Pre-Check only for some passengers?
 

Really now, what's the point of giving my wife pre-check and not me? If we were trying to slip something through we could have had her carry it.

Besides, we are going to go through the same line anyway for luggage security. (Of course that doesn't do any good against the TSA guy who exchanged a bag of nuts for a love note.)

Pre-Check only for some passengers?
 

The point is that your wife is still going thru the same security check as you. She is still screened for liquids and her laptop is still being x-rayed.

PreCheck is more for travelers who know what can/can't go thru security. The enrollment fee is more of a "barrier to entry" to weed out those who know the rules and those who don't. If you only travel a few times a year chances you will not enroll due to cost and chances are that you are also not as familiar on what is allowed.

There is frequently a difference in the screening: subject to strip search machine or not.

Given the "managed inclusion" into PreCheck may not involve a fee, the fee (if even applicable) acting as "barrier to entry" for the "non/less/differently-knowledgeable" may be considered a non-barrier of sorts.

The TSA didn't create PreCheck to weed out those who know the TSA's rules from those who don't know the TSA's rules. It was created for other reasons.

(bolding mine)

Where do you get this from?

If I pony up $85 for pre-check, are they going to grill me about my travel habits and then educate me on what is and isn't allowed?

Active duty in uniform who may have never flown commercial before are eligible for Pre. Anyone who ponies up $85 is eligible for Pre, even if they aren't a frequent flyer. Anyone who has GE (which might be someone who only flies internationally once or twice a year but who wants to streamline the re-entry process) is eligible for Pre. Random people pulled out of line by TSOs who may have never flown before are immediately eligible for Pre.

And the NEXUS/SENTRI/GE users who got it for road travel in the main also are set up for PreCheck participation -- but that PreCheck participation for an infrequent flyer mostly would happen if someone remembers to enter the appropriate numbers in the Known Traveler field of the airline records.

I doubt many people signed up with GE for road travel.

I agree, but it may or may not be higher than the number of people signing up for Nexus to save money and get GE benefits for flying into or around the US -- and the latter has been done more and more by those who barely cross the border by land if even doing more than one/two crossings by land ever.

Not true. I am not eligible for Pre because I am not a US citizen or resident.

The simple truth is that everyone should be screened by Pre standards (shoes on and metal detectors), as is done in most countries.

Until someone gets something horrible through.....then how would you feel

I hate it but it's a necessary evil right now (current procedures)

BTW you don't have to be a US citz to get GE

:rolleyes:

So you really believe no plot could ever involve an unwitting 'mule' over-75 or under-12 or active duty in uniform (hint: think Nadal Hassan).

All of those folks already get a form of expedited screening. The young and old get to keep their shoes on (like folks most everywhere else in the world) and those in uniform get automatic access to Pre. Of course, the minute they separate from service (even after 30 years, with a retired military ID) or they travel in civilian clothes (but with an active duty ID), they are untrustworthy.

You mean a cupcake? Breast milk? Juice?

TSA standard screening is not a necessary evil, it is just evil.

When I fly into (and therefore over) the US, I am screened by Pre standards, as used abroad: my shoes and cardigan stay on, and there is no full body scanner. None of the many airplanes flying into the US full of people screened this way have ever fallen out of they sky. The truth is, taking off shoes and using full body scanners does not add to security (and may even decrease it since full body scanners make it a lot easier to take a gun on a plane, but that is another story).

From the GE site: "Global Entry is open to U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, Dutch citizens, South Korean citizens and Mexican nationals." I, as most of the world´s people, am not a US citizen or resident, Dutch, South Korean or Mexican national.

In addition to that, it remains an open question if presenting GE plus a foreign passport as ID will actually get you into a Pre line at the TSA entry point. I know from experience that presenting a passport (of a perfectly ordinary democratic country with no ties to terrorism) to a TSA officer induces a state of immediate distrust against the passport holder.

Of course that is not what i am saying. But the easier the screening the larger the threat, that is a fact.

The argument is basically at what point the risk equals the inconvenience and everyone will differ on that.

I believe Canadians as well (and soon to be more).......so like i said you don't have to be a US citz

PRE has nothing to do with presenting your passport. The decision on whether you will get the 'pre screening' is made before you get to security. Most airlines now print some form of 'pre' on the BP and that is also used for access to the pre line (of course the three beeps determine which screening you get)