USTA Offers Prescription for Curing Sluggish TSA PreCheck Enrollment
Jeff Edwards June 07, 2016
The U.S. Travel Association sees the Transportation Security Administration’s PreCheck program as a key to reducing airport security wait times, but says high cost and unnecessary hassles might be keeping many flyers from enrolling.
The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Trusted Traveler and PreCheck program sounds great on paper. Access to airport security lines that are used by only experienced flyers goes a long way towards lessening the stress of air travel. Yet, when faced with a sometimes onerous application process and the prospect of dubious value in return for an $85 application fee, far fewer flyers than expected are taking advantage of the opportunity to make airport security a little less painful.
The U.S. Travel Association (USTA) has offered its remedy for the PreCheck program’s woes. The travel industry group believes a so-called “Three Ps” (price, promotion, and process) approach might soon have more travelers breezing through airport security lines. The USTA is calling on the TSA to reduce the price of a five-year PreCheck application fee, better promote the program to travelers and streamline the application process. The travel association contends that making the PreCheck program more enticing to more passengers will not only benefit travelers but will also help the TSA to be more efficient.
“We have this sneaking suspicion that there is some price sensitivity,” USTA Vice President Jonathan Grella told Bloomberg. “We’re not sacrificing security for efficiency … we can achieve both aims. We believe that PreCheck, and trusted traveler programs in general, hold the key to mitigating this challenge that we have.”
Pointing out that many credit card companies and some airline frequent flyer programs will help to defray the nominal $85 cost of the five-year PreCheck membership, the USTA points to the inconvenience of applying in person for the program as an obstacle for many flyers who might otherwise participate. The group is calling on the TSA to make it easier for more passengers to participate without easing the rigorous security and background needed to ensure aviation safety.
As for promotion, the travel industry trade group says that media coverage of passengers missing flights due to long TSA wait times has sparked a surge of new PreCheck enrollments. According to the results of a recent U.S. Travel Association survey, new PreCheck applications more than doubled from an average of 8,000 applications per day in April to more than 16,000 applications per day in May.
“The intensive media coverage of the recent situation at airports has had the unintended consequence of effectively promoting PreCheck,” USTA CEO Roger Dow said in statement calling on the TSA to streamline the PreCheck program. “Of course we wish security wait times had never reached a crisis point in the first place, but we’ve long felt that PreCheck is a godsend for TSA’s effectiveness—both on the security side and on the convenience side. Now, because of recent publicity, enrollment trajectories are finally taking off.”
The TSA itself has lofty goals for the PreCheck program. In February, the agency announced that it has plans to add 20 million new PreCheck approved passengers to the rolls this year. The ambitious projection would mean a five-fold increase in the number of Trusted Travelers currently in the program.
[Photo: Getty Images]
I also see the lanes closed quite often. I tend to fly either really early in the morning or late in the evening, a trend that's also common with many business travelers. It seems that TSA only wants to staff pre-check during business hours. Another issue I personally have is that most of my domestic flights are part of an international itinerary. I don't know if these are excluded in the paid version of pre-check, but they are excluded in the Frequent Flyer version of it, so therefore makes the program useful in maybe 1 out of 10 or 15 flights for me. Lastly, if they want people to enroll then put the damn enrollment centers in the airports where people are already going who want to use it. I looked up enrollment centers when I had a recent scheduled long stop in Houston (IAH). There wasn't a single center in the greater Houston area open on Sunday and they are quite far from the airport. This looks to be a common trend in many cities.
One of the most frustrating things about PreCheck is that often the lane is closed. So why pay money if the lanes are not always available? I agree there should be the background check, but I do not believe it is just meant for frequent travellers as I often get stuck behind people in the line who have no idea how to use the security line in PreCheck. Now two security lines for PreCheck would be good - frequent and non-frequent travellers, then they may get more takers. And always having a PreCheck security line would result in more sign-ups. Not having to get undressed and unpacked when going through airport security - priceless (people will pay for that guarantee!). Apart from the random checks (which I totally understand).
Length of time as a condition of approval would make it easy for terrorists to qualify for PreCheck. They have no problem waiting a long time to wreak havoc. Face time with an agent for approval is an important step in evaluating the applicant. Lowering the price is not a good idea either. The cost of conducting an investigation is not cheap. The whole idea of PreCheck is to make it easier for trustworthy people.
My guess is that most people think that TSA and the airlines already get too much of our money, so why give them another dime. Moreover, with so many pre-check lines looking a lot longer these days one wonders if it is really indeed worth the money.
I don't understand why frequent flyers who travel without incident over a number of years aren't automatically enrolled in the program and notified. After all, TSA receive information regarding every passenger before they fly anywhere. Busy people don't have time to go to enrollment centers and they don't catch first time offenders either, surely your history of flying is more valuable to determine 'trust'.