D582

I'm fairly sure it is only web and mobile boarding passes (i.e. anything you can generate yourself) that are digitally signed (or have to be digitally signed). Boarding passes printed by the airline do not have that requirement. I know this was why when Air Canada launched Precheck that it was immediately available at the airport but took a while for it to be available for web and mobile. WestJet is in the same situation now.

And from my experience, with an itinerary with two participating carriers, only boarding passes for that carrier's own flights will show Precheck (i.e. UA connecting to AC with UA BPs, Precheck would only show for the UA flight. You would have to see AC to get an AC BP with Precheck).

So even if LH participated, the boarding passes issued for the connection on UA would unlikely have Precheck anyways.

Randyk47

Recently flew SAT>DFW>LHR>BCN originating on AA in SAT changing to BA for the rest. All BPs had PreCheck which we smiled at since there's no PreCheck in LHR. On the return which originated on BA the opposite was true and no BP had PreCheck on it. We've never flown on two participating airlines on the same PNR so can't speak to whether or not PreCheck would appear on all. Kind of think it wouldn't as many of the domestic airlines are not part of the same alliance and non-partner airlines don't usually or necessarily share FF and profile information.

seawolf

You are absolutely right than barcodes printed on airline stock does not need to be signed.

Often1

Same thing for WS, You have to physically show up at a counter to obtain a Pre-Check BP. That does largely eliminate much of the benefit of Pre-Check as it's another queue, but as time marches on WS too will be able to issue digitally-signed BP's.

SchmeckFlyer

On Friday I flew out of SFO with Aer Lingus. As a holder of Global Entry I have always been able to use PreTSA in the past, even in those few cases when it was not specifically indicated on my boarding card. But Aer Lingus apparently does not participate in PreTSA (despite their entire long-haul network being focused on North America), so the agent at SFO (private contractor CAS) did not let me use PreTSA and proceeded to rudely lecture me that Global Entry had nothing to do with PreTSA. :roll eyes: I ended up getting pissed off at him, but dutifully waited in line (over one hour) as I realise the rules do in fact state the airline must participate. Other passengers were having similar experiences around me.

Overall, a very disappointing experience. It baffles me that "airlines must participate" to begin with, when I have already been vetted and have a card to prove it. It baffles me that security agents charged with protecting our airways are not up to date with current rules (i.e. that Global Entry entitles one to use PreTSA). It baffles me, and everybody it seems, that an agency and our airport infrastructure cannot adequately carry out a core and basic function: security.

MSPeconomist

GE has been part of PreCheck from the beginning, not just due to "current rules", although I'm using the phrase "been part of" loosely as PreCheck is a TSA program while GE is CBP. Airlines must participate because it is NOT true that everyone with GE/PreCheck is entitled to use the PreCheck line every time; it must be indicated on your boarding pass for that airport/flight/day, so that the airline must participate for this to work.

TWA884

The following airlines offer TSA Pre✓®:

Often1

OP, whatever your experience in the past, the program as it stands is exactly as it was explained to you at the checkpoint and your reaction was simply incorrect.

You need both a Known Traveler Number (KTN) and a participating carrier. You have a KTN through GE, but EI is not a participating carrier. The only two non-US participating carriers are AC and WS. Over time, the number of non-US carriers will likely expand, but there are significant privacy concerns for EU carriers, so do not count on this happening anytime soon.

So, going forward, if you do not have a Pre-Check notation on your BP, you won't be going through Pre-Check, whether you've got your GE card to show or not. (There may be some extremely rare occasions where random people are shunted into Pre-Check and that may have happened for you, but that is not the norm and don't mistake it for that).

As a final note, arguing with a front-line person about how the program is administered and the intricacies of the relationship between GE and Pre-Check doesn't help you out one bit. The employee of the contractor is trained to look for the Pre-Check symbol and that is it.

Randyk47

I guess I wouldn't have been exactly disappointed because I would have gone to the airport knowing full well that I was not flying on a participating airline. The agent not knowing PreCheck is indeed a benefit of GE is a bit of a mute point as it doesn't make any difference for a non-participating but they probably ought have known. You could make the case that the agent's best answer would have been along the lines of "Yes but Aer Lingus is not a participant in the program." or "Even with GE and PreCheck you must get PreCheck on your boarding pass. We can't accept just your GE card." In a more generic sense I do agree that having gone through the background check and being approved for GE and the associated PreCheck what airline I'm on ought not to be an issue but it is.

steinsgate

Ok. So, how many times are people actually able to get in a PreCheck line with a non-participating airline and only with their GE card? (no pre-check symbol on BP)

Often1

Early on there were some reports that people were able to talk their way into Pre-Check lines with just the card. Most of those people were then shunted off to the regular line when they made it to the TSO, but they still beat waiting in line. A very few somehow made it through Pre-Check.

Depending on how the line is monitored, who controls it and how much of a scammer you are, it's likely still possible to make it to the TSO with just a GE card. But, that doesn't get you through Pre-Check. No idea whether that is resulting in action against individual's Pre-Check status.

Randyk47

We originate most of our travel out of SAT which is relatively small. The airport doesn't provide any direct support, at least not in the form of a regular full time up front line sorter, at the security points. Once in awhile, especially in the larger Terminal A, TSA will put a sorter out front. I have seen passengers try but I have never seen anybody get past either the line sorter or the ID checker by showing a Trusted Traveler card, arguing, or otherwise trying to convince them to let them into the PreCheck lane.

TWA884

Even if you make it into the Pre✓ line, you will not be processed as a Pre✓ unless three beeps sound when your boarding pass is scanned by the TSO.

Grog

Maybe this has been covered previously, but I can't find any threads on this specific subject.

I've paid my GE fee, been interviewed, and approved, and have received my KTN. But as a passenger on mostly non-US aircraft, as well as on U.S. military aircraft, I don't receive TSA Pre✓ because neither group are "participating carriers".

Why even have this TSA-driven combination of "KTN" and "participating airline"?

Why the discrimination against a GE "graduate" when flying any particular air service? One scan of my passport with correlation of stored GE data and TSA agents could be immediately aware that I'm "Global Entry approved and current".

Isn't the issue about MY PERSON and my being of low risk? Or am I suddenly of LESS risk when I choose a US commercial carrier and of GREATER risk when choosing Lufthansa or U.S. military aircraft?

(I'm hoping the answer is not simply "it has nothing to do with security and it's purely a method to favor US-based airlines or, worse yet, to favor airlines whose lobbyists lined someone's pockets early in the Pre✓ planning stages".)

SchmeckFlyer

I wasn't disappointed I had to wait per se, as I later realised the airline actually has to participate. For whatever reason I was not consciously aware of this rule; in the past I either always flew on a participating carrier or flew out of SEA with BA (mainly) where I was able to use TSA Pre just by showing my GE card. I suppose I have been lucky until now. I was mainly pissed off in this case by the attitude of the agent; he was quite rude, condescending and unhelpful when I asked a simple question of whether or not I could use the TSA Pre line. I didn't ask for a lecture of incorrect facts, just a simple yes or no. As I stated, in the end I waited in line and didn't complain anymore.

But as stated by Grog, I don't quite understand why one has to be flying on a participating carrier in the first place. I fail to understand what the choice of carrier that has to do with security?