I'll still have it with Global Entry but I'm wondering if with shoes no longer having to be removed and the rumored upcoming elimination of the liquids requirements if PreCheck will become obsolete.

I've long said that I use PreCheck to be treated the way everyone should be treated. The chance to reserve a screening time, such as SEA Spot Saver, which is unavailable to those with PreCheck, is another factor.

The general queue at my airport is always a lot longer than Precheck. The shoe changes will maybe speed things up a bit but I believe it will remain quicker to use Precheck.

It might make the idea of doing Clear without Precheck worthwhile...say you have the HH Amex but no other premium credit cards...but somehow I think I'd still want GE/Precheck. I have the HH Amex and the Ritz Visa, so I will keep both GE and Clear and use whatever queue is shortest when I get to the airport.

There are three reasons that I still care about Precheck and hope that it will not be eliminated (I am hoping that they earn enough money from the fees that they will want to keep it.

1. The primary reason is that it allows the WTMD to be the primary screening apparatus and that I can avoid having to opt out to avoid going through body scanners a majority of the time. Many airports have random selection and I hate this, but at least the selection rate is usually low enough that I can avoid it easily. Also, there are fortunately quite a few airport terminals where there are Precheck lanes where there is no body scanner to send people to when they set off the random alarm on the WTMD. Even some airports that have a body scanner next to the WTMD will often do other tests such as a swab test on one's phone.

2. Not all but a significant percentage of people who have Precheck know that they are doing. It reminds me of the frequent flier in "Up in the Air" describing which passengers to be behind in a security line. Because of this, the lines often bring about less frustration. Of course, there are a lot of exceptions relating to this.

3. Having an extra benefit/status that the majority does not have makes things go better for those who have it. I was thinking about how when there were huge lines at St. Louis airport recently, one of the things that was mentioned was that most of the people did not have Precheck, implying that those (without checked bags) with Precheck would have most likely not had to wait as long. I would get Clear for this reason, but I do not like giving a company a scan of my eyes. If they moved to only photo I would likely add Clear for this reason. I have been hoping that with the new biometric ID options through many airlines, Clear would be going away and that this, which is based only on photo ID, would be the new way to get a shorter line.

Yeah, 2 and 3 are still going to be a big differentiator.

I too wonder how Clear stays in business, beyond partnering with credit cards to get cardholders to sign up for free.

My wife traveled with my kids and all of their boarding passes show TSA Pre on them (we all have individual Global Entry accounts). But the agent stopped by wife, claiming the system doesn't show her as having it. Told her to go back to airline counter to "fix it". Wife did that, and airline counter said the boarding pass shows TSA Pre and that's all the prove there should be. Return to Pre line. While in line waiting wife saw many pax turned away with same reason, all without a fight. Finally my wife decided to stood her ground and told him it's illogical so many have been turned away, it must be their system. The agent reluctantly key in her KTN (she has her Global Entry Card) and it shows she is indeed in Pre and there's something wrong with the system on boarding pass scans that shows false negatives.

All that is to say, TSA Pre is exactly how every American used to go through airport security (much faster with polite helpful privately hired agents). Now our tax money is used to pay $70,000 a year salary TSA agent that do nothing but yell at you and repeatedly failed their own internal security audit so much that they will now not publish internal audit results.

I think that Pre will continue for a while yet, and still serve as a customer service element. Global Entry is the better buy from a logical POV, IF you travel international. It *appears* we are drifting towards older travel patterns in the checkpoints. I for one, am happy about that. The shoe change was a fairly easy one so far. The LGA rules have been a thorn in my side, I have always thought it was a recipe for unnecessary conflict, not to mention the money it can cost a passenger. In my opinion, changes to the LGA rules can not come fast enough.

Yes, the TSA Liquids, Aerosols, and Gels (LAG) Rule can indeed cause financial loss to those unaware of its requirements.

https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-...sols-gels-rule

If I can put 5 100ml containers of LGA's in a 1 quart zip top bag then why not 1 single 500ml container in a 1 quart zip top bag?

When arbitrary rules are not grounded by factual information distrust for the rulemakers are sure to follow.

That's what happened 20 years ago. The TSA responded with ExtortionCheck to ensure the silence its most vocal critics: frequent flyers.

ExtortionCheck = Pre✔️

Think how much I've saved in two decades by never being a paid member.

(For a [very] short time some airlines gave it free to elite members.)

I have pre-check, but find that the line is usually longer than the general line, and the pre-check line is full of people with more dollars (to pay the fee) than sense (to learn the rules for passing through pre-check - ...liquids, everything in the bag, shoes on - and follow those rules), slowing everyone. That said, I really only use a half-dozen US airports, not a representative sample.

If the people who can be served quickly can be sorted out and moved through a separate line, it speeds up the process for everyone. It provides more time for the people who need additional assistance. Think of the 10 items or less lanes at the grocery store, or urinals in men's rooms or the cash station at the bank. It is all about moving people through efficiently.

I found airports with dedicated seniors and family line (children) to be much faster overall. TSA lines is like traffic lanes. If a car in front of you is slow or breaks unnecessarily, it slows down the entire process. When you place them in a single line, it speeds up the rest (although some adults are slow too, so it won't be perfect, but speed things up). But, at teh end of the day, the real problem is TSA rules. Take this off, take that off, and the agents don't help but yells, which scares people to act even slower. That's the main problem.

I find the SLOWEST non-CLEAR security lines to be at terminals that are run by a single airline with a financial interest in encouraging on-site CLEAR sign-ups. The worst I've seen is LGA Terminal C, which is run by DL. A couple years ago I was dropping off an unaccompanied minor and thus had to use the general security line, and I was in line for a full 45 minutes, while there was NOBODY in either of the CLEAR lines (CLEAR with or without precheck). I didn't see the non-CLEAR precheck line, but assume it was longer than CLEAR and shorter than general.

CLEAR workers were trolling the general line offering free trials of CLEAR that would allow people to skip the general queue. A DL employee was offering zero help to those about to miss their flights ("if you miss your flight we'll try to rebook you"), except to suggest that they sign up for CLEAR. Lots of folks signed up for CLEAR that day, and I'm sure DL got a nice cut of it.