WS Joins TSA Precheck program
 

http://westjet2.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1050

I have a WS flight to LAS booked next Saturday coming back Monday evening.

Previously I was lamenting to the wife that we would be without TSA Precheck because she had booked us on WS (Airmiles redemption) rather than my usual AC or UA.

Here a couple of thoughts regarding early experiences with WS and TSA Precheck.
(1) The only way to get TSA PreCheck through WS is to go up to a USA based WS counter and get them to add your KTN (known traveler number). Self service and online options will not accept Nexus Id to get TSA precheck.
(2) There is no way to store your KTN within the Westjet or Westjet Rewards computer system. Therefore the above procedure must be completed each time one travels from the USA on WS.
(3) Expect a lot of bumps in the road, I called into WS reservations to get my KTN added to their system and they were only remotely aware of the process. I expect this unawareness to continue throughout the WS experience.
(4) FYI FOR THOSE USED TO OTHER AIRLINES TSA PRECHECK PROGRAMS. The WS TSA precheck implementation is very different process from that at USA airlines and AC. for starters there is no way to enter APIS or KTN numbers before checkin at the airport. Therefore I expect a higher than usual precheck rejection rate because TSA will not have 72 hour pre-flight notification that is part of their selection process (just as booking a ticket less than 72 hours prior to flight increases the odds of SSSS, so does precheck rejection when applied at the airport). Also expect the staff to be unaware of how every other airline does Precheck, expect miss understanding if you blurt out My KTN is 981XXXX can I have precheck now. Also I fully expect to have to show staff where the KTN is located (its on the back of the card and called PASS ID), and what the purpose of the Nexus card for security clearance purposes. Finally I totally expect they will want to see Passport at every step of the process and will not accept Nexus as ID for crossing the border.
(5) Without being able to add KTN/Nexus ID, I expect to be flagged for secondary screening at preclearance immigration US CBP checkpoints and/or be denied WS online boarding pass. With my Nexus ID on file at both AC and WS, I am always guaranteed to get a boarding pass through online means. Don't know what to expect from WS.

I will keep the FT community appraised of the TSA precheck program on this thread.

Great post WR Cage. I usually travel to the US about 5 times a year on WS and loved to see this announcement. Your post has in great detail shown me what to prepare for. Kudos.

WJ TSA Preclearance
 

Flew PHX - YYC last week. The WJ CSA at checkin asked if we were Nexus and then reissued the BP's with the TSA Pre check authorization.

No muss, no fuss.

Encouraging news for my trip home. Thanks for the update. :cheers:

Flew out of JFK yesterday. The front desk agents had no idea what I was talking about, or how to do it, so they just stamped my boarding pass PRIORITY and told me to use the business class security line.

:eek:

They just took your word for it?

That's not how it's supposed to work..

I neglected to mention we showed her our Nexus cards.

No muss. No fuss.

The name would have to match what's on the nexus card otherwise you would not get the precheck on your boarding pass. . If you book with AC you are allowed to put it in yourself and no agent ever sees what you enter so not sure why there would be a requirement to show the card.

My experience with this the other day was pleasant. We went to the check-in counter to try and get on an earlier flight between LGA and YYZ and were just chit chatting....
My GF who just got her Nexus/GE card has never used TSA Pre-check and I casually mentioned too bad we can't use it while the TA was moving our flights.
The TA went actually, we just joined it a few weeks ago and we handed over our Nexus cards and she added it to our checkin and the tickets were printed with pre-check :)

Saved us a bunch of time in the line...etc :)

On AC I usually ONLY use my Nexus ID as my ID for checkin, and boarding since its smaller and less cumbersome to store. Passport is in bag of course as a backup.
So as we boarded, I handed my ticket and Nexus card to the GA and she asked to still see our passports. Not a big deal, but perhaps just part of the policy that hasn't changed yet.

Because this is the TSA precheck thread, I will restrict my responses to just the WS Precheck experience.

Overall success for both wife and me, we got precheck at LAS night of October 19. That said there are a few bumps along the way.

First off the arrangement for WS checkin area at LAS is confusing. On my trip through there was a long lineup for guest assistance and no one using bag drop. The guest assistance line was long time wise but not number of people wise. Wait time was about 10 minutes to process 4 groups of customers ahead of me. The other off putting thing with WS LAS checkin, it's machines in the left and counters on the right. While there was someone directing traffic, it didn't seem to matter as everyone was either getting BP or needed guest assistance, very few BP and then to the bag drop line. The bag drop agent was doing a good impression of the may tag repairman.

Improvements for WS checkin flow at LAS, it would have been more efficient to have greater separation between bag drop and guest assistance counters. Also the checkin kiosks should naturally guide to bag drop line, however this didn't happen and instead some bag drop people barged infront of the guest assistance line as there were no stanchions separating the two pax flows.

