The Best Time to Book a Global Entry Appointment, According to the Data
At Global Entry Spotter, we publish historical appointment availability data for every enrollment center in the U.S. If you’ve ever wondered when new appointments usually appear, or how long they tend to last, our plots give you the inside scoop.
Let’s walk through an example using the St. Louis enrollment center.
Reading the Availability Plot
Below is a plot of the number of open appointments vs. time for St. Louis:
Each vertical spike represents a bulk release of appointments. Right after the release, the number of open slots shoots up. Then, as people book appointments, the count gradually decays back down to zero.
If we zoom in on just one of these spikes, you can clearly see this pattern:
What This Means for St. Louis
Looking at the long-term data, you can see that:
➡️ Releases happen almost every Thursday.
➡️The exact release time varies, so you can’t count on it being the same each week.
➡️Once released, appointments remain available for at least a couple of hours—but they don’t last long.
This means if you’re trying to snag a St. Louis appointment, you should be ready Thursday morning to act quickly.
Scheduled Appointment Dates
We also provide another view: a histogram of when appointments are scheduled. In this plot, the open bars show historical scheduled appointments and the blue bars show the ones still available.
For St. Louis, this plot shows that appointments are only being scheduled about one week out. So if you want a slot here, you’ll need to grab it quickly once released.
How Global Entry Spotter Helps
Of course, constantly refreshing the government website isn’t practical. That’s where our service comes in:
✅ We monitor appointment availability for you.
✅ You’ll get notified within seconds of new appointment releases.
✅ That way, you can book before the competition does.
Want to learn the fastest strategies for beating the rush? Check out our blog post:
👉 The Winning Strategy for Booking a Global Entry Appointment
Key Takeaway
For St. Louis, the data tells us:
➡️ Be ready each Thursday for new releases.
➡️ Expect appointments to be only about a week out.
➡️ Without alerts, it’s easy to miss them—but with Global Entry Spotter, you’ll know right away.
By using the data on our site plus our instant alerts, you’ll be prepared to book the appointment you need, without the frustration of guessing when slots will open.