Originally Posted by
petaluma1
TSA can't exclude people who haven't paid for it or they will never get all the enrollees they claim they need to make the program work "efficiently". The number they say they need is 25 million - they claim to have 5 million now.
I'm not sure the on-going 'consistent inconsistency' in the availability and nature of the experience is a great incentive for the average infrequent leisure traveler.
If you are a once-a-year leisure traveler and your home airport is, for example, PHX, you are already facing the strong likelihood that for 50% of your checkpoint experiences (leaving home), Pre will either not be available or will only be available in a very limited form (the same leeway given to <12's and >75's). That effectively doubles the cost of the program before you even start thinking about Pre availability on return trips.
If you regularly return from abroad and have to connect, you will likely enjoy a Pre-like experience on your foreign departure, but have to go through a non-Pre experience when you connect here in the US - further reducing the value of Pre.