Originally Posted by
sexykitten7
I'm so confused by this whole story. Who what where why when? What were all the line options?
In my experience (on UA I know nothing of AA), there are 3 lines at most airports: Regular, Elite, and TSA Pre. Elites can use the regular Elite line and take off their shoes but there is no such thing as an Elite Pre line. The only people who can cut the Pre line are Clear and Crew. Is OP saying there was an Elite+Pre line at IAH??? Regardless, if the sign is gone then I guess they can't use it. Sorry.
My reading of the OP (apologies if mistaken) was that for the checkpoint they used there were two lines:
Regular
Unlabeled
The unlabeled line at some point in the past (pre-covid?) had been a Priority lane, but since then the Priority sign had been removed. The OP had continued to use the unlabeled lane without issue until this time they got called out by the TSA.
There is another checkpoint further away in the same terminal that has TSA Pre, but this one does not.