yqtyyz

I fly there 2-3 times a year. Before Pre-Check, I'd be there hours early, as I often return a rental car to Avis off-site.

It's just an uncomfortable, claustrophobic feeling I get when in LAX's T2, especially when you reach the top of the stairs to find the security line-up zig-zagging back at an angle. But what can you do? I understand that T2 only has a finite amount of space with which to work.

24left

There may not be a requirement, but ALL of us in the NEXUS line at YVR DOMESTIC were forced to do so Mon Oct 27. I and others asked the CATSA guy and he cheerfully responded That's the way it is". Bewildered faces among the group of us. Idiotic random rules.

24left

yqtyyz
That terminal is one of the oldest there, dark, dingy and well, ugh.
The good news is, the fine folks at LAX know this and are starting renos on a coupe of the older ones.

But, given that it took me less than 2 minutes from the bottom of the escalator, through the NEXUS/TSA SuperSpeedy line, past the bag scan, it's all good and hopefully will get better

Here's a PDF of the redevelopment plans, including T2. Notice the photos of the ticket counters, baggage claim and atrium.

http://www.lawa.org/uploadedFiles/LA...ril%202014.pdf

canadiancow

I've never had a problem getting Pre✓ on my boarding passes since they started doing this. I put my PASS ID in at time of booking, I put it in APIS, and I check in with it. Works flawlessly. I'm not sure which of those three are required though.

yqtyyz

Thanks, 24left.

Now if only more airlines could fly into under-served ONT (or increase their frequencies), I'd be happy to avoid LAX altogether.

sinalet

Also never had a problem getting it on my boarding pass. TSA Pre is only based off the "Known Traveler Number" on the PNR. It's almost always collected at booking time. Some airlines (like UA) support online adding/editing/removing post-booking, some don't (like AC; you'd have to call in).

APIS is completely separate. It's used for immigration and is the data that the gate agent will verify matches your physical ID. (There was a problem awhile back where APIS on AC wouldn't accept the PASS ID or entering the PASS ID would make you ineligible for OLCI. Since then, I simply *never* complete APIS for AC bookings I wait until OLCI and provide my PASS ID there, again, which is just for immigration purposes AFAIK.)

As to why AC's boarding passes are no longer scanning at security checkpoints at SFO: the TSA likely rotated the key used to sign the barcode. There's a signature appended to the IATA-standardized barcode that is basically used to prevent tampering with that data. That's why there's not even a "beep" (be it 1 or 3) when the boarding pass is attempted to be read.

seawolf

TSA didn't change any key. The key used to sign the BP is the AC's private key and the public key distributed to TSA to be pushed to all the scanners.

jeffypop75

Looks like we may not need to reprint BP at the kiosk/agent soon. Just did OLCI for SEA-YVR-YYZ and my YVR-YYZ BP has a Pre✓ symbol on it and says

"You've been cleared for TSA Pre✓™. To use this service at a participating airport, please proceed to the TSA Pre✓™ lane at the security check-point."

Odd thing is, my SEA-YVR BP doesn't have the symbol and it still gives the old message that I've been cleared and to reprint at the kiosk/agent.

seawolf

Looks like AC is in the process of finally implementing it.

When AC implemented PreCheck, they didn't setup the private/public key with TSA, thus PreCheck eligible BPs has to be obtained in the airport as PreCheck BP printed on airline stock does not required "signing." The fact it was printed on airline stock was good enough to mean that it was not tampered with.

In order for OLCI BP to be eligible for PreCheck, they have to be "signed" with AC's private key. The public key is distributed to TSA BP scanners. This signature is then verified by this public key to ensure the barcode have not been tampered with.

This implementation of BP signing might be related to the airport BPs no longer working.

canadiancow

Any updates on whether it works yet? I'm flying out of SFO tonight, and I don't want to walk all the way to T3 when international is inevitably closed, only to find out my BP doesn't scan

maradori

I might be totally off (most likely I am), but I always thought the AC BPs at SFO don't scan because the 2d barcode always print out super blurry for me

Inigo Montoya

I used Pre✓ this morning at SFO G gates with my OLCI boarding pass. My boarding pass was still of the following variety.

"You've been cleared for TSA Pre✓™. To use this service at a participating airport you must reprint your boarding pass at a self-serve kiosk (where available) or see an agent."

I didn't think to pay attention to whether they scanned it. (I've gone through Pre✓ a number of times previously with the OLCI boarding pass at SFO, so I was always confused by the reprint requirement and ignored it since I never saw it enforced).

Tulips700

So, I did the OLCI and it says I was eligible for TSA pre check. I got a message that said you couldn't use an electronic boarding pass, it must be printed. The printed version says nothing about the pre check. Is it supposed to?

vernonc

My printed boarding pass always had TSA pre printed on it. However I have also heard that the bar code scan tells the TSA folks if you allowed for TSA pre check. If you do have Nexus/GE, go to the checkin counter and ask them to reprint the boarding pass after entering Pass ID and it should show TSA precheck

bocastephen

You always need to reprint at the kiosk or agent to get the actual Precheck code on your boarding pass - no idea why.