Nexus

[KittyKat1978]

Okay, so I see that Orlando has the pre-TSA check-in for American Airlines (who I am flying with) but it says from the West checkpoint only not the East check point. How do I know which point I will be at?

I just got accepted yesterday, but there is a possibility that I will get my card before I go next week. It would be nice to go through this expedited line. I guess I will have to wait until print out my boarding pass to see if I qualify. Is that correct? Or do I need to notify the airline?

Do I need an iris scan for this? I haven't had it done yet as the Blaine, WA office doesn't have it.

 

[mom_rules]

Okay, so I see that Orlando has the pre-TSA check-in for American Airlines (who I am flying with) but it says from the West checkpoint only not the East check point. How do I know which point I will be at?

I just got accepted yesterday, but there is a possibility that I will get my card before I go next week. It would be nice to go through this expedited line. I guess I will have to wait until print out my boarding pass to see if I qualify. Is that correct? Or do I need to notify the airline?

Do I need an iris scan for this? I haven't had it done yet as the Blaine, WA office doesn't have it.

We sent our application in on Mar 2, 2013-received conditional approval on Apr 2, 2013-our interviews were Apr 6, 2013 at YYZ-both border services and iris scan and 10 finger prints. The iris scan is for NEXUS (CDN) the 10 finger prints are for Global Entry (US). You can use Global entry immediately after you are approved and fingerprinted. Our Nexus cards came in the mail exactly 1 week later. To use NEXUS you have to have iris scans.

There are 2 NEXUS enrollment centres in Vancouver-one downtown and the other at YVR. If you only need Iris scan you don't need an appointment-just go to one of the offices that does them and let them know (take your approval with you).

You need to have your NEXUS card in hand in order to activate it on the GOES website.

 

[bdoyledimou]

I got my NEXUS pre-interview approval on Monday, and booked an appointment at Pearson Airport for July 28th.

I could have gone to Fort Erie this weekend as they had one spot open at 8 am on Saturday, but DD is in Dance competitions this weekend..

 

[papertraveller]

I got my NEXUS pre-interview approval on Monday, and booked an appointment at Pearson Airport for July 28th.

I could have gone to Fort Erie this weekend as they had one spot open at 8 am on Saturday, but DD is in Dance competitions this weekend..

How long ago did you submit your application?

 

[vacation_junkie]

Thanks. We submitted ours about a month ago, and I had been hoping we might be approved by the time of our August vacation. Guess not!

I'm assuming that you had your interview in Niagara Falls. We're close to Pearson, but I've heard that it's even more backlogged. I imagine sequestration won't help matters, either.

Ah well, maybe in time for Christmas!

yes, we live by Niagara Falls....the Nexus Centre is in Fort Erie. Nice and close for us.

Our problem was that we have 3 people in our family.
We needed to make 3 appointments at the same time.

If you want to go one at a time you can check every day for cancellations. They pop up all the time.

But if you are a family and you want to go together you must book on the same day.

We had a HUGE mix-up with ours.
My son & I had our conditional approval in 12 days...so we booked our appointments right away.

My husbands conditional approval wasn't done til the following week. His appointment was a week after ours. Which would have been when we were on holidays.

I called the Nexus centre and I was told to have him come along that day...keep his original appointment. But they will just bring him in with us 2 and do it at the same time.

WELL.....not the case.

When we got there the Canadian Male Customs Officer at the window was so rude.

He said I was given the wrong info. I started to say "she told me".. He was rude saying "Who's she? She was wrong!".

I apologized and said I don't remember her name because it was months ago.

The Woman Customs Officer came out and asked if she was going to do all 3 of us and he rudely said "Nope, he can come back for his appointment".

He went on and on about how they didn't have his info to conduct his interview because he wasn't scheduled in that day. He said that now you all have to be scheduled on the same day...doesn't have to be one after another just on the same day. Which is so hard to find a time/day open for 3 people together.

