact in Dubai, the Emirates first class experience or Singapore with Singapore suites and Singapore first, they whisk you to a separate entrance to the actual airport itself and you have a completely customized first class experience which you don't really have to see the rest of the world. Now obviously at the US level, that's a little different. If you're flying flagship first on American or if you're flying Delta one, they do the best version of that they possibly can.

[Lee Rowan]

You're still going to the regular security.

[Unnamed Guest]

Exactly.

[Lee Rowan]

Yeah. So it's a quick recap. To get through security faster. You can check the line online, check the wait times. I think overlooked is finding other entry points.

[Unnamed Guest]

100% great hack.

[Lee Rowan]

I think TSA Pre and clear are great, but I have had lines that are really long for those and then I've walked three minutes and cut that in half or more obviously check out reserving spots at airlines. It's like a free way to get some insurance policy. TSA Pre Global entry. I don't see how you could fly more than once a year and not find good value. I think I mentioned 120 bucks, 80 bucks. This is for five years. Correct.

[Unnamed Guest]

Amortize it over the cost of a year. It's a no brainer.

[Lee Rowan]

Yeah, clear, more expensive, reimbursed with a lot of credit cards. Lets you skip the line. I still think it's worth it, but obviously we're not paying for it, so of course. And then having status whisk you through the airlines, fast paid, fast tracks in a lot of places. You can pay for them just as part of your ticket or through the airport and then some of these private terminals, family lanes. That's kind of the recap.

[Unnamed Guest]

One thing we didn't talk about is greeters. And there is a hack. Again, there's a cost to it. But at most airports there's the accessibility of getting around some lines by using a paid airport employee, a greeter to get you through security, sometimes immigration, much faster. These folks cost between 150 and $500 per use. And it does scale up based on how many people are using it at the same time. So if you're a family of five, it might be 150 for the first passenger, then 50 for each passenger thereafter. So it's not cheap. But in some places where it's confusing to get through the airport or you've got a tight connection if you're coming inbound from one airline and going out on another, or if you're in a foreign country and you don't speak the language, getting a greeter might be a really valuable experience. We use greeters at five year old airports across the world. Right. I'd say that for the most part, the investment of money is worth the time savings that you get with it. I would say that for people who are not interested in using a wheelchair, maybe they're less mobile, but they don't want to be in a wheelchair. Getting a greeter in a porter is a great way of getting through domestic airports, internationally, especially cutting lines, getting through security faster, getting through immigration faster, getting into a different lounge you might not have access to with your ticket. A great leveling up by using a greeter.

[Lee Rowan]

Now, I'm someone who always likes to get the things for free. Readers are often not free. There is one circumstance where I realized actually it might feel free, and that is there have been times where I was looking at flights, almost always international flights, with connections from a international terminal to a within EU flight.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Lee Rowan]

And for whatever reason, especially at Charles de Gaulle in Paris, the process of going through immigration and then walking to this other terminal and then going through the line can sometimes take hours. I've had hour long experiences doing that. And so sometimes you look and say, okay, I can't book the 90 minute layover, I have to book the two and a half hour layover.

[Unnamed Guest]

Right.

[Lee Rowan]

And if that two and a half hour layover is an extra $500 for your family, then you could book the one and a half hour layover and get a greeter for less than $500.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yep.

[Lee Rowan]

And actually feel like you're saving money 100%.

[Unnamed Guest]

And I'll even add to that and say that there are some airports, Charles de Gaulle is one of them, Frankfurt is another, where they actually have a minimum connection time allowed that you're almost guaranteed to miss. Right. So the airline is setting you up to fail. When you work with a greeter, they often will get you through that immigration line faster, get you through security again faster. But also if God forbid, you do miss your connection, they're there to help advocate on your behalf, working behind the scenes at the airline, at that transfer desk to get you a better recovery.

