This 'Pre security' charade and time wasters is really getting on my nerve. How do you guys handle it?

I am talking about the over zealous min wage generic staff who are not TSA but think they are. You know those irritating boarding pass checkers.

Some details have been changed but I was getting to the centurion lounge at SFO using a boarding pass not from United. I had to argue for about 10min and then with a 'manager' about this.

First the decision on whether or not I can enter the sterile area is TSA call. Period. These really smart gate checkers don't know what a lounge is, nor do they know what codeshare is. Then the 'manager' came in and he said I can't enter with this boarding pass. I flatly told him he is not TSA. He said yes. I asked for his badge. He showed me a work pass lol... Then he said he was the manager and he worked there. You can be on the board of directors for the airport and security is not your call. Then he started asking where I am going, which airline I am taking and I politely told him he is not TSA and I do not need to answer his questions.

In the end he let me pass saying TSA will handle me and how I am in the wrong place. You know what TSA did? Hi, bye. 10 sec max.

Now if the TSA had denied me entry because I was in the 'wrong' terminal I may just plead in another word or two and leave.... Because ultimately it is their job and their call. But these days you have so many non security people putting their fingers into the process.... Arghh I will just end it here.

I HATE THESE AIRPORT TIME WASTERS. Why do we even have them? I remember a time when these people were customer service and helped me locate where I was supposed to go. That was when I was new to flying. Today I know where I am going and these people should just get out of the way or get back to actual customer service.

What has this country turn into these days. It is like every airport employee think they can boss you around. The only entity who can boss travelers around is TSA/Security. The others jolly well remember that flyers are customers.

Completely agree. Multiple layers of 'rules inventors' with no actual authority.

A touch of diplomacy, and an air of knowledge can help you save time: walking at higher speed and knowingly saying "precheck" (while displaying just the Pre part of the BP) is usually enough for me to get to Pre at most airports, including SFO - at any terminal. I'm happy that they do this check, I see plenty of non-pre users get turned away at this point, meaning the TSA document checker doesn't have to deal with clueless people (thus slowing me down). Same thing with wrong part of the terminal: don't show a full BP, fold it if needed. Or even use a digital version imported into a generic app.

If you do actually get stopped, just state that you know what you're doing, and that if you're really in the wrong place the TSA will send you back, then start walking. Easy peasy. The less information you provide, and the more knowledgeable you seem, the easier the experience. Slowing down and actually talking is the first mistake, that's the sign of someone who doesn't know what they're doing.

Without those folks, the Precheck and premium lines would be jammed with people who don't qualify.

just a lot of 'job creation' in the name of security...unfortunately the USA has gone so far down that lane i think its impossible to take a step back, even 1.

I was shocked last week at BOS. The "time waster" in front of pre-check at terminal A just stood there, not questioning anyone during the short time I was able to see. Everything ran smoothly, nobody in the line who didn't have pre and no clogging up at the entry point. It was almost like the line guardian wasn't needed at all!!

Maybe everyone looked like they knew what they were doing, so the minder didn't see a need to intervene while you were there?


A question to those who complain about minders for priority (not pre-) lines: do you really want to make "priority" lines a free for all? The TSA don't care in the slightest whether or not you have status, so the minder is the only person checking you're eligible for that line.

There shouldn't be any priority for access to TSA.

So, the airlines, who pay the fees to use the airport, shouldn't be able to decide that certain passengers are more valuable to their business than others? Of course they should.

I have often considered the ideas expressed here.
The airport security experts have had 15 years since 9/11 to start treating people with respect again. People were willing to put up with airport tyrants in 2002,2003, etc
due to the emergency nature of 911 but for God's sake, with a locked cockpit and the people knowing to fight back (because hijackings nowadays might result in crashes, as opposed to landing in Cuba circa 1960s), 911 would never work nowadays.
Certain behaviors have been scaled back after public outcry (such as the bizarre TSA inspections of passengers getting off a train in Savannah), but for the most part I feel like a suspect or inmate in America's airports these days. And the great irony is that airport security overreach and confusion make us less safe, not more. Time for some real changes.

No, access to TSA should be equal for all.

Access to the TSA is equal for all. The airlines just control the lines that lead up to the TSA. Everybody's getting the same screening (Precheck or not Precheck).

I agree. I also find quite galling to have to pay to electronically file my taxes.

Back out of OMNI territory and into the issue at hand:

Judging people as of lesser value because they don't make much money is a bad way to look at any issue, including this one. I don't know whether OP is the CEO of a Fortune 500 or a low-level working stiff. It doesn't matter to me.

I am glad that carriers / airport authorities contract with those folks (who generally make a good deal more than minimum wage if you take a look at the contracts). There are tons of people who think that they have Pre-Check and don't or think that they have access to "premium" security and don't.

Especially with Pre-Check, if those people aren't sorted out into the standard lines, they gum at the system when they get to TSO performing the Pre-Check scan. Even if booting someone out of Pre-Check only takes 30 seconds (argument, firm order, walk of shame), multiply that by 3-4 people and that means I'm waiting longer to clear the checkpoint.

It takes me about 2-3 seconds extra to show my BP electronic or paper. I slow down a bit, have it open and I've never found a "checker" doing anything other than looking for the Pre-Check symbol.

I've also found that if you spend 10 seconds thinking about why these folks are positioned where they are, you come to understand that they serve your interest, not TSA's.