Typing this from regular security check... I got my GE earlier this week and have been super excited to go through the TSA pre experience. However, I decided to check with AA agent if my known traveler id got updated on the profile for tsa pre and agent said - due to random selection I did not get Tsa pre today. What the %&@#!!?

So I am standing in regular security check line today but how do I know if I got tsa pre or not? I thought my GE got me expedited pass through the security.

Btw 0/1 at ORD.

Ps - I don't have AA status. Hope I didn't get played by AA agent (can they?).

Not a guarantee, sorry. GE/Pre-Check gets you the opportunity to use the special line.

What's the point special line if it behaves the same as regular? Not being sarcastic... genuine question.

Way to dampen my excitement TSA. Thanks for nothing.

I feel for you: You wrote your government a check for $100, underwent an interrogation and background check, yet your government still deemed you a possible threat for this particular flight.

It's kind of the way that passengers who have flown 20,000 miles a year for the past decade might feel: if they'd only flown 25,000 miles and gained airline status, they might have been deemed less risky and therefore PreCheck-eligible.

You've quickly been exposed to the scam known as TSA PreCheck.

First, what do you mean you "checked with an agent?" Did you call AA, or are you referring to the PreCheck line monitor at the airport? The folks on the phone won't know anything. Either you can check in online and check your BP, or wait until you get to the airport and have your BP scanned to know if you got PreCheck or not.

As a no-status passenger on AA, it took a few flights after putting in my GE info before qualifying for PreCheck, even though I had been getting it consistently on UA, where I also have status.

Nobody ever said Global Entry guarantees PreCheck. It's possible your AA profile information doesn't match your GE info. Or that the info just hasn't percolated through all the systems yet. Or maybe you're just unlucky. Can't always expect instant gratification.

My experience with AA specifically is that there doesn't seem to be a way for agents to put the number into your record for you, or even open it up and see if it is there. I could be wrong, maybe I just had bad luck with check-in agents. I had many failures before I finally got it working.

The only way I could get GE+PreCheck working with AA was to log in to the AA website prior to my flight and put in my GE card# on the itinerary along with my AA FF#. Login, click the "My Trips / Check-In" tab then "View/Change" next to the itin you want to update. Click "Add/Edit Passenger Information" and put your AA FF# in, as well as your GE 9-digit number in the Known Traveler ID field. You might have to do this a certain number of days prior to the flight, I always do it as soon as I book my reservation.

Then make sure that when you attempt to go through security, you bring a boarding pass that was printed after you entered all the right numbers (preferably printed at the airport on the day of the flight). If you are connecting from a different carrier who printed your BP it won't work, you need to go to the AA check in counter and get a new AA-stock one printed.

As far as I can tell, you have to keep repeating this for every new trip you book if you want PreCheck to work.

In my experience with PreCheck is that having GE is a guarantee for domestic flights IF you do everything correctly...your PASSID is associated with your itinerary, and your name in the TSA secure flight data on that itinerary matches your GE registration.

My very first time attempting PreCheck (with United) I also didn't get selected and I was peeved about it.. I had put my PASSID
number in my UA profile..but I had neglected to be sure that everything matched up on my itinerary including my full middle name. Since that time I'm 100% successful getting PreCheck because I'm diligent about dotting i's and crossing t's. I'm not familiar with AA's procedures..but it's got to be similar to UA's.. I'd read the PreCheck thread in the AA forum and learn how it works with AA.. it takes a little effort to get things set up but once you do you should be good to go. Also.. if you use a corporate booking engine such as Concur for business travel..be sure your full name and PASSID number are in your Concur/booking engine profile so it gets attached to your reservations.

CBP is quite clear in relaying TSA's caution that GE is not a guarantee of PC selection. While it seems to be true that GE pretty much always works on domestic flights, that's purely anecdotal.

OP never should have spent the $100 if s/he expected 100% selection. And, it's easy to add the PASSID online, so no need to deal with agents at all.

That.

Yep, that's how I did it. Made sure known traveler id was in the system 48hrs prior.