[Lee Rowan]

Flight and speaking the language that's more local to whatever country you're in. So that makes a lot of sense. And sometimes that's the case because our au pair recently came from Spain and the au pair agency was looking to book, you know, the most affordable flight. And for whatever reason, every single flight had a like, 61 minute connection, whatever. The absolute minimum was at an airport in Europe where I was like, 60 minutes is just not enough.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Lee Rowan]

And 60 minutes in the US is definitely not enough because she's gonna have to go through immigration and go to customs, get her bag, recheck it. And fortunately, we were able to find another flight. But I imagine the reason they're proposing these was these are the most affordable, and so it would cost more to have a longer connection. And in that case, I could see a greeter making sense, not necessarily for her, but really highlighted that sometimes the cheapest flights have the shortest conn. Okay, so before we get to immigration, because there's a lot of interesting stuff there, I want to talk about boarding. Just because it's another place that you stand in line at the airport. And there unfortunately aren't a lot of hacks with boarding. The biggest one is if you have status, you can usually skip the line or be in Group 1 or 2 or some airlines. Somehow I have status and I'm still the third or fourth group because it's not enough. A lot of places active duty, military, you can skip the line. But I would say I'm not opposed to anyone joining the military, but I'm not sure I would join the military to skip the line at the airport. The only other things I know of. Sometimes you can pay for early boarding. Southwest. If you just check in right away or pay for early bird check in, you can get an earlier boarding number. If you're in family boarding, a lot of airlines allow you to board early as a family. At sfo, you can board from the lounge. The lounge. I've done it in Dubai on Emirates Business first, and I've done it from sfo. I don't know of any other airlines that board from the lounge.

[Unnamed Guest]

There's a handful of other airports, I want to say, in Asia that have lounge access directly onto the plane. I think there's a cafe one. And I could be wrong on this, but there's a couple that have that. But it is a pretty unique experience.

[Lee Rowan]

And obviously the reason why it's hard is you have to have the plane connected to the lounge. So it works really well with Emirates in SFO because they only have one flight, one gate, and they just position the lounge next to that gate. So that's a great experience to Skip the line. Otherwise, I would say one great way to avoid the hassle of all of the boarding problems is if you travel so lightly that you don't need overhead space, then you just board less.

[Unnamed Guest]

Now, don't miss your flight. There are cutoff times where they're going to close the door. 10, 15, 30, 45 minutes, sometimes before departure time. So make sure you're there. Services like a greeter or even the private suite are so great because they're actually checking in with the gate to make sure, hey, this departure, are we A, going out on time? And B, are they going to close the gate at X time, making sure you're there right before that.

[Lee Rowan]

And this is a random question that's come up a few times that just share the answer to, which is, if your flight is delayed, can it leave early? And the answer is yes.

[Unnamed Guest]

Oh, yeah, for sure.

[Lee Rowan]

So I would say the most important time to be cautious If Gates close 15 minutes before departure varies by airline. But if we're going to say 15, and your flight is scheduled to leave at 1, be at the gate before 12:45 no matter what. And we've all been at a gate, or at least I'm sure you and I have, where we were there later, but the plane was there and they just wouldn't let you in. So you know that that's happened. Yeah, but if your flight's supposed to leave at 1 and it's delayed till 2, I would not show up at the gate at 1:45, because sometimes those get pulled in. Sometimes they don't update the app.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Lee Rowan]

Sometimes they don't make an announcement. And I would not want to be in a situation where the flight got pulled up and I missed it because I just didn't know.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah. And so you're too busy hanging out in a lounge.

[Lee Rowan]

Yeah, exactly. Okay, so that's boarding. Let's talk about immigration, because obviously the big hack coming back to the US Is having Global Entry. If you don't have Global Entry or you're not eligible for Global Entry, there is a mobile passport control app.

[Unnamed Guest]

Just can't highly enough recommend it. Number one, it's free. Number two, while you're waiting in line, if you don't have Global Entry for customs and immigration clearance, you can literally download the app, fill it in, get out of that line, and go into the mobile passport control line.

[Lee Rowan]

Or when you land at the airport, even better, fill it out.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah. There's no reason not to do it.

[Lee Rowan]

Yes. And I believe you can use it as a non American Is that correct?

[Unnamed Guest]

There are a number of passports. I want to say it's like 20 or 30. That allow you through that app as well.

