PreCheck is a failure - is anybody surprised? [enrollment numbers fell short]
 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...m-fell-n577631

Having lowered the targeted number of enrollments and extended the date to hit that target, we now have this:

TARGET ENROLLMENT—Subject to subsections (b), (c), and (d), the Administrator shall take actions to expand the total number of individuals enrolled in the PreCheck Program as follows: ‘‘(1) 7,000,000 passengers before October 1, 2019. ‘‘(2) 10,000,000 passengers before October 1, 2020. ‘‘(3) 15,000,000 passengers before October 1, 2021.[/QUOTE]

https://www.congress.gov/115/bills/h...15hr302eah.pdf at page 1003

After 7 years, TSA couldn't get 7 million enrolled, and yet they expect to enroll 3 million between 2019 and 2020 and another 5 million between 2020 and 2021?

Yes, you've suggested this in other threads.

But, not only isn't anything changing, it is going in the opposite direction. Congress has signaled its clear intent that Pre-Check should be available only to those who pay or who are specifically exempt, e.g. DOD CAC holders.

All of this means that, like or not, you can either breeze through Pre-Check at 6-7x the speed of the standard line or stew in the standard line.

On my last trip through DFW the Pre line was backed up into the terminal area while the non Pre line had no one waiting. Guess which line I picked?

Time will tell. Congress can't force people to sign up for PreCheck and the TSA can't support it without significantly more people enrolled.

Of course Congress can't require anybody to spend money. But, it certainly funds DHS and therefore TSA. Whether Pre-Check is self-supporting from fee revenue or is supported by appropriated funds, it is still Congress which authorizes the program. No matter how people on FT fantasize about it, the fact is that Pre-Check is here to stay and DHS will support the program as it is directed to do.

I would add that pre check *may* be less than successful wrt getting the adoption that was expected. But in my experience, it's been successful, mostly, in its results, which from my POV is a better passenger experience, even factoring in the uneven pax traffic "load balancing" that some folks have experienced.

I wish our local Staples had a pre office.

Of course, it's here to stay because heaven forbid that the TSA would admit that something it tried didn't work out as they thought it would. However, it's still a failure in terms of numbers enrolled AND because so few are enrolled, TSA can't cut the number of positions it had thought it was going to be able to cut.

why? vs GE?

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I think it can be said that Pre Check enrollment has not met the expectations of DHS/TSA which has had an impact on TSA employee staffing. TSA planned to reduce staffing since Pre Check takes fewer screeners. From that aspect I would say that Pre Check is a failure.

Some easy adjustments to increase the rolls of Pre Check would be to include retired military. I could see adding retired federal workers also. The government has enough history on these people to know if they represent a risk or not. The cost could also be reduced, the cost of the background check by a private agency is more than covered leaving TSA funds which are nothing other than a tax.

The primary failure issue to me is lack of enrollment centers with convenient hours. DFW airport has one enrollment office, among the several terminals, on airport grounds with no hours extending beyond 5 PM. There is also one office in Dallas and one in Forth Worth for all of the DFW metroplex.

Enrollment Center Locator

I would say that the concept of Pre Check is not a failure although I do believe that the implementation of Pre Check by TSA has been severely flawed. TSA has used everything from iPads that pointed one way or another to add people to Pre lines, to adding people in overcrowded conditions, along with several versions of Managed Inclusion.

I have read the appropriations bill and while congress is calling for only having people in Pre Check lines that are enrolled it read to me that congress still gave TSA the authority to used some types of inclusion program if the Administrator feels it is justified.

Every person purchasing an airline ticket in the U.S. has a mini-background check ran on them when they purchase a flight. There is enough data available to government to know if a person has a clean record, has been in jail, has a stable history and most other aspects of resolving a risk profile. I feel the background check interview is just window dressing using those same resources adding a layer of inconvenience to the application process.

I do believe that TSA has plenty of time to reduce Pre Check to a failure when all is said and done.

Successes:
1. Silencing criticism from the TSA's biggest threat: frequent business flyers;
2. Creating a privileged class that the lower class can aspire to attain, after paying $85, of course.

ExtortionCheck is here to stay because DHS and the TSA simply cannot admit that they wasted all of our money they spent on Pornoscopes, SPOTNiks, a training academy, sexual assaults and the VIPR teams -- all of which were in response to threats that either didn't exist in the first place at the end of the day on 9/11 or were threats they invented themselves.

re pre check enrollment centers, they started doing it everywhere not just in enrollment centers (unlike GE with interview)

At JFK T8 at 6 am there is usually 1 agent (checking id/bp) who operates in "snail" mode:p and one c/o scan lane open. I wonder if TSA has an arrangement with CLEAR, keep the TSA long...more business for CLEAR.:rolleyes: