(bolding mine)

I disagree. Taking out my BP and then re-stowing it in front of the line checker is awkward for me; keeping the BP out when I'm waiting in line is an opportunity for me to lose it. A savvy line checker will be pretty good at asking 'do you have Pre?' and judging from the reaction whether or not to ask for a BP. OTOH, a line checker may have a chip on his/her shoulder - you know, the TSA version of DYKWIA.

If there are going to be dedicated BP checkers, I think they should only be TSOs who are at the bottom of the pay scale, which is already double what the job should be paid based on the lack of skills required. The airline BP checkers at the elite lines aren't getting generous uniform allowances and federal pay and benefits.

I can't find anything in the Pre signup that indicates TSA will provide Pre lanes or staff them. In short, AFAICT from the website, the ONLY thing Pre may entitle you to is an 'expedited' experience after the TDC.

We don't have BP checkers at BNA. When Pre isn't crowded, it's not a problem. When it is, there's a problem that would be solved by BP checkers.

Sorry that it's a hassle for you to to show your BP twice instead of once. It would be better if there wasn't a TDC in the first place - one person checking BPs for validity (rather than checking IDs for validity) would be appropriate.

As long as TSA continues to insist on checking IDs, a separate BP checker is a good idea.

I disagree. The bottleneck is at the security check point, not TDC.

The reason airlines hire the BP checker is to enforce elite lines. TSA doesn't care about your status. And TSA doesn't own the line, so they aren't going to send someone patrolling it. I personally know a few TSOs and they are not paid well at all for the hours they work. Retention is low and that's the problem. You get a bunch of clueless people with no motivation. The airline/airport hired guys are even worse. You get what you pay for.

TSA screeners aren't required to have completed high school and the skills needed to be a screener are minimal. They are well paid for the required skill set.

This.

There are people swabbing toilets or standing for hours on end in a hot, greasy kitchen or sweating in a field who are getting paid far less than a TSO who gets great pay, unlimited training (and retraining), clothing allowance and federal benefits - all while working (usually) in clean, air-conditioned surroundings and plenty of opportunities for advancement.

The policies and procedure a TSO has to know and apply is a lot more complex than what a cleaner needs to know. A TSO is also frequently required to make decisions balancing security with customer service/business continuity. Common sense is a key skill for the job and not easy to find. Their are great TSOs with common sense but they often end up going to better paid jobs (like a friend of mine did). Getting an average of 35k in NYC is not a great pay.

I disagree with most of your post.

A TSO does NOT need to know the policies and procedures that apply to pax. Screeners are free to exercise their personal discretion on whether or not to confiscate an item that the website clearly states is permitted or to karate chop a pax's groin to see if s/he flinches.

TSOs do not have to make decisions balancing security with customer service. If a TSO is doing so, he's using his discretion to decide he can ignore what the big boss says. Neffenger has been very clear: security and efficiency are incompatible and his focus is entirely on security, regardless of how long the lines are or how invasive the procedures are.

Plenty of people making it in NYC on a LOT less than $35K + very generous uniform allowances + federal benefits + opportunities for promotion.

I didn't make the screener vs cleaner comparison but I do maintain that a TSA screener is not required to have a high school education. I think that tells us just how complex the job is. And TSA screeners have no role in business continuity at all. I do agree that as far as TSA goes common sense is indeed a rare commodity.

I wonder if it was balancing security with customer service/business continuity where the screener tried to steal my wife's jewelery?

Or where the screener became so angry with me for not playing the name game that he came very close to hitting me?

I just looked on USA Jobs and new hire New York TSA screeners are being solicited with pay at $17.09 to $24.41 per hour plus benefits. I don't see that as underpaid for a new employee. And add in the locality pay increase.

https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/433398600/

By my count that makes starting annual salary $42,846.11 plus benefits at the lowest pay level. And no one is forced to work for TSA.

The problem with TSA starts at the top - incompetent, uncaring, entrenched bureaucratic management who know nothing about the traveling public and care even less - and continues through apathetic middle-managers who fail upwards for 20 years toward a fat federal pension, and ends with apathetic, hostile, incompetent, or dishonest rank-and-file screeners.

The few TSOs you personally know have probably given you a picture of their lives as victims of torture. Management expects miracles, the traveling public is both full of morons and openly hostile, the pay is low and everyone is constantly in fear of being fired.

Some of that is certainly true. It's obvious that TSA management expects more from the rank and file than the rank and file are capable of delivering. Partly that's because management is full of idiots, but partly it's also because the quality of person hired to be a TSO is shockingly, laughingly inadequate to the actual tasks they are entrusted to perform. How much training does it take for a TDC to recognize Nexus and GE cards? Apparently, a LOT. Like, multiple rounds.

The public is certainly full of morons - no one who has ever worked any job which deals with the general public would dispute that point for a nanosecond. And they certainly can be openly hostile, especially to TSOs who don't know their jobs, treat the public like criminals and/or lepers, and brazenly steal stuff right in the middle of a c/p.

The pay is on the low side for any kind of service job. However, if you factor in uniform allowances and benefits, not to mention union representation that makes termination for cause extremely rare unless you molest collies in the terminal, it's not a bad gig. You won't get rich by working as a TSO, but then again, you'll make a heck of a lot more than the guy at the McDonalds in the food court who has the same education, background, and security background check that you have. Only difference is, you had a pizza delivered one night while the other guy was working a double.

