guflyer

Does anyone know how to learn what the precheck hours are for various airports prior to scheduling flights? I was able to find a list of airports on the TSA website but not the hours.

Also, do most airports give "precheck light" when precheck is closed? Is there any way to know which airports will do this practice?

1200GS

https://universalenroll.dhs.gov/locator

Should show hours for enrollment centers, if they're closed around the holidays, and if the enrollment center is before or after security.

I've never come across a "closed" precheck line at an airport which has been advertised to have precheck.

Sometimes - however - flying out of PHX on Delta (T3 I think) for example, Precheck is sent down the same lanes as normal screened passengers. You are given a card, showing your status. You are allowed to leave your shoes, jacket, hat, whatever on, but you will need to remove your laptop/liquids from bag.

guflyer

Thanks, 1200GS. I was actually inquiring about the hours of the precheck lines, but information about the enrollment centers is likely to be helpful to some who browse this thread.

Does anyone know if all checkpoints will allow (or are supposed to) allow one with precheck on their boarding pass to use the WTMD instead of a body scanner when precheck is closed?

Scifience

LAX is the same for many of the redeye flights; the actual PreCheck lanes close up around 10:30, I believe. However, despite their insistence on laptops/liquids out in such cases, I've never bothered to do so in at least a dozen flights and have never been questioned. YMMV, of course.

1200GS

I had the opposite experience at PHX actually - funny you should mention that. The lazy TSA agent handed me my card and sent me on my way. This was my first time dealing with an airport without dedicated precheck. Even my smallest traveled airports have dedicated lanes - Spokane, Boise, etc. I proceeded as normal, threw my stuff on the belt, and walked through. I was waiting for my laptop bag to come through, and the screener had a look on his face as if I had just tried to pass a crate of grenades through the x-ray. His buddy asked if I had a laptop in my bag - I told him 'of course i do, doesn't everyone?' - showed him my precheck pass. They explained the policy, which no one thus far had briefed me on. I apologized, but told their supervisor that it would have been a much smoother (and quicker for everyone involved) process if simple instructions were given prior to screening.

At any rate, this was several months back - hopefully they've gotten it figured out by now.

guflyer

1200GS and Scifience,
were you able to go through the WTMD in these instances, or did they make you go through the body scanner?

Scifience

WTMD. At least at LAX, when you get to the AIT scanner, they will take the "Pre-Check OK" card the document checker gives you and direct you through the WTMD off to the side.

emrdoc

Precheck, regardless of how it is done, always gets the WTMD.

I don't understand why when Precheck traveler's bags go through the same machine as non-Precheck, that TSA can not find a way to mark those bags so we don't have to take out our laptops and liquids. It seems like it would be an easy thing to do. They do it with flight crews.

catocony

I was going through precheck at SNA a few weeks ago. Ding ding, I got the "random" alert. The smurf told me to go through the NOS. I say no way, I'm precheck. He says "if you don't we need to swab your hands." I go fine. He swabs my hands and that's that.

They are starting to screw around with precheck passengers with the NOSs. It will get worse.

brocklee9000

I know I can't be the only one wondering, and I've found old threads with the same questions, but does anyone know if there's a published list of when PreCheck lanes are open at various airports and terminals/airline checkpoints? For instance, I know Precheck is open until 8:00PM at SLC for T2 (DL), but have no idea when it's open over at T1. Or really any airport, for that matter. Is there some official, or crowd-sourced list anywhere, here or elsewhere on the internet? Feel free to merge/move/whatever if this isn't the right spot.

gobluetwo

TSA used to have this on their website, but did away with it, probably due to the maintenance required to keep up with all the changes, and the fact that they were often not open when the site said they'd be. And in places like ORD T1, where there are actually 3 checkpoints that have PreCheck, it was probably too difficult to keep track.

The wiki in the master TSA thread in the UA forum has some crowd-sourced times, although by no means complete and probably out-of-date in many cases.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...4-15-a-30.html

brocklee9000

Thanks. Yeah, google found that thread when I initially was digging. I'm particularly interested in Terminal 1 at SLC, because I only ever fly out of T2 and 90% of the time it's before they close the line at 8:00PM. The UA one makes it look like Pre is only open at haphazard times (since they only have a few flights out of SLC). But what about all the other airlines? AS, AA, B6, WN, etc? I have a redeye on B6 next week and am dreading the potential for a packed T1 area, due to the concentration of late night departures, primarily for other redeyes.
Maybe I'll just walk down to T2, go through the DL line, and tell them I just want to use the SkyClub or something...

Mudfish

I realize that you are probably correct, but that is such total crap. How hard is it to maintain hours of operation on a website that thousands of people could use as a resource? Ridiculous.

DemonDeacon

The closing of PreCheck lines is ridiculous in the first place. Last week at ATL, the PreCheck line closed at 9 pm and going through security at 9:15 there were no fewer than 20 PreCheck eligible pax pissed off that they had to go through the standard screening.

It's not like if they left it open they would have nobody to go through it, all sorts of flights leave ATL after 9 pm

brocklee9000

Those are my thoughts exactly. In know SLC has a bunch of flights just from T2 that leave at 6:00 on the nose, all day long, up until the DL red eye to JFK that leaves around midnight. I don't remember when it opens, but it's never been open when I arrive 30 minutes early for 6:00-7:00 departures. And I also have taken a lot flights departing late, as well. I'm not going to get to the airport 30 minutes earlier than I need to, just to use the pre line. I'll just do precheck light via the sky priority line, and grumble under my breath. I feel bad for travelers at airports whose airlines tell them when the pre check like is open, but it's convoluted like "8:00-10:30AM, then 2:15-3:47 PM, then 5:30-8:00. But then on Tuesdays it's open from 8:00-8:00, and on Saturdays it's open only if Wanda feels like manning the precheck lane."