Jet'Dillo

I saw this Friday when traveling ORD-SFO. After dropping off my bag at Elite(ish...sorta, mostly, if you pay us enough we'll let you) check-in, I walked over to the apparently empty Pre-Check line to go through security. There was a woman who got there a few seconds before me. It appeared that we were the only ones in the line until she hands over her BP and ID to the checker and announces "Oh, we're together" and then motions behind her and about *10* others suddenly form up next to her, none of whom had Pre-Check or any sort of status. Line-checker person wasn't having any of it, shunts them off to the side, motions me through and starts to lecture them at length.

I've seen people try to escort their partners/spouses, maybe boss/employee pairs through the elite lines, but never something on this level.

aacharya

Ummm....precheck is not a measure of status.

Doc Savage

Glad the security dude shut the bozos down. Makes me wanna smile.

denuaflier

Pre-check is per individual and can't be waived in. If the line-checker did not stop him the TSA would have kicked them out.

Jet'Dillo

Not a direct measure of airline status, but I lumped them together here because the same person who tried it with Pre-check would likely try to squeeze their group into the elite boarding lines at the gate too.

RockinPete

Yea... TSA-Pre is only for people who have gone through the screening process. Even then, unless your boarding pass says "TSA-Pre", you can't use it.

You don't always get the TSA-Pre stamp on your boarding pass. I'm averaging about 80%.

bitburgr

HOU-PHL a couple weeks back. Two people standing at the front of GS / Group 1 boarding waiving their colleagues to the front of the line. Another 6 or 7 people go up. I believe they weren't GS as these first two people spoke to the GA as they were boarding to let her know that they were all traveling together.

I'm new to UA, but I'm guessing this isn't a GS benefit.

One of the ladies in Group 1 was expressing her displeasure.

trekwars2000

I'm pretty sure it is a benefit. I have heard it announced many times that you may board with the zone/group of the lowest number in your party. I see no problem with this and if I have a coworker travelling with me on the same flight I will have them board with me.

UA-NYC

Yes. It was posted on the United Hub site a couple years ago.

mgcsinc

Priority check-in, security, and boarding are soft benefits. They are not per-person, and are not subject to hyper-technical rules. This is not Europe.

People get to bring parties of any size with them when checking in, going through security, or boarding. And that's how should be.

PushingTin

When did it change from uniformed military to active duty?

I'm surprised that more people don't pull the 'medical' to board in group zero.

You can get your young kids into precheck, but not even your spouse on the same itinerary. Wife was pissed when the kids and I ditched her....

halls120

It is supposed to be active duty in uniform. Once at SFO I saw someone try to use it while not in uniform, and the GA said no, you have to board with your assigned group.

exerda

Worst such abuse I saw was in MCO, when they called preboarding for disabilities. The entire extended family boarded with granny, including several adolescent grandkids, aunts, uncles, etc. (about 12 pax all-told).

As for Pre, many airports have a setup where if you are traveling with someone who doesn't have Pre, they can use that checkpoint (or an adjacent one) but don't get Pre benefits. But 10 pax in a party is really abusing that.

mgcsinc

People have said here that "uniformed military" actually refers to the uniformed services, not that the people are actually in uniform at the time.

Doc Savage

So he was uninformed military, huh?