Originally Posted by
bchaplin
This may seem like a flip question, but it's not:
I recently convinced my stepfather, who is in his 70's and almost never flies, to take a plane rather than subjecting himself to a 2-day drive. I was really hoping it would go well, to convince him to do it again in the future, but unfortunately it was an overall difficult experience for him. Among other things, I was expecting he might get shunted into a TSA-Pre line due to his age, but instead he got randomly selected for additional screening! He has no criminal history, and except for military service a long time ago, he has never even traveled outside the U.S. I coached him on what to pack, so I'm sure he had no liquids, small knives or other prohibited items in his carry-on. I'm curious as to why this could have happened, and if there is anything I could have done to make the experience better for him. Do first-time or rare flyers get singled out for special treatment?
I know you probably can't say much about the selection process for the different lines, but I thought I'd raise the question anyway.
I finally found the travelers over 75 statement:
Mr. Pistole said he has heard the complaints about Precheck lanes getting clogged, and TSA has already decided to stop moving travelers 75 years of age and older into Precheck service, unless they are enrolled, because they sometimes can take 10 minutes to move through. As Precheck enrollment grows, the "managed inclusion" effort will be phased out, he said.
No travelers over 75
Referring to the bolded phrase, perhaps the TSA Press Secretary will share with us how many people have actually paid their $85 to enroll in PreCheck. Seems to me it probably isn't many or else the TSA would be touting the number of people who have signed up.