[Lee Rowan]

Yes. And so for people who aren't eligible for global entry, great option. We talked about Nexus and Sentry for Canada and Mexico. One fun one that a friend of mine who lives in San Diego has used.

[Unnamed Guest]

Have you done this yet?

[Lee Rowan]

I have not done it.

[Unnamed Guest]

Oh, I loved it. So, cbx, it's the crossing between Tijuana and San Diego. And so San Diego, you park in, like, these giant parking lots in Ota Mesa. You walk across the border into Mexico.

[Lee Rowan]

Bridge over the highway. Right.

[Unnamed Guest]

It's bridge over the fence, basically. Okay, yeah, it's kind of. But you arrive at the actual terminal in the airport in Tijuana, you have to step foot outside.

[Lee Rowan]

It's really cool. Go to Google Maps and look at the Tijuana airport, and you'll see that there's a parking lot in one country and an airport in another.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah. We did this recently flying back from Cabo to and from, actually, and our kids were just, like, jumping over the border. Like, it was a fun little game. Right. But it's great. It's a couple hundred bucks to do it as a family, which offsets your costs considerably when you think about what the actual costs of US Flights are over peak periods, like holidays to and from Mexico.

[Lee Rowan]

Now you're saying there's a couple hundred bucks. Why is there a couple hundred bucks cost?

[Unnamed Guest]

Because there's actually. It's a private company that operates the CBX Experience. And so you've got to pay them, number one and number two, your customs and immigration clearance fees, your Mexican fmi, like your permit fee to get into Mexico. So there's a cost to it as well as parking.

[Lee Rowan]

My understanding, though, if you live in San Diego.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Lee Rowan]

The cost to park at the San Diego airport.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Lee Rowan]

If you're flying to Cabo and you live in San Diego, you can fly from San Diego to Cabo or you can park and fly from Tijuana to Cabo. The flight cost from Tijuana to Cabo is wildly cheaper than the San Diego flight cost, and the parking is cheaper. People I've known that talked about this, I don't even know if they realized there were fees, because when they looked at it all together, it was still so cheap they didn't even notice it.

[Unnamed Guest]

And it also can be bundled in with your tickets on Volares or on Aerobus. So if you're okay flying the sort of southwests of Mexico. Right. You can absolutely save a bunch of money and it's comfortable and easy. Airport's great. One knock I'll have on the tier one airport is that the food options are not as delicious as you wish they would be.

[Lee Rowan]

But that's okay.

[Unnamed Guest]

But it's a great experience. I would highly recommend it.

[Lee Rowan]

Now, you mentioned earlier that in some countries you can use a biometric passport and you can go through faster security. I would say if you don't have a biometric passport or for whatever reason your biometric passport doesn't work, which happened to me, just stopped working. That's something that I would upgrade. If your passport isn't a biometric passport, I'm guessing at this point most people listening will have one. But if you don't have that biometric logo on your passport, it's worth upgrading. Because in the UK you can use the E passport gates. In Australia you can use the SmartGate.

[Unnamed Guest]

Let's talk about those two countries, actually, and a couple more. When you go into the UK now as a US citizen and as a citizen of other countries too, you need to get the electronic travel authorization. So that's going to be tied to your passport and that's going to ensure that you can get into the country. Number one, we could board the flight, you can get into the country and you can get in quickly and easily. The Australia ETA is the same thing as well. New Zealand also has one. But now Europe, some point later on in 2025, is going to also be instituting a similar thing called ETIAs. Same idea where you'll have to be registering your passport ahead of time, paying a small fee. And theoretically that should allow you to then use some of those E gates at other airports like Frankfurt, Rome, et cetera. A little more expediently, most of us.

[Lee Rowan]

Have walked through a international airport and it's like EU citizens and everybody else. Does that mean that they're going to be like EU citizens and people who filled out this thing online and everybody else?

[Unnamed Guest]

It's actually going to be a requirement for people going into the UK and going into Europe later on this year.

[Lee Rowan]

There will be no everybody else because everyone will have to do it. Correct.

[Unnamed Guest]

But I think the thinking is that if you have a biometric passport from certain countries, in addition to that ETIs, you can get through some immigration channels.

