cottonmather0

I got my Global Entry approval in August, but until Monday night at SEA, I had never had the opportunity to go through a PreCheck lane. Lots of three beeps in BOS Term C and SFO, but no reward for my trouble.

Monday night I got to go through the PreCheck lane at SEA.

My first reaction: This is AWESOME!

My second reaction: Why did I have to pay $100 to be treated respectfully and not just presumed to be a criminal? Why can't all U.S. citizens be treated as respectfully?

It's just wrong and it's a distraction from the real issue that lets TSA off the hook from the people who have to deal with them the most often.

MAMOHT

You did not have to pay. Being a Global Entry member only increases your chances. I know a lot of people that get precheck every time without being on any other extra program.

Ari

If you don't have airline elite status (or recent frequent travel), you do have to be a member of a DHS TT program in order to participate.

cottonmather0

I'm just a lowly Silver on UA who will barely make Gold by 12/31. UA has not invited me to be one of the special ones, so I had to pay for GE to get into the program.

But again, that speaks to my larger gripe: just because someone is a kettle and doesn't fly enough to be elite or doesn't wish to pay for GE, they shouldn't not be assumed to be a common criminal every time they fly. Every U.S. citizen (or legal resident for that matter) should be treated with the same amount of respect and deference that precheck members get. Period.

Like I said, TSA created precheck so that the people who fly the most and complain the loudest can bypass the lines. They're oiling the squeaky wheel, so to say. But that doesn't fix the indignity and injustice of the current airport security process.

Carl Johnson

I don't think the $100 is the worst of it. From what I understand though, NEXUS is a better choice for somebody who can get to a NEXUS center. $50 and from reading elsewhere it allows you to enroll in GE for no additional cost.

If you notice, your $100 didn't simply allow you to avoid being treated like a criminal. How many people were in line in front of you? Any? The maximum I've ever had in front of me has been 5. My first time, I went through it alone.

How many clerks were there? 3?

1 X-ray
1 WTMD
3 clerks

All for just you and me.

Totally worth much more than $100, but what you and I are doing is receiving the advantage of a greatly disproportionate amount of government resources - paid for by EVERYONE'S taxes. Look to your left the next time you go through, those people paid for the clerks and equipment to get you through. Your taxes and GE fee, and my taxes and NEXUS fee, didn't pay anywhere close to the full cost of that. We are receiving benefits paid for by the taxes of people on the other side of the barrier to our left.

PLUS

WHY is the entrance to Precheck at SEA behind the Elite entrance? I was an FO before I started using it (before they set it up as behind the Elite entrance in fact) and have always gotten past the dragon with no problem but why should a Kettle who's NEXUS or GE be turned away or even have to argue?

If you qualify, it has NOTHING TO DO with your relationship with the airline. It is a GOVERNMENT program.

They created it to create a class of Übermenschen among the most frequent flyers and TSA critics. They want to shut us up by giving us a special experience. I won't shut up. Don't you shut up either.

Critic

UA does a lot of things wrong, but they were pretty open about the whole PreCheck thing.
united.com: TSA pre-screening program

cottonmather0

Yeah, I did apply when it came out but I didn't start getting the three beeps until after I was approved for GE.

Maybe I'm using the wrong term when I say, "invited." Fair point.

BubbaLoop

Sorry, I disagree. Everyone (not only US citizens and residents) should be teated with this level of respect. Period.

We foreigners are often the most mistreated, just because they can.

FlyingHoustonian

I finally flew a domestic segment out of IAH a couple of weeks ago and got my first three beeps (both GE and elite on UA not sure which made it happen)

I actually got a small lecture to put my coat back on. I had already removed watch, wallet, phone etc and stored in my coat before hte check point. They actually did not have any bins available to use and the TSA "girl" was huffy because she had to go get me a bin to run through the machine, but it was a very easy experiance versus normal TSA feckless nonsense.

cottonmather0

Yeah, no bins or nothing. I panicked at first when I realized that my belt was still on and the precheck dragon standing next to the WTMD laughed at me.

RadioGirl

This.
And even more so, this. ^^^^

Carl Johnson

Probably the OP did not mean Lawful Permanent Resident, but just anybody legally in the United States.

Ysitincoach

Make it a $1k. I don't care. I like not having to be groped, not having to reveal to strangers my shoulder problems, and finally being treated at a checkpoint with dignity again.

I like that the cost does keep the lines low. Just like airport parking. Make it $50/day, I'll gladly pay to know I have a spot open for me, and easy access to the terminal without having to go to the edge of eternity.

In Dubai I use Marhaba services which charged me about $12 to be escorted through customs. We went past the large lines of economy passengers, beyond the business and first class passengers, even beyond the diplomat line to an unlabeled line where customs was quick and friendly. Sometimes it just pays to pay.

MR_MAMA

I was told last week that they were having problems with the precheck lines and might slowdown the rollout to more airports. Seems there are a lot of people still trying to bring banned items through

BubbaLoop

And I mean anyone, not only people that live in the US. Did it every occur to you that many of us donīt? Airports are places where people from everywhere in the World pass through all the time!

I can assure you that the experience of passing through the TSA checkpoint with a foreign passport as ID is not pleasant, ever. Apparently being foreign (and not even remotely from "terrorist countries") makes you instantly liable to more horrid screening. They do that because they can: foreigners donīt have a means to effectively complain (even less than anyone else) and often donīt know enough to stand against abuse.