gingersnaps

TSA has stated it will keep in place a program known as Managed Inclusion I. This program is designed to randomly select non-Precheck and push them into the Precheck lane. These individuals will not have a background check nor a be registered Known Traveler. This means, more crowding of Precheck with individuals who are not official deemed "low risk".

TSA is currently in the process of getting this program ready for Philly.

video segment

chollie

Background checks are no guarantee of future behavior (unless you are a TSO or an airport worker).

We also currently have no way of knowing how many of these people have had background check and security clearances far superior to what the average TSO or airport worker has. Some of them will be cops, military reservists, employees of companies that require clearances and background checks.

Bottom line, if the TSOs at the checkpoint do their jobs properly, no contraband will accompany these pax through the checkpoint because all pax are thoroughly screened.

I know they are because TSA tells me they are.

petaluma1

Oh, good heavens, the sky is falling. The TSA is doing this because they can't get enough passengers to fall for their extortion.

txrus

For crying out loud, managed inclusion is not new-been around almost since the beginning of PC. Which, if you don't know, many of us originally got via our airline FF programs gratis (w/no background check, btw, & yet the sky never fell in on anyone in all that time...) until last winter when TSA, in a blatant money grab, kicked us out until we ponied up their $85 extortion fee. Unfortunately for them, they didn't have enough pax left to justify the staffing for both PC & the grope & scope machines, so they are now going back to the managed inclusion in order to protect the screener numbers.

When they suspended managed inclusion last spring we also saw a drastic reduction in the number of PC lanes being open-everyone who had been cheering the end of managed inclusion got bitten in the but when they were reduced to PC lite being the only option.

As much as it will p*** me off to see people back in the lane who didn't pay the extortion fee, right now, PC lite isn't worth the extortion fee I did pay, so if this is what it takes to get full PC back, so be it.

And, the reality is, 99.999999999% of travelers ARE, in fact, low risk. Do a google search to see how many screeners, airline employees, & airport workers have been arrested in the past pickanumberofyears for various things ranging from smuggling guns, smuggling drugs, smuggling people, theft, rape, kidnapping, possession of child porn, & at least 3 cases of murder committed by TSA screeners. I am much more worried about THEM than I am of my fellow pax w/4 oz of hand cream.

petaluma1

From @AskTSA:

This says to me that TSA is back to something close to the original "managed inclusion" in order to entice more enrollees.

satman40

This mean enough of the cheap flyers did not pay their $85.00 an they do not want to send anyone home, lunchroom is still OK..

FliesWay2Much

Can I ask why you guys pay the extortion fee and why you think you're special?

Points Scrounger

I didn't pay; it was a credit card benefit.

jsokoloski

I got NEXUS that includes Pre and GE. Work paid for it to make international travel less crappy. Time = Money; Less time wasted = Less money wasted.

We aren't special... we just typically fly more than the normal traveler and understand how to maneuver PreCheck, without causing a hold up for others.

Gig103

I paid it because, extortion or not, it saves me a lot of hassle with my CPAP & tablet no longer going in a bin, and the fact that I would opt out of the backscatter 100% of the time, which was still in major airports when I signed up. Also, when you're in a group of "trusted travelers" you're also in a group of "experienced travelers", so the lane goes quicker, even person-for-person against the general queue. You don't see PC people forgetting their electronics in pockets, beeping, or otherwise holding up the line. From a psych standpoint, I abhor the perp-stance (Hands up and over your head) of MMWR scanner more than I abhor paying extortion. That didn't play into my decision but when I get the random beep or don't get PC, I get irritated by that.

As for "think you're special", why do you not think we should be upset to see someone receive a benefit for free and without providing their consent to a background check, and fingerprints, to the US Government?

To put it in a general perspective, imagine that you found out Comcast was giving your next door neighbor free HBO on random months, while you were dutifully paying for it. Wouldn't you be upset?

petaluma1

It's quite simple, really. 99.99999% of travelers pose absolutely no threat to the aircraft whether they have been background checked or not. I would suggest that about the same percentage of those rejected by PreCheck for having a "criminal" record also pose no threat to security.

You are aware, aren't you, that the TSA uses the excuse that background checks are not a view into the future, only the past, when one of their clerks becomes a miscreant?

Your analogy is not relevant.

Boggie Dog

Comcast, and many other businesses, give lower prices or extra services to certain groups of customers all the time. Nothing new about that.

Some of us here think that Pre Check level screening should be the default screening method for everyone, then adding screening steps if needed to resolve an issue.

Some believe that Pre Check was the result of push back from travelers which TSA silenced for the most part by offering Pre Check to those who pay the ramson.

I have had multiple background checks over the years at the federal level and more recently at the state level. I have proven by military service over a lifetime that I am no threat to commercial air travel or in any other capacity. So why do I need one more background check just to appease TSA when the information is already out there?

Just a point of reference. Here in the DFW area a young college student was murdered recently, the accused murderer a United States Marine and is automatically eligible for TSA's Pre Check by virtue of his being in the military. Yet my full career and retirement from the military offers no such consideration.

I don't think TSA has thought out this program fully and I don't think Pre Check offers any improvement in security. Especially seeing as how TSA doesn't properly screen airport workers who have more opportunity and direct access to airplanes where they could easily introduce a bomb or other contraband.

I think Pre Check should be terminated until TSA can prove that the program actually reduces the chance of a targeted threat against commercial aviation.

CalVol

I got pc 75% of the time last year.

We just took a family trip over the holidays and 1 daughter got pc on the way out and all 4 of us got it on the way home. I'm the only one who had status.

I like it. But I wouldn't pay for it.

GUWonder

Exactly. They need an expanded demonstration group to supplement the group of people who've paid into the DHS protection racket schemes or are in some roles serving the government.

It's not like background checks never fail to secure what they are supposed to secure.

Gig103

Since we are in agreement that 99.99999% of travelers pose no threat, and that background checks are a view into the past only, then that turns PC into a service being purchased, analogous to cable. You don't have to agree with me, but it was asked why I felt special, and that is my response.