The Woman customers officer was nice when the 2 of us went in for our appointment.

She explained that they are so behind. They were downsized and were working through their lunches.
She said on a normal day they'd take approx 60 appointments and allow for 5-7 "walk-in's" which would have been what my husband would have been considered. But they were all tired, over worked, mad and not doing more then they had to..including the extra "courtesy" walk-in appointments.

She advised I was probably told that they would do his at the same time and apologized.

I was upset as that would mean he wouldn't have had his card in time for our vacation.

Crappy deal!

She started explaining everything then the Male officer came walking over with my husbands paperwork.

Once he saw my husband (who sat down before this guy could see him in the first place) he recognized him.
My husband took care if his wife in the hospital for some time and would be taking care of her again in the following weeks as she was just admitted back in the hospital.
Its amazing how after he recognized him he miraculously found my husbands information in the system.

It purely was a case of "it's who you know"!

Fort Erie is super busy because alot of Truck drivers use that Nexus location because its at the border...and it has the Iris scan there as well.

 

[Susan2771]

We are a family of 4 and submitted our applications mid-March and all 4 got approved a little over 4 weeks after submission. Our appointments though aren't until July 9th since we had no luck finding 4 time slots on a single day sooner than July and we checked multiple locations. Fingers and toes crossed we get the cards in time for Hawaii which is the end of July.

 

[papertraveller]

Fingers crossed here that we can book our appointment soon!

 

[shoppgirl]

My family has both Nexus and Global Entry. My girls (11 and 9) had their iris scans done for Nexus, but did not get fingerprints done for GE. YYZ seems to be phasing out their Nexus machines at the US customs hall moving to GE. Does anyone have experience with their children using GE with out fingerprints? Do they just need to scan their passports? Do they still need to line up to talk to a customs agent?

I applied last August, got approval within a month (Sept) and the first appointment date for all four of us at YYZ was in January! The girls had difficulties getting their irises scanned but the Canadian agent was so nice and patient with them. The US agent was just there to do his job, but was nice enough with the girls to show them what their pictures look like (he certainly didnt turn his monitor around to show me my hideous photo!). I look forward to using the cards for the first time in less than three weeks to Disney!!!

 

[vacation_junkie]

The US agent was just there to do his job, but was nice enough with the girls to show them what their pictures look like (he certainly didnt turn his monitor around to show me my hideous photo!).

the pictures are just wonderful..I look like I have a growth out the side of my face ...they are not flattering at all!
I think the US guard told my son he gets finger printed at 14/15? Can't remember.

But I did tell my son now that he's been iris scanned and everything he can never EVER do anything bad anywhere in the world because they will know who did it because they have his info on file! He gave me a weird look and thought about it for a while....lol

 

[minnie56]

I've had Nexus for about 4 years now...most of the time I like it.
Crossed at the Rainbow bridge yesterday though-wait was 30 mins and Nexus lane closed.

Not impressed...

 

[vacation_junkie]

I've had Nexus for about 4 years now...most of the time I like it.
Crossed at the Rainbow bridge yesterday though-wait was 30 mins and Nexus lane closed.

Not impressed...

Should have taken the Whirlpool bridge...it's a Nexus only bridge. Never a wait.
We find 9 out of 10 times the nexus lane is closed at the rainbow bridge. Quite irritating!

 

[keaster]

Should have taken the Whirlpool bridge...it's a Nexus only bridge. Never a wait.
We find 9 out of 10 times the nexus lane is closed at the rainbow bridge. Quite irritating!

Are the Nexus lane closures something recent? Could it have to do with the sequester shutdowns and cutbacks in the U.S. ?

 

[minnie56]

Should have taken the Whirlpool bridge...it's a Nexus only bridge. Never a wait.
We find 9 out of 10 times the nexus lane is closed at the rainbow bridge. Quite irritating!

Couldn't-I was with a friend that doesn't have Nexus. I have told ALL my friends they want to come with me-get the card. Most of them have it ..just not this one!!

