priority screening for fed employees?
 

Forgive me if this has been posted elsewhere, but I couldn't find an answer to my question.

I am a federal employee and a coworker of mine mentioned that she has gone through priority security screening (without being first class, etc) simply by presenting her federal hspd12 PIV card (federal id badge similar to a military CAC card, and the same id badge that tsa employees have). I have never tried this and have actually had my id denied at one checkpoint. My question is, has anyone out there had experience with this or does anyone have any knowledge of this as a common procedure? The airport I fly out of typically is O`hare.

Thanks for any info!

At this point, there is no inclusion in programs like Pre check based solely on the fact that a person is a federal employee (at least not that I have seen in the regs). The ID is a valid ID for the checkpoints, and should have gotten you in with no problem (your experience with a denial notwithstanding - policy indicates it is a valid ID).

Incorrect.

It's right there on your website.
http://www.tsa.gov/tsa-precheck/active-duty-military

ETA: You may argue they aren't federal employees, but - they are.

This is like "all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares"
Yes, Active duty military can go through Pre with a valid CAC, but that is due to their active duty status, not due to them being federal employees.
So yes, military get Pre, but federal employees do not inherently get any preferential treatment (but certain federal employees do).

Priority lines are regulated differently at each airport or not regulated at all. In CLT anyone can go through the priority line because there isn't anyone patrolling it.

I've used my PIV card as identification and I've never had any problems. As for priority screening, most of the time I don't bother to ask but my last trip I was running late and I asked. I had mixed results.

I asked the lady at the initial screening, "Do air traffic controllers count as employees?" She said "yes" and I showed her my ID and she let me go. I get to the actual ID checker and before I even make it to her she starts yelling at me how it was an employee line only and then I tell her the story and then she mumbles something about, "Well, they need to make up their mind."

From the TSA website:

Acceptable IDs include:

• U.S. passport
• U.S. passport card
• DHS "Trusted Traveler" cards (Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST)
• U.S. Military ID (active duty or retired military and their dependents, and DOD civilians)
• Permanent Resident Card
• Border Crossing Card
• DHS-designated enhanced driver's license
• Drivers Licenses or other state photo identity cards issued by Department of Motor Vehicles (or equivalent)
• Native American Tribal Photo ID
• An airline or airport-issued ID (if issued under a TSA-approved security plan)
• A foreign government-issued passport
• Canadian provincial driver's license or Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) card
• Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC)
• Non-US/Canadian citizens are not required to carry their passports if they have documents issued by the U.S. government such as Permanent Resident Cards. Those who do not should be carrying their passports while visiting the U.S.

A Federal Employee ID is not listed.

It says that acceptable IDs include those ones. It doesn't say that it's a comprehensive list.

Off the top of my head, the requirements for an acceptable ID document are photo, name, DOB, and an expiry date. And it needs to be issued by some level of gov't. According to one self-identified TSA employee who posts here occasionally, there are "several hundred" types of ID that meet TSA's requirements, so many, in fact, that it's :( unfair:( to expect the poor TDC to recognize them all. :rolleyes:

I know a federal employee, based at ORD, who claims to do this. He says he uses a special line (apparently for crew only) and shows his PIV card to the screeners.

Nice to see the TSA doesn't know the law. Again.

My comment was meant to represent an all encompassing guideline has not been put out as of this point. Members of the Military are indeed "federal employees", but they are a segment that has been given a dispensation that does not cover all "federal employees". I (for example) would recieve no preferential treatment while transitting a checkpoint, simply because I am a federal employee. Some segments have been given a dispensation, but not all.

Your coworker is either misinformed or playing you.

He's full of bovine excrement.

My brother does this at RDU routinely and includes his spouse and children. He has been accused of being full of excrement but not because of that. :p

I would love to see the priority screening lines at the Washington DC airports if this is an acceptable practice. Seems like with the number of Federal employees in the DC area, those lines would be longer than all the others.

Everybody's travel budgets are either severely reduced or eliminated because of sequestration. So, you wouldn't notice any difference right about now anyway. ...Just go out and buy a lot of stock in videoteleconferencing companies.

Someone at RDU is looking the other way. Good for your brother, but he's getting a benefit he shouldn't.