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canyonwalkerGrand Cayman Travelog #28
IAH airport - Sat, 20 May 2023, 3pm
We're halfway home from Grand Cayman, making a connection in Houston. We had to clear passport checks for the first time in 4 years. (Covid dealt a last blow to our overseas travel plans.)
Like the last time we entered the US at an airport— which coincidentally was this same airport, IAH— there's a big banner overhead, "Global Entry: No Paperwork, No Lines". Last time that was a total lie. We literally had to wait in a line, a long line, to hand in paperwork.
This time the big banner (it's still there!) was only half a lie. There's no more paperwork; they've got it computerized. But there's still a long line. After you file yourpaperwork electronic records at a computerized kiosk you have to queue up in a long single line with everyone else for your paperwork— excuse me, electronic records— to be checked by a CBP officer. There were only 3 CBP officers for 100+ passengers. And that was just the Global Entry queue.
After clearing passport control we had to go through TSA security screening again. Yeah, that's the way it works in the US. CBP discharges you to "outside" the secure zone, and you basically have to reenter the airport. And the entry they shunted us to had no TSA PreCheck. What an eye opener it was seeing how the other half lives. Regular TSA screening sucks more now than it did several years ago. It seems they've learned how to make the process even more dehumanizing. Many people contend that the government makes non-PreCheck screening worse on purpose to encourage more people to volunteer their data to the government— and pay a fee— to be treated less dehumanizingly.
IAH airport - Sat, 20 May 2023, 3pm
We're halfway home from Grand Cayman, making a connection in Houston. We had to clear passport checks for the first time in 4 years. (Covid dealt a last blow to our overseas travel plans.)
Like the last time we entered the US at an airport— which coincidentally was this same airport, IAH— there's a big banner overhead, "Global Entry: No Paperwork, No Lines". Last time that was a total lie. We literally had to wait in a line, a long line, to hand in paperwork.
This time the big banner (it's still there!) was only half a lie. There's no more paperwork; they've got it computerized. But there's still a long line. After you file your
After clearing passport control we had to go through TSA security screening again. Yeah, that's the way it works in the US. CBP discharges you to "outside" the secure zone, and you basically have to reenter the airport. And the entry they shunted us to had no TSA PreCheck. What an eye opener it was seeing how the other half lives. Regular TSA screening sucks more now than it did several years ago. It seems they've learned how to make the process even more dehumanizing. Many people contend that the government makes non-PreCheck screening worse on purpose to encourage more people to volunteer their data to the government— and pay a fee— to be treated less dehumanizingly.
