New TSA "Trusted Traveler" Program Worth It?

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The only place outside the USA where I had to take my shoes off was Guatemala, Belize usually likes to dig through your luggage, Mexico has been pretty loose the last few times - no searches, no taking off the shoes. I have even made it through Houston a few times without having to take off my shoes, never been patted down in any airport and the only time I was body scanned was when I volunteered to go through.
Piranha - one of my neighbors is a TSA agent and he asked that same question - supposedly there are background checks but if you are bad guy and have never been on the radar a check may not turn up anything. I actually asked at Houston if paying for this will get you through without scans and pat downs and was told no - you still need to get checked - the line is just shorter

[omegaet]

I used to have the Clear membership. It went out of business; restarted as new program but very few airports have it now.
The Global Entry makes more sense for immigration since I travel overseas alot. JFK and ATL are not the easiest queues to negotiate. So many non-Americans take more time at the booths even tho they are should be separate lines.
Lately, I've encountered peak periods at TSA require up to 20+ minutes (due to all the children traveling and the "6 bin wonders" (who takes all that junk everywhere?). ATL has the longest TSA lines but they can really move since they have more personnel. The ones w/body scanners take the most time, I've found.
Off peak TSA runs about 5-10 mins for most of my airports (even JFK--I arrive early and go to the Skyclub)

We started to sign up for CLEAR, but reviewed the limited number of airports utilizing the program and decided it was a waste of money for us. Then we received the FREE offer from AMEX to enroll in Global Entry.....called the office (maybe TSA??) and asked about the application process. We decided we didn't want or need the government accumulating additional information in another file - don't we have enough agencies already storing and cross-checking.

We're comfortable standing in line for a little longer and being processed with the rest of the 'herd' on returning from our international trips.

[kyshel]

We often have short connections from JFK to CVG on certain days of the week due to schedule changes, so it behooves me to go w/ Boss thru Global Entry to get to our next flight.

[omegaet]

We often have short connections from JFK to CVG on certain days of the week due to schedule changes, so it behooves me to go w/ Boss thru Global Entry to get to our next flight.

....well, kyshel, as you are probably aware, we don't travel with the Boss (not knowingly), nor do we ever make short connections from JFK to CVG (a very long time since flying into or out of CVG).....so, we are sticking with our original decision to skip Global Entry and to 'suffer the lines' and practice our Spanish when arriving back into MIA!

[kyshel]

Got mine and used it to clear JFK from Prague. It was fabulous! Didn't even have to complete the two forms for arrival in US. Just kiosk, fingerprint, verify flight and go thru.
thepiranha, you are vetted prior to getting appointment, then you see immigration officer at select airports. Mine only took a few minutes, but I can guess it might be more lengthy process for some.
I got a nice vinyl passport/doc case (and they gave me one for my husband, since he was waiting for me) and I had to activate my card within 30 days. (horrid picture!! hope I never have to "show" it to anyone)