TSA Pre Check Question...
 

I filled out info for TSA Pre Check. Question::if one is approved for Pre Check status at what point during the checkin process will I know if I have been selected to qualify for Pre Check for a particular fight? Status is bar coded and not visible to naked eye and one is not always selected to qualify for Pre Check. Any info appreciated.

TSA Pre Check Question...
 

You'll find out if you've been selected at the security checkpoint (Pre Check line). The TSO will scan your barcode and that will let them know whether or not you're eligible.

Which why it's generally a sort of gamble.

.... also be aware that TSA may shut down PreCheck for some days/times/flights -- making it a sort of gamble too.

TSA PRE
 

Anyone know how to get into TSA Pre through the airlines, I'm 14 and fly a lot and TSA Pre would be really nice. I know that I could sign up on the TSA website, but that costs $100, and I have to go to an interview. Does anyone know how that airlines choose who gets selected, and or how to get invited through the airlines.

Some airlines/hotel/credit card programs provide it free for their highest elite customers but either way you would need to go for an interview...

There are many discussions about TSA Pre-check throughout FT but most are in sub-forums for the specific airline...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...solidated.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ravellers.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta...pre-check.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/check...bal-entry.html

This is not true. You do not need to go for an interview if you are invited by the airline. The interview is only required by CBP for their program, which also gains you entry into PreCheck.

And it's mid and highest tier elites, not just highest. I got the invitation a week after hitting PLT on AA.

Check the AA PreCheck thread - there is loads of information there on how to decode the bar code and figure out if you're selected for your particular flight.

United allows anyone to sign up. Just go to their website, log into your Mileage Plus account, and become a member.

American and Delta do it by invitation only, for those who travel at least 25,000 miles a year from what I understand.

There are two was to become eligible for precheck. Either you are invited by your airline based on frequent flier status or you apply for Global Entry with CBP. Global Entry requires a payment of $100, a background check based on an application which can be denied, an interview which includes additional documentation of legal status, employment, income, etc., a photograph and finger printing. GE has the added benefit of entering the US without the standard CBP inspection using a kiosk and receipt method. This is possible in many us airports but not all.

There are no data to suggest one is better than the other regarding precheck selection on any given day.

The commenter is referring (although not particularly clearly) to the free Global Entry membership you can get through certain programs.

Bicostal has more comprehensive information.

@ tpallini:
When you say you "fly a lot", what do you mean? Generally, people invited through their airlines are if they are top 1-2 tiers of status. This is usually 50k-100k miles or more. If you're regularly spread out over multiple airlines (as your profile suggests), then you likely won't achieve status on a single airline. As a Platinum with United (75k+ miles), I was not invited. I did get free Global Entry, however, and received eligibility to precheck that way.

Actually, it's any CBP initiated Trusted Traveler Program.

That being said, you could also get it for only $50 by having NEXUS like I do. The only caveat is that interview locations are rather restricted (mainly in major US cities near Canada or Canadian airports with USCBP presence) compared to GE as it involves being interviewed by both US and Canadian immigration authorities. On the plus side, you also get GE gratis. :)

As this is a how-to type of discussion we'll move this thread to the Practical Issues side of TS/S.

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essxjay
TS/S moderator

As this is an informational discussion we'll move this thread to the Practical Issues side of TS/S.

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essxjay
TS/S moderator

Look through the AA thread; there's some evidence that if you scan the barcode and see a "3" in a certain place that you will be eligible for that flight.

Twice through ORD so far (once UA, once AA), registered everywhere, and no joy.

Needless to say, no one at the checkpoint has the slightest clue why or why not one gets this. Frustrating! If hardly anyone gets selected, and it seems like hardly anyone was while I watched the line, why bother devoting resources to it?

Make sure your name on the ticket (first middle last) matches exactly your Global Entry/Pre-check/Nexus name. That is one large reason why people don't get it...

You may have seen a number of people who didn't belong in the line in the first place, making it not then surprising that they didn't get selected. Just a possibility.

I'm in the pre-check program (via AA and GE). On my last flight out of lga (on AA), I noticed that there were more people (now) being selected (via the 3 beeps) than I've seen in the past--are others noticing this?
[Are international flights still being blocked (even if only part of an itn)?]

Thanks, that's entirely possible, I have my full name on the card but only my middle initial on the ticket. Classic TSA not to be able to manage that.

No, at ORD it's the elite security line. Upon entry they check the boarding pass and then send you down one way or the other.

At the ORD UA T1 security a couple weeks ago, the precheck pre-scanner was down, so everyone had to go down the elite line. Made for a long wait. Also silly was that I got my 3 beeps with the "regular" ID checker and had to then get my BP/ID rechecked by the ID checker manning the PreCheck swinging gate.

Very few people were getting the 3 beeps that day.

