reLAX

Yes, a few weeks ago in SLC I saw a head of family who was pre-approved being offered the option of going through the fast process alone or going through regular screening with his family members.

BTW, in SLC there is a pre-approved lane at the DL terminal (2) but not at terminal 1 (American), so I arrive with my AA BP and go to terminal 2 security, then connect airside to T1. Not much farther when coming from the rental car return.

janetdoe

Up and running at 5 AM this morning. Lots of suits standing around observing, and one of them told me this was their first morning.

It's at the First Class checkpoint (#8) in the AA terminal.

siankaan1

Just came through. BP printed at LGA didn't get the love, so I reprinted at kiosk here and walked right through. Suits still here, also AA employees registering EXPs and I thought she also said PT.

zux85

Just came through as well. Lots of suits. Someone did try to hand me a brochure and asked if i was EXP or PT. There was even a bit of a line for it when i walked through.

That first class checkpoint will likely get pretty crowded with only one lane now.

pssteve

Just thru LAX. PA line 40-50 folks deep. No one manning TSA Pre line so went to end of PA line and asked if Pre was open. "Maven" took us back to Pre area where we were quickly checked and that makes SO and I 7 for 7 at LAX.

QueenOfCoach

http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/2012/0320.shtm

Bolding added. Active duty service members flying out of DCA are now Pre-Check eligible.

14940674

There is also a FT thread on the topic: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/check...y-members.html

Panamajon513

Bad week for Trusted Traveler, missed it in Miami and again in Las Vegas this morning. Seriously, what the heck is the point?!

billycwhatup

Wish DCA were rolling this in the AA pier.

photodave

I'm 7/8 flying out of MIA so far this year.

2millionquest

It was fun going through the Pre line at ORD yesterday. As others have noted, a TON of suits and uniformed people standing around. When I went through at about 10:30, they were even filming the process. And they had a TV set up with a video running in a loop that explained what Pre was all about.

They're using the lane that used to be solely for ORD employees and flight crew. It has a little swinging gate at the beginning of the line and another right by the BP/ID check podium. They also have a BP scanner right at the beginning of that area, the entrance to the priority checkpoint, where the little 4' lady with the red jacket used to be. Now they scan your BP there and tell you which line to get into, regular priority or Pre. System seems well laid out and appears to work well. It wasn't especially crowded (except for the 8 million observers) when I went through.

The BP checker at LAX seemed very flustered when I went through there. A guy cleared just before me and then I cleared. For both of us, he seemed quite surprised, muttering "it's usually only every 8th or 9th person who clears; they must have changed something." Strange.

I'm now 4/4 at LAX, 1/1 at ORD for real, and 3/3 for ORD before it opened (the scanner would show whether or not I was eligible and I made it a point to ask, if things had been ready to go, would I have qualified, and I was told "yes" each time).

So 8/8 between ORD and LAX for me.

Best part was yesterday was a simple ORD-LAX-ORD MR, with 2.5 hours at LAX, so I went outside. Never had to take off my shoes or any of that other jazz all day. Nice.

I've realized something about this whole Pre thing, though. Don't know if it's already been discussed in this thread, but I think, while we all love it and it sure does make the whole security circus a lot less painful, it's also a way for TSA to hire a whole lot more staff and purchase equipment. I'm wondering if that isn't really the driving basis for this, rather than pax comfort and satisfaction.

wesmanz

I don't think it is. All they have is a metal detector, that likely was taken out when they added the giant nud-o-scope and at least in DFW they use a lane that was never really manned before. I don't see any additional headcount there either as there have always been TSA agents standing around with or without Pre-check.

The setup you describe at ORD is similar to how it should be at DFW, but there should be a designated line for Pre, not just PA/Pre. If you are a member of Pre-check, you go to the line, if you don't get LLL, you get sent directly to the regular security line, if you get LLL you move on to the designated Pre line. The thing that's slowing it all down in DFW is sharing the line with PA, which can sometime be as long as the regular line with the ease of gaining PA these days.

--wes

meballard

I think the intention is in the long term a reduction of staffing cost. TSA Pre lines should be able to process more people with less staffing, once the number of people using it is high enough to get people consistently moving through it.

2millionquest

Maybe I'm just too cynical, but there were 3 BP checkers at ORD yesterday, as opposed to the prior 1, and both lines were open and manned (which hasn't been the case in more than a year prior). And two physical BP scanning machines/podiums, as opposed to the prior one. The one out at the beginning of the line is quite different (metallic rather than wooden) and looks much newer and jazzier than the older wooden one.

Same with LAX. Now they have a whole new section open, with appropriate staffing, BP readers, BP scanning machines, et cetera.

I can't comment on other locations, as I haven't used them, but at ORD and LAX seems they need a lot more staff and equipment than they did before.

meballard

Near term, absolutely more staffing, but my thought is that the TSA Pre line should be able to process more people on the same equipment with fewer people, since they won't have to move around nearly as many bins, do as many separate checks of bags, fewer pat-downs, get people moved through fasters, etc. I'm thinking about it from purely a long term perspective, needing fewer staff doing/just on the other side of security.