[Lee Rowan]

Faster, which I think in our prep for this, maybe we'll get to it, but I think I forgot to include there are countries where you need travel authorization and visas.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yes.

[Lee Rowan]

And if you want to avoid lines, don't show up to those countries without a visa.

[Unnamed Guest]

Don't even try to board your flight at the home country before getting those. So again, Australia, New Zealand, the uk, Europe, and of course, any other country where you need an actual visa. Make sure your, your documents are in order before you leave home. Because once you get to the airport and you try to check in, you're going to be running into trouble if the ticket isn't cleared with the visa authorizations.

[Lee Rowan]

And I would say most of the US Airlines I've flown on are really good in that they're not going to let you board the flight to the country unless you have the travel document. That doesn't mean that they're going to make it easy for you, right? If you show up at the airport at SFO and you're boarding a flight to Vietnam and you don't have a visa for Vietnam, and I believe Vietnam still requires a visa, not on arrival, you can do it online.

[Unnamed Guest]

You'll get the actual printed visa when you get there. But yeah, the thing that you should really remember is that the airlines are technically responsible, the one that carries you into that country, they're technically responsible for making sure you have the right documentation. But things fall through the cracks, right? There's little things that get slipped up. So we use a website called Sherpa, and that website will tell you, based on the passport holder, you are the routing, you're taking, what visas you might need or what immunizations you might need or otherwise. Now, something to keep in mind. If you're flying San Francisco, Dubai on an Emirates award ticket, and you're flying onwards on a different ticket, Dubai to India, you don't have an Indian E visa yet, right? When you checked in an sfo, they might not be putting two and two together that you're flying onwards to India and so they might let you get to Dubai. And now all of a sudden you get to Dubai and you're stuck, right? It's a great city to be stuck in, but you still, you want to make sure your documents are in order for all of your journey, no matter.

[Lee Rowan]

Where you're going and what typically happens. This is a little bit of a side. But if I show up at the airport and I have a flight to Australia and I haven't done this process and I'm going to miss my flight because I do it, are they pretty good at booking me on the next flight and not making me pay for it?

[Unnamed Guest]

Depends on the airline. Depends on how you book the ticket, right? If you booked one way to Australia through Expedia because it was cheapest for that one way. And you get to the airport and you don't have any visa and it's going to take three business days to get one. And you apply online and you really hope it's going to come through, and it doesn't come through before you board your sol. Right. It really depends on the airline, how.

[Lee Rowan]

Full the flights are. Of course, the whole thing.

[Unnamed Guest]

Right. So this is how.

[Lee Rowan]

Go to Sherpa.

[Unnamed Guest]

Go to Sherpa, check it out and make sure you know what documents are required, what immunizations.

[Lee Rowan]

I know some people might not know this, but there are countries where you need certain immunizations to get there. Maybe I'm wrong, but are airlines checking for your yellow fever vaccine if you're.

[Unnamed Guest]

Coming from or going to one of those countries that requires it? Yes, they are. And again, that would be something you'd have to have in person on you. But the bottom line for all of this is that it's all avoidable if you're doing your homework. Checking in advance. Right. And not waiting to the very last minute at the airport when you might be in a rush.

[Lee Rowan]

Okay. Another one, which is probably obvious to lots of people, but sitting up front can help. It does help you get off the plane first. I think one thing that can really slow you down is go to the bathroom before you lay.

[Unnamed Guest]

I was just gonna say it was probably an overshare, but I'm, like, always, like, really bummed when my family's like, I gotta pee. The moment we get off the plane, I'm like, no, we are running. We are sprinting through this airport. Once we get in line and you can go pee, I'll wait in line and save the spot. But no, get in that line as fast as you can. And I often think that I've just been sitting on a flight for 13 hours and I'm tired. The last thing I want to do is actually, like, move my body fast. But it actually feels really reinvigorating.

[Lee Rowan]

So go to the bathroom before you land, sit as far from the plane and get straight to immigration. And sometimes you get to immigration, the line's not that long. And then sometimes you get there and you're in line, you're still waiting, and then you see someone that was, like, slow and stopped to go to the bathroom is, like 50 people behind you.