Actually I didn't spend the $100. I got company sponsored AMEX plat cc and this was a perk. But it's not about the money... it's about killing my excitement. If we, the FTer's were right in the head, mileage runs wouldn't be done by recreational travelers and a DC resident wouldn't be flying to Chicago for his GE interview.
CBP officer was thoroughly amused that I flew to chicago for my interview.

If it was only 48 hours, my guess is it just hasn't percolated through all the systems yet.

^

I was lucky when PreCheck started at ORD. I have always made sure that my personal information on all my itineraries matched my passport and GE. I was 100% on PreCheck in 2012. Now I have lost status on UA and am 100% as a regular passenger (2/2) in 2013. This includes tickets booked on Concur as well.

I have found that you always have to monitor your traveler information in your itineraries. All it takes is one minor reservation system glitch to mess up your data.

I regularly get the triple beep on tickets purchased the same day or the day before the flight. In fact, I think I'm running roughly 98% for the past year. ORD is the only place where I have missed the beeps, and that was only 3 or 4 times out of 30 trips.

I always print a paper BP and scan the bar code the day before I travel so I know whether or not I get the 3 beeps. If you know you can get thru the TSA Pre Check lane prior to leaving for the airport, you won't have to arrive so early and you won't have to be disappointed that you didn't get the 3 beeps. I've used this method about 5 times in the last 2 or 3 months (with multiple carriers) and it works every time so far. Hope that helps.

I don't believe there is a way to tell whether you did not get precheck for a given flight or whether your number wasn't even passed to CPB in advance. I.e., there's no "two beeps" for precheck eligible but random regular screening.

For the love of ......

First of all the ONLY THING THE CBP GLOBAL ENTRY CARD gives you is the abilbilty to access the Nexus and Sentri driving lanes when returning from Canada or Mexico. Those are programs that are around 20 years old each and require the RFID card to activate them. They are NOT for the TSA precheck program and only serve as a reminder of what your Pass ID number is.

Next nobody seems to understand who CBP and TSA are and what their relationship is.

CBP stands for US Customs and Border Protection. Those are the people that wear guns and actually have the authority to make arrests on the border. They are the ones that perform inspections of returning passengers from other countries. They have nothing to do with airplane security.

The TSA, Transportation Security Administration, are the people that work the security checkpoints. The two are NOT the same agency. The TSA does not have nearly the same authority that CBP does. The TSA has no authority to make an arrest. That's why you always see an airport cop having to respond to a situation at one of the checkpoints, but they can detain you until someone else arrives. They also have no authority to carry a firearm either. Again why there is an airport cop.

Except for being in the same Department they have nothing else in common. It's like saying the Army is the same as the Air Force because they are all in the Department of Defense. The US Coast Guard is part of Homeland Security, do you think they are also TSA agents?

Now that we've hopefully finally gotten that cleared up let's try to move on.

Take a little time and effort to actually read the material. Go to the following:

www.globalentry.gov to learn about the US Customs program Global Entry which is for processing through immigration and customs procedures faster when returning to the United States from another country.

www.tsa.gov and click on the heading for precheck to learn about how to effectively use the TSA precheck program to get through airport security easier.

And if we read it we would notice the paragraph that said:

"TSA will always incorporate random and unpredictable security measures throughout the airport and no individual will be guaranteed expedited screening."

If someone was never on any agency's "radar" but had bad thoughts, made it through the background check and then was never stopped by TSA they would try to sneak something like a gun onto an airplane. But if you incorporate random checks and that person never knows when they are going to get stopped then they are less likely to try anything. Therefore you are safer. Stop thinking about just yourself and focus on the bigger picture, huh? Then maybe you would all actually understand things.

The website even has a video to show you how to do it and makes it all very clear.

And again, Global Entry is not the same as TSA Precheck. Global Entry is only to get you into the USA faster. You have to put your Pass ID into the reservation so that the TSA computer system can check you've had a background completed. Otherwise how would the TSA even know that you were investigated?