Last week I wrote about something important that you needed to do if you get a new passport and have Global Entry.
The way it works is that if you get a new passport, it comes with a new passport number. You’ll need your passport number to be associated with your Global Entry account so it will need to be updated.
Or does it?
In our household Lucas is up next for a new passport pretty soon. I’ll definitely be updating his new passport number with Global Entry when the time comes. However, according to a reader comment, maybe GE will still work even if you don’t update.
Tim A left a comment stating:
I forgot to put in my new passport number and was a bit worried when using the Global Entry kiosk this past weekend. I knew that both American Airlines and Global Entry had my old passport number.
No problems at all. Breezed right through like always. Not saying that will work for everyone, but I was pleasantly surprised.
So Tim forgot to update his Global Entry account with his new passport number but it still worked without issue. This seems kind of odd to me and I wonder then how affective the system really is?
Could the system know that Tim’s passport number had changed withought him doing anything? This scenario sounds highly unlikely. Could the kiosk have some sort of flaw in it allowing people to pass through with incorrect or not the most current info? It seems this could be a possibility.
I don’t know what to make of this. Could Global Entry working for Tim without updated info have been a one- off odd situation or could this work if others forget to update their info?
Who knows! If someone has a new passport and wants to try and experiment, please let us know how it goes for you! 🙂
Tim A- The few times I’ve used Global Entry, we’ve alwats had to do a fingerprint scan.
One more thing… the GOES website still had my old passport number listed.
I would mention that the kiosk still requires a fingerprint scan to establish identity. Also, I had mentioned that I hadn’t updated my passport number with American. After commenting, I remembered that I entered the country on an AA plane, but it was a charter from Cuba, so it wouldn’t have had my AA info in the system.
And yes, I did put my new passport number on both sites today.
Nate- It would make sense for the systems to all by synced up! In the link at the top of this post it has directions how to update your passport number with your Global Entry account.
I do recently got a new passport and had no issue with global entry on my most recent trip. I did not update the number in the web portal. To be fair I don’t think it would be too terribly complex to associate your new passport number with your old one. The systems are most likely all tied together somehow on the backend using some data element (social security number). And you are still required to scan your fingerprints so they know who you are regardless.