[Unnamed Guest]

And that can be minutes or hours of time to wait. Right?

[Lee Rowan]

Yeah. So one last one, which I have tried to get and been unsuccessful, is the APEC Business Travel Card and so if you have Global Entry, you can log in. And there's the ability to add the APEC business travel card. I think it's $85. Historically, when I did it, it was reimbursed. So I used one of those TSA credits because it was the same biller. I've been told that they've gotten better about amounts. And so some of the credit cards that reimburse Global Entry won't reimburse this. And I'm sure glad that I did get reimbursed, because I did not get approved. And this is just a great experience, because people who travel internationally that are not from the United States and go through immigration, I've heard so many stories about, must be nice to be an American with your passport. When I go through immigration, people can pull me in rooms and ask me questions. And so this was one where I got to experience the fact that Customs and Border Patrol officials can make whatever decisions they want, and there's not a lot of recourse. And so the way this card works is there's 21 members of APAC. It's mostly. It's the Asian Pacific, I think, economic.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, Cooperation.

[Lee Rowan]

Cooperation zone. And so most of these countries are in Asia, but they include US, Mexico, and Canada, and Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia. And when you get there with the APEC business card, you can go through the Diplomat crew line. You can do this in Canada and Mexico. And it sounds amazing. The requirements are that you need to do business travel in Asia. So I had gone to this appointment, and I had recently gone on a trip to Asia for work, which I thought, of course, that makes sense. So I sit down. The one's like, what is your business? And granted, at the time I was probably 38. I don't look like the average business traveler. I probably could have dressed slightly differently. I think I had some, like, neon gooder sunglasses and sweats. But I go to this woman. I'm explaining. I used to work at a venture capital firm. We did investment in Asia. I went to Asia for business. Now I run a podcast. But we do tours, and we're looking at planning tours in foreign countries, which we do. We did one to Iceland at the time. We hadn't done the Iceland trip. But I was like, we are a travel agency, which we have a travel agency license. We book travel internationally. We go explore properties. So I felt like I had a compelling story. And from friends of mine that have gotten an APEC business card, they didn't even get asked questions. They just walked in and they're like, yep, stamp, good to go. This person put me through the ringer. And the ultimate decision was, yes, you have traveled to Asia for business and you have a business now that will do business in Asia. But I am not going to approve this because the business you have now is not one where you have traveled to Asia. So it was like she wanted evidence.

[Unnamed Guest]

That is a real technicality.

[Lee Rowan]

I traveled to Asia for the business that I currently am operating.

[Unnamed Guest]

Wow.

[Lee Rowan]

And for that reason, she said no. Didn't get my $85 back. It's non refundable.

[Unnamed Guest]

Can you reapply?

[Lee Rowan]

I logged on the other day and I was like, oh, I could just do it again. So we don't have any plans to go to Asia. My plan is to after my next trip to Asia.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Lee Rowan]

Then I'll come in and say, here's a trip I took, I'm taking more trips. Can we get this done?

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Lee Rowan]

So I intend to do that. But I was unsuccessful and kind of let down. Kind of a defeat. But I've heard it's awesome. I have also heard that when traveling with your family, mixed bag of whether they can come with you if you have this. And so if I'm going to go to Japan with my family, it's not that big deal. So if you're a frequent business traveler to Asia, you absolutely should add this to global entry. And so many people I know haven't even heard of it. But if you're traveling with your family, it'd be easier if we were going to Korea to just go enroll in their reciprocal agreement to go through their immigration faster than it probably would to go get an apply for this, which you also need an appointment. Right. So I'd use appointment scanner and all that kind of stuff.

[Unnamed Guest]

And if you also think about a per cost basis of a greeter to get you into these countries, let's say you're going to two, three different Asian countries in a year.

[Lee Rowan]

Right.

[Unnamed Guest]

And it's 500 bucks a greeter to get you and your family through immigration quickly. No brainer to get an APEC card if you can get it and spend that time and effort doing that, if you can hopefully save you guys that time.

