I just went through security for the first time at Albany International Airport (it’s not exactly an international airport; I only saw domestic flights on the departures board but I believe some flights used to fly into Canada.) The security line had about a dozen people in it and as I made my way to the TSA PreCheck lane, an airport worker (not the TSA), yelled at me and said I was going the wrong way, as there’s only one security line. “Even for passengers with TSA PreCheck?” I asked. He answered yes, but said I would still get the benefits PreCheck affords passengers. I was thinking to myself, ‘isn’t one of the benefits to get a shorter line?’ but I wasn’t in the mood for arguing and I wasn’t in a hurry.
In the regular line, I noticed the TSA agent handing nine out of 10 of the passengers a laminated TSA PreCheck card that stated that passengers did not have to “take off your shoes, belt, headwear or lighter outer garment.” But the next paragraph read that you must “divest your laptop computer and 3-1-1 compliant bag of liquids and must place them in a divesting bin.”
Divest? Really? Do you think most passengers know what divest means? I had to look it up. And worse yet, all the passengers around me had no idea what TSA PreCheck was. Now, I’m not even sure what the point of having TSA PreCheck is. Aren’t you supposed to be “pre-checked” with an interview? According to the TSA website, the PreCheck program “allows low-risk travelers to experience expedited, more efficient security screening at participating U.S. airport checkpoints for domestic and international travel.” But in order to receive this privilege, you must apply, undergo a background check, provide fingerprints, have an interview, etc. Only once approved and granted a Known Traveler Number, should you then be able to use the TSA PreCheck line.
So – what gives if TSA agents are randomly handing out TSA PreCheck cards and what does this mean for the safety of passengers and the security process as a whole?
Johnny – I fly once or twice a month these days – nowhere near my “chairman’s on 3 airlines’ level of 10 yrs ago. I often get TSA Pre if I purchase some sort of minor upgrade such as a better coach seat or priority boarding – and more than half the time it just shows up on my boarding passes. I’ve never applied for it or paid extra. Never been “pre-checked” that I know of. Usually it’ll only be for one direction of my trip- seldom both. I’ve asked TSA agent s several times and have never had an acceptable answer. Point being can any terrorist buy a $6 exit row seat and suddenly be TSA-pre? That is totally bogus.
Good question. Are you over 65? From personal experience I see a lot of people over 65 getting it.
I am guessing, but when I was traveling, from USA, LAX to Manila, Philippines, and my first stop was Hawaii, then Guam, I was told, gruffly, by a TSA guard, upstairs, “You…Over here…You are prescreened…..” Who, me? I asked? He said, Yes, you, over here..” and I was brought to the front of the line, which actually slowed me down…I think this may have happened to me since I had: #1. Bought my ticket early, 2 months, and used a well established debit card….ALSO #2. I asked for help, downstairs, from a helper at the airport and she was nice…She showed me how to pay for extra bag, scanned my passport, and debited my debit card…More double checking done..If your credit card can be approved, in the market, in 10 seconds, the TSA, if not too busy can check you, in 2 minutes as you go up the stairs, yes?…ALSO, I would think, with the chips inside of the passports, and credit/debit cards, and the cameras, looking at you, all was a 360 match in the 15 minutes I was in processing and I think, since my passport was older, meaning it was 6 years old, and I never lost one, or had it stolen, this helps also..REMEMBER, I am guessing, and now one thing, is the answer…I was carrying a small lunch type bag, soft cooler bag, (for my medicine) all zippers were opened, and belt off, before I got in line…I do not wait until last minute like most people do, holding u the line…I was also wearing flipflops and PAJAMA SHORTS, lol, seriously, and a Hawaiian shirt LOL( I am use to going through security, since you go through a screening at every shopping mall in the Philippines and they not mind me much, there, either, unless he, or she is new, because they not need to…It is obvious, I do not fit the profile) I think, being ready, is key, being happy, and not fitting the profile of someone who will do something stupid, because I look like a happy traveler, like Johnny does, LOL, and a scanned passport and debit card and a 2 month old ticket, helps…I am sure they can push through some people, such as me, to get the planes loaded, on non peak times..HOLIDAYS, forget it, system is over loaded…My guess is, since LAX was virtually empty, yes, hardly anyone, it is was Monday 11 am, I think it is easy to screen people, with conversations, global chips, old ticket, and being smart, ready to go, they will profile you…This is not racial profiling it is just common sense..I believe in racial profiling, but you need to check the whole profile, also…If you buy your ticket on a Friday, or at the airport, that is red flag, if you passport is new, maybe first one, and it is only 90 days old, red flag, or if you are one of those cry babies who do not like to be screened, not ready to be screened holding us all up, you will be be slowed down
We both had Precheck from ATL to TUS but on the way back, I had Precheck and he did not. Both ways, one of our bags was checked and they broke a flashdrive we had so flying back, we left the TSA paper inside and it was still searched again.
Precheck was never meant to be an “elite” line. It was a pilot program for two years. The main goal was that it was going to be the new normal. There is another program in place along with pre check that has other tsa officers watching behaviors of those “random” people that are being let through Precheck. The inconsistency throughout airports is inconvenient but many airports are testing out different ways of implementing these programs to find the most efficient one. Also there has been a huge attrition problem within the tsa screening force. Many of them are fed up with how they are being treated within the company and on the floor. I would hate to have that job. But until there is a better solution this is what we have.
More proof that airport security is more “security theater” than true security. The TSA seems to forget that having pre-screening is to allow passengers that have passed “stringent security screening” to bypass some of the standard security screening that slows down the security process and to allow anyone to randomly bypass their own security standards as a “marketing ploy” is ridiculous at best, and a major risk to security at worse. In Boston, not a minor airport by any means, I was behind a family of four, which TSA allowed two members to go to pre-check, while two had to (randomly) go through the regular line. The father, who apparently never travels was confused and couldn’t understand why he couldn’t go with the rest of his family. Of course, he was in pre-check and had no idea what to do and spent the entire time complaining and holding up the pre-check line. In this case he felt he was being unfairly punished, not being given a benefit and I felt sorry for him. (If you’re going to give someone a benefit that separates them from their family, be prepared to explain why and also what that benefit is and how to take advantage of that benefit.) This btw was 2 weeks after the article about the TSA no longer randomly selecting passengers for pre-check, so apparently someone screwed up in getting that memo out. In Honolulu, again not a minor airport, there was no one checking whether anyone entering the pre-check line was qualified, so two passengers with eastern European passports were allowed through with no problem. HUH??