i saw this in action yesterday -- one WTMD, and two xray machines. the left xray is fed by the true precheck line, and the right xray is fed by the regular TDC stations. i didn't really pay attention to how they were selecting people for it.

precheck had a steady flow, but not a crazy line. (6am flight tuesday morning) the merge didn't have a real impact on me, because the xray line i was in was all "real" precheck people. the line for the WTMD was 2-deep when i got to it, but that's a non-issue.

except when I did it at Boston Terminal A and they were sending people over I did not see the bomb dogs.....could have missed them, but......

Did they have TSA representatives doing chat downs with pax in line? So-called Behavior Detection Officers?

How did that work? I'm not understanding the situation you've described.

For the life of me I'll never understand why the BOS Terminal A TSA ID checkers continue processing passengers when there's a backup at the screening belts/scanners. As you've noted, this careless practice only results in a tangled nest of queues snaking back from the screening lanes. Why not hold passengers back at the ID checkpoint until the congestion dissipates?

Completely unacceptable. And for SkyPriority passengers, no less.

Living less than 10 minutes from BOS, I typically leave home one hour before my flight's scheduled departure and still have time for a SkyClub visit. On multiple occasions, however, inexplicable TSA meltdowns have nearly caused me to miss flights.

I've seen these idiotic, quasi-holographic "agents" elsewhere, too. Unimaginable waste of money.

God, I hope they're not starting up with that farce again. Once had a BOS TSA "behavior expert" tell me that I was acting nervous, this in advance of perhaps my 100th enplanement of the year.

Your tax dollars hard(ly) at work.

You clearly haven't done the math on this.

I went through this morning and while not a total cluster...it was a pain. They were sending all these novice travelers into the line. None of whom could seem to figure out what to do. It was like being in a regular airport line circa 2000.

Let's admit it--we liked pre-check b/c it was an exclusive "up in the air" club of uber-FFers who all knew the rules, the system and want to get through really fast. It was the closest any of us have to having an actual airport ID. Seems the party is about to end.

No dog though.

Saw this at IND on Monday as well...and asked a TSA agent on the secure-area side of the checkpoint. His answer, "airport security is designed to be random and unpredictable" to which he reminded me that in the pre-9/11 days that we all got to keep shoes on, liquids in bags, etc., etc. etc. He said that they've been routing some general screenings to the Pre-Check magnetometer in order to speed up screenings for everyone in times when the security line gets long. In fairness, when I went through there was probably a 10-15 minute wait in the general line versus, maybe 10 people in the Pre-Check line even with them routing in general screenings.

When asked if this was going to become standard at airports with Pre-Check, his answer: "we just do what our security head tells us to do."

I actually experienced this at ORD about a month ago. I do not have pre-check and the line was rather long to get through the boarding pass checker and after that, just as long to get through the regular security line. The pre-check line was basically empty. After getting through the boarding pass checker, an agent asked me if I was traveling alone to which I responded I was and then directed me through the pre-check line. It was definitely an expedited experience but I can understand how people with pre-check would be upset about this.

Translation: we'll continue making things up as we go along.

Yup, we have a winner!

Not liking expanding pre-check for that reason would be silly. Reducing the time it takes 25% of travelers to get through the screening would reduce the wait times for all. It would also allow the TSA to use more lanes for pre-check.

Today at FLL Terminal 2 I saw a new sign "K-9 something" and there were like 5 people that looked like K-9 handlers that were being instructed about something.

I flew out of BOS earlier today and immediately noticed about 15 or so people in line at the pre-check xray which I thought was strange. I usually fly through Pre-check at Logan and have never had more than 2 people in front of me in at least a dozen experiences at Logan over the last few months. Heard the TSA agent mention something about a "pilot program" but didn't catch all of it. One woman with LOTS of jewelry, including ornate rap-around "snakes" on both ankles, definitely slowed things down. My 30-second experience was slowed down to about 5 minutes. I'll live.

Delta is a crappy airline and they are always using BOS passengers as a guinea pig for TSA crap. I guess ill just have to push the insecurity lice out of my way. I don't have time for this crap.

TSA already has a solution for this issue, There are 2 machines for each non-pre lane. keep them both of them turned on and send 2 or 3 or 4 to each method randomly. No need to push them into a different lane. Second open more lanes. When there is a backup they have half shut down anyways. Another idea would be to treat pre passengers the same as global entry, just send them through with nothing but an ID check like with the known crew member lanes.