[Lee Rowan]

But if you have one trip and two people, the APEC card's gonna cost you 170 bucks. And you know, maybe a greeter for that trip is actually cheaper. So in some cases it might actually be worth it if you're not using it that much. I do think it is a five year membership, just like Global Entry, I can't remember if it resets whenever your Global Entry resets. So if you do it on year four, it might only be a one year that I don't remember. But it is an add on to Global Entry. You can't get it separately. So I think we covered it all.

[Unnamed Guest]

I think so I think the key thing here, do your research, right? If you're flying your regular route, you've done a thousand times before, SFO to lax, maybe on a Friday afternoon, right. You know, kind of what to expect. But if you're doing something new, you're going to a new place, a new country, make sure your documents are in order, make sure your credit cards allow status or accessible to you, make sure that your frequent flyer number, all that stuff is in there so that you have no unexpected surprises. Check in early.

[Lee Rowan]

You know, one thing we didn't mention, which is when you're traveling internationally, one thing that the airlines are also supposed to check but don't always, is do you have a return ticket? So there are a lot of countries where in order to get through immigration, you need to show that you're leaving so that you're not going to overstay your visa. And so obviously many of us have international data plans and airports have WI fi, but I would say, I would make sure you have downloaded, whether it's a PDF or printed out, a copy of your itinerary to leave and a copy of the hotel or Airbnb and the address. Because if the purpose of this episode is to avoid standing in line if you get to immigration and you can't demonstrate that you're going to leave the country or you didn't know how to fill out the form because you don't know where you're staying. Yeah, you're going to be stuck in that line. That's accurate. And so those are a couple things I would say to print out or make sure you have when traveling that you know the airline, I can tell you for certain, I've never flown on a flight where the airline checked if I knew the address where I was going in the country. They've checked if you have a return flight, but they don't always check that.

[Unnamed Guest]

Well, Chris, I'll also say that a lot of documents are fillable online ahead of time for immigration, Right. So even if you're not going to end up using that form that you filled out ahead of time, Japan's a great example of this. You can fill out an actual written form when you get there, or you can fill out a form online and get a QR code and just simply scan it when you arrive in the country. Either way works. But I would highly recommend if you have the time and don't mind doing it online. Doing it online, it's so much easier. You'll have a couple days before you fly to be able to do that. And it just takes that one more thing off your plate. So when you arrive in the country, it's easily and done. A lot of countries are getting rid of those forms and so the more advanced you can be about filling them out, the better.

[Lee Rowan]

I've got one more tip. It's the cheapest tip on this list. It's super easy. Maybe it's not the cheapest because it's not free, but bring a pen.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, totally.

[Lee Rowan]

I can't tell you the number of people I've seen that don't have a pen, can't fill out the customs form. We go to the line and they're standing there at the desk trying to fill the form out and I'm walking right past them because I brought a pen. I brought two pens just in case one of them runs out of ink. So it seems so silly. But when you're traveling internationally, make sure you have your travel documents, make sure you've done all this research and make sure you have a pen. That's my parting advice.

[Unnamed Guest]

It's a great one, Lee.

[Lee Rowan]

This is great. I love talking about a comprehensive guide to skip the line because instead of like we're doing now, if we were flying and waiting in lines for hours, now we're going to go in the lounge and have a little lunch.

[Unnamed Guest]

Have a little enjoyable afternoon. Thank you, Chris, for making this happen. Thanks for meeting me behind security. Yeah, look forward to the next one and to seeing your detailed, focused episode on lounges very soon as well.

[Lee Rowan]

Yes, we're going to go deep on lounges. Stay tuned. Thanks for being here.

[Unnamed Guest]

Thank you.

[Chris Hutchins]

Such a great episode. Thank you so much for listening. I really hope you enjoyed it. And if you did, please consider clicking that Follow or subscribe button if you haven't already. It really helps us out and there's no better way to support us than doing that. Or sharing the show with a friend, colleague or family member or even a random stranger is totally appreciated. Also, links to everything in this and all other episodes [e-mail] where you can also find all the deals we find as well as links to the top credit card bonuses. Finally, if you have any feedback, want to get in touch or share a question you have for a future Mailbag episode. You can email [e-mail] that's it for this week. I'll see you next week.