 

[vacation_junkie]

Are the Nexus lane closures something recent? Could it have to do with the sequester shutdowns and cutbacks in the U.S. ?

No it's just rarely open.

 

[mom_rules]

Just got back from Florida-what a great experience with Nexus/Global Entry.

Left YYZ term 3 and they did not have the customs open for pre-clearance so we needed to go through customs in Florida.

Used the GE kiosks (with the help of an extremely friendly US border person) bypassing about 300 other passengers waiting in the customs line.

The on the way back 5 flights from Florida and one from the Bahamas all arrived at the same time, this time we used the Nexus kiosks at YYZ bypassing what would have had to have been an hour plus wait in the customs line.

What a great program-love it!

 

[papertraveller]

Wow - what time did you leave that the pre-clearance wasn't open at Terminal 3?

 

[tiggerrr]

Okay, so I see that Orlando has the pre-TSA check-in for American Airlines (who I am flying with) but it says from the West checkpoint only not the East check point. How do I know which point I will be at?

I just got accepted yesterday, but there is a possibility that I will get my card before I go next week. It would be nice to go through this expedited line. I guess I will have to wait until print out my boarding pass to see if I qualify. Is that correct? Or do I need to notify the airline?

Do I need an iris scan for this? I haven't had it done yet as the Blaine, WA office doesn't have it.

You may have already left, but I'll answer the question for others who may be wondering. TSA Pre-Check works very differently than the security lanes for Nexus holders in Canada.

TSA Pre-Check requires you to enter your PASS ID (found on the back of your Nexus card) into your reservation in the Known Traveller ID space. Usually this is done at the time of reservation or during Online Check In. Some airlines let you add it any time after the reservation is booked by calling it. Only some airlines are part of the program.

The biggest trip up, that has been mentioned here earlier, you MUST be travelling only within the US on your entire itinerary or you will not be eligible. If you are flying to Canada, even if you connect in a US city first, you will not be eligible for Pre-Check. If all is good, the TSA then makes a random determination as to whether you will be accepted for Pre-Check on this particular trip. While this mostly works out in your favor, they have been clear that the program will randomly deny you access periodically as a security measure. The actual acceptance for Pre-Check is encoded into your barcode of your boarding pass, so until you enter the Pre-Check lane and get your boarding pass scanned, you don't know if you are getting it. If not, you get to go through the regular line. EDIT: It appears in the last week or so several major airlines have been printing Pre-Check eligibility on your boarding pass if you get it

There is a way to get a scanner and scan your own barcode and if you understand the code you can figure out if you've got it. But, it's very "cloaked in secrecy" unlike the Canadian system where you show your card to security and go through. I've been through Pre-Check as a Nexus holder in the US and its very nice - leaving the laptop and your liquids in your bag and all your clothes on is very fast, but I still prefer the consistency of the Canadian way.

By the way, to make Pre-Check work at all, your name on your boarding pass must exactly match your Nexus name.

 

[mom_rules]

We were told it was due to US customs agents shortages-we were there at 7am

 

[Sue M]

So you can only use Nexus in Orlando to clear customs to get into the US, but not when you leave?

I am flying to/from the US (Bellingham), do they have a Nexus line for domestic flights in Orlando?

How about domestic flights within Canada? Can you use the Nexus for a shorter line through security?

Thanks for all of your replies and help.

This is what I want to know too. We drive to Seattle to fly. So for US flights I would be domestic.

 

[dizzyr]

Couldn't-I was with a friend that doesn't have Nexus. I have told ALL my friends they want to come with me-get the card. Most of them have it ..just not this one!!

I feel your pain! I crossed last night for a quick trip down and my friend didn't have Nexus. It was 45 min going down but we figured it would be no wait coming back because who crossed back into Canada Saturday night? Well it was an hour and 40 minutes!!!! We didn't get home until midnight and had two very sleepy girls in the back.