My background:
- Global Entry / Precheck. I did my GE interview about 2 years ago and have flown extensively since.
- U.S. citizen, Caucasian male
- Regularly fly AA and WN, but have my KTN added to other FF accounts as well.
In the past year, I've flown approximately 50 total segments on AA and WN, plus about 6 on United. On all of these, I book via the airline directly and use the "native" FFP and my KTN. Across all of these, I have had 0 cases where (a) Precheck didn't print on the BP or (b) I was selected for "enhanced" screening.
This year, I've begun flying a little bit of AS. I book via Alaskaair.com and manually enter my AA Gold number and KTN. In 5 total segments so far, all 5 of them have had either (a) Precheck not print on the BP or (b) enhanced screening at the airport. Since those enhanced screenings are cases where Precheck did print on the BP, I can rule out a website issue where it did not recognize my KTN.
They say it's "random", but simple math would indicate that this is an
incredibly minute possibility. So I'm wondering: what is it about my pattern that suggests I'm a threat when I fly Alaska, but clearly not when I fly AA or WN?
In one of the "enhanced" cases, there wasn't any line-of-sight between the ID checker and the person who pulled me out for screening.
The intensity of the pat-down has increased sharply from the last time I got one a couple years ago. It's an experience I'd rather avoid in the future if possible, but unless someone has other ideas, that might mean I should stick with AA/WN, even though the AS nonstops are really nice.
All other aspects of my travel are similar between the AA/WN and AS trips. Lots of domestic flights + a few international flights, lots of short business trips, business-casual dress, laptop bag + same carry-on, etc.
Thoughts?