Pilot Program at BOS TSA Checkpoint
 

The last few times I've flown out of BOS the PreCheck line was clogged up with passengers from the general boarding line. The TSA agents I spoke with said DL asked the TSA to try taking people from other lines through the x-ray/magnetometer that is supposed to be dedicated to PreCheck.

The times I was there were during the peak afternoon rush. The line just to get to the agent checking IDs/BPs was twenty deep and held up because the x-ray/magnetometer areas were congested and chaotic. Once I got past the ID check there was nobody really directing the people being funneled over from general boarding. Some of them received instructions to keep shoes on/laptops and liquids in bags, others ignored this. It made for a very slow process and again there was a line of 15-20 people waiting to go through the magnetometer.

In all it took about 25 minutes to get through the checkpoint using PreCheck. I'm not a fan of this new pilot program and hope DL gets the message that it is really slowing things down for people with PreCheck.

I've flown 36 times out of Boston this year on Delta at this very same checkpoint and haven't seen this happen in the pre-check line once. Not all of my flights are during peak times, but I don't think it's taken me more than 90 seconds from presenting boarding pass to gathering my x-rayed bags once.

I went through the PreCheck line at IND on Monday and saw a similar thing, where people from the general line were funneled into our magnetometer. They were all confused because the TSA guy said not to take anything out or off, and slowed things down due to questions. How does this improve our security? If select non-PreChecks can go through without the usual protocol, why make anyone do the shoes/laptops/liquids dance?

I flew thru BOS Terminal A of couple of weeks ago and went thru the TSA line and had the same problem. I flew thru the ID check and had to wait at x-ray with all the people coming over from the other security lines that had no idea what to do. For those of us who have subjected ourselves to the background check, TSA interview and paid our fee, it was kind of (very) annoying to see other people using TSA Pre.

If you're looking for logic or sense in anything the TSA does, you'll be sorely disappointed. ;)

Great, so Pre doesn't mean anything either? What is the point if people who didn't get screened for Pre are being sent over there and don't have to take things out? That makes it even less safe than the current illusion of security.

Way to slow things down even more....

TSA Changing Things Again
 

I flew out last Tuesday through the A checkpoint and it was a mess. My wife is not Pre so we were going to use the sky priority lane except...

...TSA had changed the queuing process for all non-Pre pax forcing everyone into one long line prior to being split for Sky Priority and kettle. A complete cluster IMO. Post ID check was chaos as well with no one guiding pax to lanes and no sense of order. It took almost thirty minutes to clear security on a Tuesday morning.

They had also installed some huge projection device with a screen shaped like a body that projected a person going through the litany of 311, etc. information. Seems like an expensive waste of money for a custom device instead of just using a standard flat screen monitor. Didn't take a pic unfortunately.

Pre check should be used for all passengers unless there is a compelling reason for an individual to receive greater scrutiny, such as an alarm on the WTMD or ETD.

TSA Pre for all travelers would also solve our national debt by charging everyone a $100........

That's more commonly known as extortion.

All should get the Pre chek experience without enrolling or being shaken down.

"TSA Managed Inclusion?"
 

TSA last year announced a program called "Managed Inclusion," where if passengers from the general screening line agreed to a K9 check they'd receive a PreCheck level of screening.

TSA's larger goal is having 25% of all travelers receiving PreCheck screening. Not something most here would like as the PreCheck lines will swell. This fall expect to see a big push for TSA PreCheck as many more airports begin rolling out the program in September and October.

An additional problem at BOS is on most occasions it's quicker to go thru the general lane immediately to the right of PreCheck as the PreCheck ID clerk looks at both PreCheck and non-PreCheck ID's.

Removing the nudeoscopes would solve that problem.

A few things. First off there's no TSA interview for PreCheck. You may be thinking of Global Entry which is US Customs. There is no fee if Delta entered you in the PreCheck program.

The TSA is expanding the program to non-frequent fliers, but they will have to pay an $85 fee. This was announced earlier this summer.
http://www.tsa.gov/tsa-precheck

At most airports I fly through PreCheck is dedicated and separate from any regular screening. This is the case at DEN, SAN, BWI, DCA, LAS, TPA, CLT etc.

I stand corrected......I was referring to Global Entry......

As you said, it's a pilot program that TSA is doing. They usually have bomb dogs and are a bit "chattier" with the passengers who get sent to the PreCheck lane. I see them doing this at IND also. And yes, it does significantly slow down the PreCheck lane and is obnoxious if I'm in a hurry.

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.

It is going on at a number of airports across the country.

Pilot Program at BOS TSA Checkpoint
 

The agents I spoke with said that this was completely DL's idea and the people on the TSA side were generally unhappy as well. They asked me to complain to Delta.

If this was Delta's idea, then I hope Delta gets the idea that Pre-Check should be the rule, not the exception, for all passengers at all times.

The only problem with this is that neither TSA nor Pre Check are the purvey of DL. The government has to permit this to occur, which, presumably links back to the TSA worker at IND who told me that they, "just do what they're told to do."

This is a TSA program. One TSA officer I overheard is not happy about it because they are worried they will be blamed for any security failures.

With all due respect to the job that these TSA agents do (I say that seriously and am not at all a TSA-hater), I suspect that the agents manning the checkpoints are not always terribly clued into how such decisions are made nor who makes them.

While TSA employees' mantra is CYA, I could not care less about such "concerns".

Just went through the junkshow that is this "beta".

Is it too much to ask for consistency? Things would be much clearer for passengers and much easier for the TSA employees if they put up a few extra signs isntead of just snake the guardrails all willy-nilly to put people in certain places and then randomly pull some out to go through a different version of security.

I'm with Spiff though, they may as well hurry up and have Pre be the way that everyone goes through.

I had a similar experience in AUS this AM. There were 12 people in the PreCheck credentials line. All but 2 were diverted to the regular screening. Only myself and the guy in front of me were sent to the PC magnetometer.

I have heard it is slated to be tried at DEN, though don't know if has begun yet.