Things get a little squirrelly with the checkin agent. The online literature would have one believe that adding nexus ID at guest assistance is a one step process, however my experience was different. Both wife and me were checked in a second time by the guest assistance agent. We needed to produce passports a second time in addition to nexus IDs. WARNING TO OTHERS, expect to have to checkin a second time at guest assistance because this is where pax who could not complete online or kiosk checkin get sent. There is no simplified process for precheck addition without going through a full checkin process.

Passport production at guest assistance was a secondary problem. Wife and I were at guest services to get precheck and announced our intentions to the agent. We then went through a drawn out process by the agent to get us to produce our passports. Key miscommunication on the agents part. Instead of explaining that she was going to redo the checkin process, she got into a theoretical discussion about requirement to have passport on us at all times.

My overall recommendation is at travelers should be very certain TSA precheck is open prior to going trough the guest assistance process., especially if the traveler all ready has their BP through online checkin. Conversely, Westjet counter agents should be aware of their airports precheck operating hours, it would aggravating from a pax perspective to have to go through the guest assistance process and then be denied precheck because the lane is closed.

Additionally, for me to use WS again, they must get better at storing profile information such as passport and nexus. I never have to visit a counter with UA or AC, and during AC initial implementation I could use the kiosk, which saved time and a lot of agravation.
.

A frustrating experience at PHX yesterday... a big TSA Pre FAIL thanks to an uninformed WestJet agent.

We took our boarding passes (printed the day prior, using web check-in) to the Guest Assistance counter at PHX to have our KTN added ... so that we could use TSA Pre. We were third in line for Guest Assistance, but it was over a 10 minute wait to get to an agent at the counter.

I asked the WestJet agent there to add our NEXUS info so we could use PreCheck. She seemed to know exactly what to do. The agent took our passports and NEXUS cards. She verified all of the passport info, and she dutifully entered our KTN numbers from the backs of our NEXUS cards into the system. She then handed me back our pre-printed boarding passes - the same ones I'd given to her - and gave us a "You're all set".

I told her we needed new boarding passes printed in order to use PreCheck. She said no. I affirmed that we did, in fact, need new BPs printed that showed the PreCheck logo. She said no, and affirmed that all of us now had PreCheck.

She instructed us to go to the entrance to the TSA Pre line, show our web boarding pass, and show our NEXUS card to TSA. I told her that wouldn't work, and tried to explain PreCheck to her. She then took our boarding passes back and put a red 'Priority' stamp on each one. And she insisted that we now had TSA Pre, as long as we showed our NEXUS cards with those boarding passes at the entrance to the Pre line.

She was adamant that her way was the right way, so I second-guessed myself. I assumed I was wrong, and that she knew what she was doing. Our group stopped for lunch before heading to security. (At PHX, post-security food is low supply, high demand.) We then headed to the TSA Pre line.

The TSA agent took one glance at our web-printed boarding passes, and sent us straight out of the Pre line . . . for the (very long) general line. We showed our NEXUS cards to him, exactly as instructed by the WestJet agent. He essentially rolled his eyes at us. And I realized that, yes, the WestJet agent was clueless. Just as I'd told her, the TSA guy affirmed that if the boarding passes don't specifically show Pre, you don't have Pre.

The 'Priority' (i.e. business class, non-Pre line) took a good 15 minutes to move through. Thank god we didn't go through the general line, as it was moving at a snail's pace. The TSA Pre line, meanwhile, was virtually empty and very fast -- exactly as it should have been. As we inched through the slow lane, we watched others sail through Pre ... and progressively got angrier and more frustrated.

My WestJet experience was two painfully long line-ups, one painfully long transaction at the Guest Assistance counter, and a fruitless attempt to benefit from WS's participation in Pre. Bloody annoying.

WestJet Darren: Please send a note off to your PHX station asking them to train their counter agents.

And to WestJet IT: Please, please, please get moving on allowing your passengers to add their own NEXUS/KTN to their bookings so that we DON'T need to see an agent in order to get Pre! It's pointless to direct your guests to stand in one long line in order to avoid another long line, particularly when every other airline uses technology to accomplish this.

After this experience, I think that WestJet was premature to say anything about offering PreCheck to their passengers until their IT system and web-site could properly support it. Requiring your guests to line up at "Guest Assistance" can evidently be a long, painful, and fruitless experience. They should have waited to roll this out properly.

Even if you were wrong after asking twice she should have just reprinted them. Going through the whole scenario and stamping etc she could have saved herself a lot of time and trouble if she had just done it. I don't recall does Westjet have Kiosks in PHX? If so I just would have went there and reprinted them myself. Another option would be to tell them you checked in but your printer ran out of ink so you didn't have any boarding passes.

So sorry to hear of your experience, FlyerJ. Please send us a PM with your reservation code so we can look into this for you. Also, if you remember the agent's name please include that, too.

Regards,
Darren

Thanks Darren -- sent.