When does precheck processing occur?
 

A work flight for me was booked through a corporate travel agent that somehow missed my Skymiles number. When I got the "check in now" message from them, I checked in, but noticed that neither Skymiles status nor preCheck was on the boarding pass. I called to undo the check in and add my number to the reservation, and it's showing up now in the reservation. I also added my known traveler number (which is in my profile, but obviously didn't get linked because of problem one).

My question is--am I better off checking in now in the hopes that the preCheck will get processed for an early check in? Or am I better off checking in later, leaving more time for the update to percolate through? I'm not really sure whether they bulk do it at some window (which I have likely missed) or do it as check in occurs. Anyone know?

thanks,

Skippy

Your problem was the lack of Skymiles number. I have booked tickets on DL.com and immediately checked in and had the Pre-Check notation come thru without any issues....but I'm also 100% on pre-check.

It must be nearly instantaneous as I have literally booked flights on the way to the airport and gotten precheck. Last minute bookings aren't an unusual thing for me and I do have a trusted traveler number, which I think helps matters considerably.

I have hopped in a cab to DCA, 10 minutes from downtown DC, booked a Shuttle and had pre-check by the time I made it to the checkpoint.

After 72 hours before departure, any changes to the secure flight data causes and immediate resending of the data for TSA to review. Many examples of this being instantaneous on FT.

I highly doubt this has anything to so with FF number not being passed through. Corporate travel agent never sent the KTN which is problem.

In the example by FlyAO2, when you log in to your skymiles profile when you book it auto populates KTN and FF number and secure flight data in the reservation.

When you book through a third party, you are relying on them to supply all the data. Its not auto populated based based off your skymiles profile.

The following is an example of the only time person did not get pre, happened to be the day they had no control over the booking process and was relying in airport agent to properly fill in the secure flight data

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23355005-post10.html

If you use Concur, there was a known issue with Southwest where it was sending the KTN into the Redress field. Could it possibly be that its now happening with Delta?

I use Concur and had the issues with WN, but have not had any issues with DL.

Add me to the list of people with same-day bookings that have gotten Pre. Also when you SDC you are reticketed and it goes through again (but same PNR, so maybe not..).

One time I had a ticket booked weeks in advance. Did OLCI to get my HOOU and no Pre banner, but also the hotel printer was screwed up so no HOOU. Checked in again on my phone - no banner. Went and got dinner, then afterward, repeated check-in on my phone and the new BP had the Pre banner. Decided to try for the HOOU again, so re-did OLCI and got both the Pre banner and my HOOU.

Moral of the story: it appears you can keep repeating OLCI and mobile check-in if your first attempt doesn't give you Precheck - though I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing this on a normal basis, DL IT being what it is.

Pre Check determination is made at time of check-in. It's not made in advance. It's quite similar to how the CAPPS (Customer Assisted Pax Prescreening System) worked. When you push the check-in button, the airline runs a routine that looks at your PNR, a gov't database, and other things (I can't discuss) to see if you meet the criteria for Pre-Check. If not, then you don't get pre-check.

Random statistic on CAPPS: On 9/11 it flagged a majority of the hijackers as selectees, but unfortunately as we all know, that wasn't enough. At the time the system was only designed to handle PPBM (Positive Pax Bag Match).

CAPPS II never made it to fruition, the TSA got more interested in playing with nudie boxes.

So the 72 hour thing TSA is always talking about is another one of their usual lies?

Apparently just got unlucky
 

Sounds like this commonly fixes itself, but I happened not to get it this time. I've confirmed that all the data in the record is correct a second time, but check-in still shows Sky Priority but not TSA Pre-Check. I had not mentioned that there was an international leg on this, which but it may be the difference. As it stands, I'll just shift theories to assume I won't get it.

Thanks for the informative replies,

Skippy

Once I purchased a ticket less than two hours before the flight and did get PreCheck as a DM with GE. This was probably about two years ago.

I've never heard that, but I can (anecdotally) confirm it's false based on two last minute (within 24hrs) purchases I made where I still got PC.

Ive always been under the impression All existing reservations are submitted to the TSA and precheck eligibility verified at 72 hours. All new reservations after 72 hours are submitted for at time of booking. Also any existing reservations that have secure flight data changes between 72 hours and check in are resent to TSA.

I thought it was impossible to change any secure flight data within 72 hours.

That may be true, but the Pre-Check decision criteria is applied at check in. There's also a random component to those who are (otherwise) eligible. For OPSEC reasons, it would be a really bad idea to do this in advance.

You can change it same day as departure. Some airlines make it easier than others. Over on UA I've done OLCI not gotten pre, added KTN, rechecked in and got pre. AA, i can edit traveler info and add middle name and KTN. WN, remove and reapply rapid rewards number and check in again.

On a recent reward trip on Alaskan booked through Delta, it had my Delta FF but not my TSA info. I added it the day of my outbound and I was good to go.

It is impossible for US to change our own secure flight data within 72 hours of departure using the DL website. A DL agent can easily fix secure flight data any time. That (updated) secure flight data is then used on the next check-in transaction.

It's instant. Bought a last minute ticket for same day departure and Pre was issued on the boarding pass. True you can't add it if you forgot to when making res due to 72 hr rule.

A couple of things to clear up confusion.

At 72 hours pre-departure the airlines send all the Secure Flight Data to the TSA, who then come back with responses for each passenger. After that the airlines also send info on any changes/adds to Secure Flight Data at 48 and 24 hours before departure. The airline gets an electronic message indicating if a passenger is being given PreCheck for that flight during these sends.

When you first check-in the PreCheck has already been determined by TSA and the status sent to the airline. However if you don't get PreCheck you can have the airline check you out, and try checking in again. This works because the process of un-doing the checkin causes the system to re-send the information because it thinks something has changed, even though nothing really has. The only truly valid reason for un-doing a checkin is that something is changing, so the system assumes something has changed. Thus when you check in again, the answer may have changed from no PreCheck to yes for PreCheck because of the resend.