marianoam

Hi, I'll be landing at JFK from South America in a very tight connection to FLL with Delta.

Is it true that the arrivals checkpoint (level 1) in T4 is usually less crowded than the one in level 4 (the main one)?

And is Reserve by Clear available in both TSA checkpoints?

Thanks!

cvision

Supposedly it's faster. That being said CLEAR+TSA Pre has rarely taken longer than 10 minutes upstairs.

Not sure what reserve by clear is but there's TSA Pre at that check point. And if you arrive from South America aren't there other checkpoints for transfer? Not sure if they do have PRE

Never actually did a connection at JFK I/D so don't know the setup, but if you're right around the corner to the downstairs checkpoint, it is going to be faster just because of the walking involved.

AKC6

CLEAR Reserve is pre-arranged CLEAR for free, but with only a 20-min window.

ClipperDelta

FYI, the arrivals level TSA checkpoint only has PreCheck but no Clear. Clear and Clear PreCheck are only available upstairs at the departures level checkpoint.

The arrivals area checkpoint has generally been quicker but sometimes when the departures level one is clogged, they actually bring groups of pax down to the arrivals area one.

pofriri

The past few times I have flown out of JFK, I used the Sky Priority line at TSA. I have precheck, but that line is always longer than SP. So if the OP has SP, that can be an option too. Once you get to putting your stuff on the belt, you can notify the TSA employee that you have precheck and they will honor that (no need to remove shoes or laptops, etc).

DrMilano

JFK arrivals TSA had PreCheck + Clear this past summer (July 2023). With the increased random Clear ID checks now due to the recent two security breeches, Clear may not be faster than vanilla Pre-Check.

USCTrojan83

Sorry this isn't accurate. Was there two weeks ago and there was close to 75 people in line for Clear upstairs. A Clear agent grabbed about 10-15 of us from the back of the line, walked us downstairs to a basically empty checkpoint complete with pre-check and CLEAR.

sethb

At MSP it generally isn't.

michab

The latter part sounds somewhat unlikely considering it’s a whole separate screening area, and it seems it would be a bad idea to allow passengers to just “claim” PreCheck and take that at face value. But I do have one DP to refute the “always” - at about 8-8:20 PM a week ago, I went into the Priority line with two others. Being unfamiliar with PreCheck (only completed GE EoA two weeks prior) I asked someone if I was in the right place, was redirected to the right line, breezed through, and then waited probably about 15 minutes for my companions.

ryw

We had a discussion about this recently, when using SkyPriority lines in the regular security line vs. dedicated PreCheck, since SP often directs you to a regular security lane. As both PreCheck and CLEAR get more crowded… SKYPRIORITY security regaining relevance

Sometimes in the regular security line if you have PreCheck, the ID checking TSA officer will give you a piece of paper with instructions with what to do as a PreCheck traveler in a regular line. Sometimes it's the same as regular PreCheck and the baggage belt officer will put in some type of spacer on the belt to separate your bags from others, and you can keep you electronics and liquids in your bags. Sometimes it's a "PreCheck light" where you have to take stuff out of your bag but you can keep your light jackets and belts on and go through the metal detector. Specifics procedure seem to vary by airport (and the equipment/setup they have).

This is also usually the procedure at smaller airports that either don't have a separate PreCheck line, or at airports that close their dedicated PreCheck line at certain hours.

michab

Ah, I think I’ve seen reference to those procedures, but I assumed that wouldn’t apply when there was a full PreCheck lane in operation. Also, I’d expect some kind of indicator given to you at the TDC after verifying the selectee indicator (as you mentioned above), as opposed to simply “claiming it” once at the actual screening.

Also, at least in my recent DP, by the time I was all the way through and already waiting for them for a few minutes, they had yet to reach the TDC, so the standard PreCheck line proved to be the fastest alternative anyway.

pofriri

It's not face value since my boarding pass says SP and PreCheck.

iflyalexair

This is incorrect. Clear has been added to the lower level check point. I flew JFK-LAX last week and a clear agent actually walked us from the upstairs Clear checkpoint downstairs to use clear/Pre-check downstairs.

TastyPlaneEats

They’ll look at your boarding pass to make sure it says TSA PreCheck and then even if you try to sneak in and join the group, the TSA person will boot you off the line when your BP doesn’t say PreCheck.