BajaNomad

Sentri pass

bajasuzie - 3-25-2011 at 11:27 AM

When you have a sentri pass, does it matter what you are driving? Friend has a motorhome and heading home sunday from San Felipe. She thinks sentri is only for cars. Right or wrong? She has a pass:)

Mike99km - 3-25-2011 at 12:14 PM

The car must have a sticker from Sentri. Sentri will not put a sticker on a mo/ho. If she is in another car with a sticker no problem, using her card. The sentri system is for cars and pick-up trucks only.
MMc

LilSue - 3-25-2011 at 12:34 PM

Thanks, that helps.

MitchMan - 3-25-2011 at 07:11 PM

I thought a sentri card could be used by a pedestrian walking across the border and going through US customs on his/her way to the USA?

pointdog - 3-26-2011 at 09:00 AM

What about a pick-up with a cap over camper?
Or a pick-up with a shell?
Thanks!

bajamigo - 3-26-2011 at 09:05 AM

Usually no problem, but if it has a lot of stuff in it, off you go to secondary.

bajabound2005 - 3-26-2011 at 09:17 AM

yes, there is also a Sentri for pedestrians. No motorhomes, no towing of anything.

SO ?

MrBillM - 3-26-2011 at 09:53 AM

Pedestrians towing Motor Homes will be turned back ?

Roberto - 3-26-2011 at 10:49 AM

I have a Sentri pass, and a sticker on my truck. When I got the sticker I had my shell on the truck, and the agent STRESSED to me that the back of the truck must be open in order to use the SENTRI lane. I suppose you could find someone who will let you through, but those are not the rules.

Campers are a no-no. Towed items are a no-no. They want to be able to quickly scan the truck. In fact, I was told that not following those rules could mean loss of the SENTRI pass entirely.

Again, this is the info I received six months ago when I picked up my pass.

As far as dropping someone someone off before the border, driving across and picking them up on the other side, that is no problem. Do it all the time.

DENNIS - 3-26-2011 at 11:37 AM

SENTRI isn't a sacred zone. It seems a lot of smugglers are intercepted there....people and drugs. Consequently, normal vigilance is the rule.

durrelllrobert - 3-26-2011 at 11:39 AM

why does homeland security place these restrictions on the sentri lanes and yet allow anyone (including those that can't pass the criminal background check) driving anything go through the regular lanes?

DENNIS - 3-26-2011 at 11:42 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by durrelllrobert
why does homeland security place these restrictions on the sentri lanes and yet allow anyone (including those that can't pass the criminal background check) driving anything go through the regular lanes?


Careful what you wonder about. They may just spend the extra time to check everybody....every trip.
No No No....don't want that.

elgatoloco - 3-26-2011 at 12:06 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Roberto

As far as dropping someone someone off before the border, driving across and picking them up on the other side, that is no problem. Do it all the time.


They key is to make certain the agents do not see you dropping anyone off and that any thing left in your vehicle by passenger can not be identified as belonging to someone else. When we drop passengers we always do it at Otay and pull over well before the booth and we make them take small bags, backpacks etc that belong to them.

Agent told us that you can not have anything in your car that does not belong to you and that they were no longer going to allow you to drop off passengers due to stopping flow of traffic and safety issues. At Otay on a Tuesday mid afteroon for instance you normally drive right up to the gate which would not cause traffic issues but agent said they were going with zero tolerance on dropping off passengers so we dont care to tempt the fates and drop off before in sight of agents.

Have had SENTRI for many years and on the occasions when I have camper on truck and can't use it I am reminded how nice it is to be able to cross in minutes not hours.
We also used it to walk across after the Tequila Festival and were getting a lot of diry looks and some comments when we walked past everybody in the ped line at SY to gert to the front of the line, flashed our cards and bingo. Saved us about two hour wait by my guess.

Viva SENTRI!