Letters: One Global Entry workaround, one Global Entry complaint

We recently received our new Global Entry card after having our interview at LAX upon returning from an international trip.

In the future, I would skip getting Global Entry and use the Mobile Passport app. You save the $100 for five years, plus the time you spend for the Global Entry process. The app is free, and similar to Global Entry in that upon your arrival from an international trip, there is a separate line for Mobile app with no waiting.

We used this application and got through the entry process at LAX before our friends who had Global Entry.

If you want TSA PreCheck, which gives you expedited passage through airport security, you can still get that for $85 for five years.

Joanne Kennedy
Camarillo

Real ID

Thanks for the consistent reports about Real ID. Because my brother may be getting married in Pennsylvania and my driver’s license doesn’t expire until 2022, I broke down and made an appointment with the California Department of Motor Vehicles for a Real ID.

I had The Times articles cut out and filed away, plus I had, through the reporting on these stories, additional information about all the forms of ID and proof of citizenship required. The DMV also requested that I fill out an application online.

When I got to the DMV and the lane for people with appointments, they stopped taking people with appointments to take people in other lines. Delays aside, when I got to my DMV official for review of my documents, she said: “Finally, someone who knows how to follow directions.” All I could think of was the reporting in the L.A. Times.

Just be mindful that they do not accept credit cards; it’s cash or debit card only.

F. Phillips
Woodland Hills

::
I have enjoyed reading the Travel section for many years, especially those stories written by Catharine Hamm.

The one on Global Entry slowdown was right on [On the Spot, Sept. 29]. I know because I have been waiting more than six months for my renewal card. I paid my $100 and filled out all the forms online. I have tried calling and calling to no avail. I was told to keep calling. In doing that, it is impossible to reach a live person.

In that article, Hamm gives a website (ttp.cbp.dhs.gov) to check for your application status. That too is a joke. I could not find the status of my application. I cannot believe this government program could be so [messed] up.

If anyone can tell me how to get my entry card, please do.

Seymour Strauss
Los Angeles