As for fear of being fired, that one is simply laughable. TSOs are only fired if they a) commit a major crime, b) get caught, and c) the public gets wind of it. Notice, I said "and", not "or"; if the public doesn't know about it, TSA won't take much action against you, as we found out last year when the pair in Denver were caught sexually abusing passengers but weren't disciplined until the story broke into the public eye three months later.

In my experience, the precheck line tends to be fairly well marked. These line monitors should be there in a concierge-like capacity, assisting those who request it in a friendly manner (naturally, they tend to be the opposite).

My current strategy is to walk right past them into the pre-check lane. I get barked at from time to time, but also ignored just as often. If they try to engage me, I tell them "I can read" as I walk by.

I have found that they may get a bit cheesed off, but not enough to abandon their post to chase me down.

This will probably be judged as mildly DYKWIA behavior, but weekly business travel is annoying enough without needlessly engaging with these types of folks.

I agree. Too many people try to game the system.

I was at SFO last month waiting at the TSA gates to open for a 6am departure. The horde of people waiting for the regular gate was long. There were about a dozen people waiting at the pre check side, and when the gates were open, more than half were sent over to the regular gate where they belonged.

Agree.

Properly trained people without an attitude issue could handle this quite easily - the same way security people often do overseas. Make eye contact, ask 'have you used Pre before?', just in case someone has missed/ignored/tuned out any signs (they are not always there or well-placed). It's a pretty good bet that if the response is a look of total incomprehension, it is appropriate to ask to see the BP.

Yeah, there will be a few who say 'yes', get to the front and get rejected. I'm guessing the number will be far fewer than the 'inclusions'.

And there will always be a certain number who DO have Pre on their BPs but who do not get the three beeps.

At MIA a year or so ago one of the contract line monitors help my wife and I. Wife has some mobility issues and the monitor directed us to a quicker screening lane. I appreciated their looking out for us.

Last night at IAH around 20:00 the Pre- lane was already closed but there were three of these people still guarding the front of the security line.

I walked right past and one of them piped up and said "Sir can I see your boarding pass?"

"No, the precheck line is closed. There is only one place to go. You're not TSA."

"Sir, we still need to check no matter what!"

So this got my attention and I walked back to her - phone in pocket - and said, "I'll bite. Check for what."

"We need to check your boarding pass."

"For what exactly?"

"Sir, we are required to check your boarding pass. You can't get into line unless you show us your boarding pass."

I chuckled and turned and walked off and said, "No you don't."

She didn't follow me. :-D

WillCAD,
I get it. I do think that the TSA's primary problems are with its revolving door of incompetent leadership. It is a world in which one cannot ask, "why?" The rules are so protean, outdated, or cannot be enforced. As recent investigations have shown, there is a culture of fear among TSA staff. Decisions about passengers and their belongings are often arbitrary or absurd because the rules are secret, make no sense, and too many are afraid of disciplinary action for failing to follow ever-changing and confusing procedures.

I just listened to the podcast, "Working." A particular episode was about a retail manager. Perhaps it was a Gap or Banana Republic--something like that. The manager spoke about how many customers treated the staff as if that was the end of their careers. In fact, many of his employees were in graduate or professional school or on their way there. This manager felt that many of his customers treated the staff as if they would never achieve anything in life. Perhaps the same is true of many TSA employees. I don't know.

CottonMather0
I just pretend like they the line monitors aren't there. I'll smile, say hello, and keep moving. I do not give them a chance to ask for anything; I'm already well past them. I've now taken to have my boarding card on my watch, which has far too tiny print for them to handle, and they give up.

It was only a problem once, while boarding a United Express flight at Dulles. An Airserv employee stopped everyone on the jetway. Thus everyone had to fumble with their phones or dig out their boarding cards that had just been scanned. She wouldn't accept a watch-based card and made me go back inside (the gate agent was furious with the Airserve woman.)

I sought quiet revenge: she wasn't wearing a SIDA badge, so I turned her in. It probably wasn't her fault. Some nitwit at Airserv thought this was going to be a good idea. I haven't been back in a long time, so I'm guessing that they have rethought their policy.

Hot Pocket and Halls120
I agree, the PreCheck lines are ostensible with their distinctive green "check" logo.

There are certainly people who attempt to game the system. I have no doubt about that.

But I do think PreCheck gets confusing: since the metal detector, not the full body scanner, is used for families and those over and above certain ages, there can be an impression that those passengers were given PreCheck. Now that PreCheck passengers can be subjected to the full body scanner, the line blurs. It becomes less obvious at a crowded checkpoint who does and does not have PreCheck.

There is also the frustration of Global Entry and NEXUS, which theoretically offer PreCheck as a benefit. But passengers are ill-informed about this. Unless PreCheck appears on the boarding card, it's not there. I see a lot of passengers present a Global Entry card without PreCheck, and the TSA has actually let them through to PreCheck a few times.

Since so many airports close their PreCheck lines, there is further confusion about "Expedited Screening," "PreCheck Light," etc. I have been standing next to a PreCheck sign with a PreCheck "embossed" boarding card, but I still have to wait in the regular queue and take out my liquids. Then I get other passengers telling me to take off my shoes or I'll "hold up the line," even though I have the laminated "leave your shoes on" card.

It creates confusion for everyone. As far as we know, it's a confusion they would like because they're trying to demonstrate a need for more staff.