I am the originator of this thread and some things have surfaced since I posted.

First, American is doing all they can to negate my extensive planning of our annual trip. So as to avoid Miami I booked way ahead using Charlotte and the excellent times they have to get to and from. Started with a modest layover on the way down which has now ballooned to about 2 extra hours. Instead of wheels down at 12:25 now we are 2:20. Connection changed to 42 minutes so we had to move back.

The return has us with a short 1 hour 5 minute layover. One post said that even with Global entry we would have trouble due to luggage wait. Well I have paid for AA door to door to avoid this. An extra $29 per checked bag. Not bad. Now I need to pay for Global entry but the price seems to move when I get settled on how much it is. Is it $100 or $100 plus a background check making it over $200?

Any help appreciated.