Also also, I've entered my GE info in my AA profile, but no joy yet. Hopefully next time!

Thanks. I wasn't familiar with the ORD setup. At SEA I've seen what appears to be people using the precheck line like a line pass to the front of the elite line (which is next to it.) If you don't get 3 beeps at the precheck ID checker station they feed you into the front of the elite line. It appears to me that some people know this and get in the precheck line when they know they don't qualify. (Note: As I mention below the SEA precheck location will change soon so hopefully what I've just written won't give some people the wrong ideas.)

I wish they'd do what I've read they do at some other airports: Position someone at the entry to the precheck line and have them check whether you get the 3 beeps. Then, and only then, would they allow you to enter the precheck line. I understand that the SEA precheck line will be moving to another security checkpoint soon so I'm hoping they'll find a way to weed out those that are trying to abuse it. That would make it harder for those who are qualified for precheck but just don't get the triple beep that time but I'd be willing to accept that when it happens to me.

The real problem here is that there is a long line for elites.

QL

That may be. Before I was eligible for precheck I used the elite line at other checkpoints since I often couldn't see how long the elite line was at the N checkpoint. In any case people don't belong in the precheck line unless they are eligible.

I just read that the SEA precheck line is moving over to the central security checkpoint beginning October 21. Maybe they'll do a better job of controlling entry to the line there.

I have a question about the post stating that United allows anyone to sign up. Does the airline generally allow anyone who signs up on its website to get it, or do people who do this still have to reach a certain level of status before qualifying for pre-check?

I opted in on the United website under my account. However, I never received precheck, to my knowledge, until I was provisionally approved for Global Entry. Coincidence? Maybe, as I didn't have my GE number in my UA profile at that time. Also, I'm Platinum.

this was happening at MCO, but TSA got wise and are sending the one-beepers back to the end of the expert traveler line. there is no elite or sky priority line at MCO.

Somewhat off-topic, but I was at LGA flying UA yesterday and asked the ID checker if she knew when precheck was coming. She said she was hoping it'd be by end of year, but didn't know. I said that at least I know I'd qualify when it was implemented there because I got the three beeps. She said, "That doesn't mean PreCheck." I countered that it has at every other airport and she replied that it means something else, but that she can't tell me what it means.

I literally :rolleyes:

It can't possibly be expected to mean the same thing it does at every other TSA scanning location, that wouldn't be "random and unpredictable!"

OTOH, I'm not at all shocked by the lack of knowledge on what it does mean, even if it were something else. :(

I thought the signup was simply to express your interest in the program for whenever you might become eligible (using whatever criteria UA decided to apply).

I guess I don't understand this program at all! :confused:

Both my spouse and I have GE and have been approved for Pre-check. We have all our numbers registered with all the airlines and have status with UA (our main carrier of choice). We fly out of SFO (where pre-check is not even on the radar) but were finally in an airport where it is offered (EWR).

I will add that we were on the inbound leg of an international, multi-stop itinerary. We were already through customs and immigration and needed to go back through security to head to SFO and we were denied. No explanation.

If this is a TSA/government endorsed program to which we have chosen to apply, relinquish some semblance of privacy and pay the fee for the privilege of being interviewed and scrutinized before being approved, why is it up to UA to say whether or when we can take advantage of it???

What am I missing???

UA isn't making that decision, TSA is.

That's not what the TSA agent at security told me.

Isn't your approved/not approved encoded in your airline issued boarding pass?



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I will edit this to add that the agent may very well have been deflecting the question to get me to move on.

The TSA determines whether you can use PreCheck. Its verdict is communicated, along with the rest of its Secure Flight assessment, to the airline, and is subsequently encoded in the BP.

Evidence suggests it doesn't work on intl itineraries. Also, make sure the name in your e profile matches global entry exactly.

I'm happy to report that the new precheck lane at SEA's central checkpoint has this setup. They scanned my BP at the entrance to the line to make sure that I got the triple beep before letting me enter the line. A big improvement.

So I flew AA, on which I have no status, out of ORD yesterday. Showed the doc checker my bp and GE card, and she remarked that I had eligibility for precheck and that I should use checkpoint 8. I thanked her for the info, as I had never been selected before when flying AA. Good to know that it seems to be working with AA, too, now!

Did you get scanned with the three beeps before she made that comment? Being eligible and selected are two different things.

I've got an award ticket on US, booked using my UA miles, and presumably with my UA MP # on it (and UA has all of my info, like my Nexus Pass ID #, etc.).

Am I right in thinking that US won't send the right into to the TSA and thus won't get me PreCheck for this itin?

I guess I could add my Nexus Pass ID to my US profile, and at check-in ask US to use my US DM # instead of my UA MP #, if that would help.

When you perform OLCI on US, you will be given the opportunity to input your PASS ID.

Thanks--that makes sense!