I've never had this problem with Pre-Check (I paid for it), though I'll admit my home airport of Moline IL (MLI) is not terribly busy.

One line stood out: "The TSA's goal isn't necessarily to make the process faster, but safer."

Complete article:

https://www.usatoday.com/story...eck-lines/873940001/

TSA PreCheck members fume as their lines get longer

Christopher Elliott, Special to USA TODAY Published 6:00 p.m. ET Nov. 19, 2017 | Updated 11:51 a.m. ET Nov. 20, 2017

It happened to Andy Lundberg when he was flying recently from Kansas City to Baltimore on Southwest Airlines. A Transportation Security Administration screener pointed him to the PreCheck line, where he waited behind a dozen other frequent travelers with the agency's trusted traveler designation.

"There were two people in the regular line," says Lundberg, a sales manager from Kansas City.

Lundberg's scenario isn't unique. Increasingly, travelers such as him who paid for their membership and submitted to a background check are finding that the fast lanes are actually slower than the non-PreCheck lines. And they're wondering why they even bothered.

Merinda Edmonds, a photographer from St. Louis, recently flew with her mother from Sacramento to St. Louis. Edmonds has PreCheck status, her mother doesn't. "She actually made it through security faster than I did," Edmonds says.

TSA insists experiences like Edmonds' and Lundberg's are the exception rather than the rule. Virtually all passengers wait less than 30 minutes in standard checkpoint lines, and 99.6% of TSA PreCheck members waited less than 10 minutes in line, according to the agency. In other words, the fast lane is almost always faster.

Except when it isn't. I had heard of this checkpoint inversion — slow is fast, fast is slow — but didn't believe it until I arrived for a recent flight in Anchorage. The regular line had four or five passengers, while the PreCheck line was at least 20 passengers deep.

"Why is the PreCheck line so long?" I asked the TSA agent checking my boarding pass.

"Oh," he shrugged. "They sometimes randomly give PreCheck status to passengers."

Tips and tricks all travelers should know

In case you're wondering, you want to be in that PreCheck line. There are no shoes to remove, no laptops to take out of the bag and best of all, no scanner to radiate your body. It's just like getting screened, pre-9/11. But some travelers would gladly give up those conveniences if they could get through the line faster. Hence their frustration.

What's happening here? The TSA has different requirements for passengers in each line. For example, you can get PreCheck status by joining (see below), or by being a member of, another trusted traveler program such as Global Entry, or you could get it by chance on the day of your departure. The "regular line" is for all others.

More: Which expedited security program is right for you?

"Because of randomness in when passengers arrive to the airport, this setup will have imbalances at times," explains Edieal Pinker, an expert on queuing who teaches at the Yale School of Management. "You can’t give them another one of the lanes because then the non-PreCheck becomes very under-served. As a result, PreCheck could have more delays than non-PreCheck."

The result is a group of frustrated travelers who are used to getting what they want. For them, Pinker adds, "It's comparable to getting a root canal."

Passengers are fuming. Andra Watkins, a professional speaker and novelist, has noticed the longer PreCheck lines since midsummer. For her, it's upsetting to see people who haven't paid the TSA a dime getting through security faster than her and the other frequent travelers, who went through a lengthy application process and paid for the privilege of accessing the fast line.

"The TSA needs to devote more resources and personnel to its PreCheck lanes," she says.

That's unlikely to happen. The TSA's goal isn't necessarily to make the process faster, but safer. In order to do that, it wants to collect as much information on travelers as possible. So it'll probably continue enrolling more passengers in its trusted traveler programs, since it gets the data it wants. Travelers, meanwhile, will continue to pay for PreCheck because there's a chance they'll have a less invasive and faster screening experience.

And the agency is playing a long game, when it comes to your personal information. It's collecting more information about you and investing in biometric technology that scans your face before you board a flight. TSA PreCheck members just funded the collection of more traveler data by paying for their own background checks.

Is PreCheck worth it?

• What is it? PreCheck is the TSA's "trusted" traveler program. Benefits include waiting "five minutes or less" most of the time and not having to remove certain items during screening, such as laptops, liquids, belts, shoes and light jackets, according to the TSA. Pay $85 for a five-year membership (tsa.gov/precheck). More than 5 million people have access to PreCheck lines at 200 airports.

• Who should get it? The consensus among travel experts is that if you fly more than twice a year, it's worth applying for the program. However, if you're planning to travel internationally, consider another "trusted" traveler program, Global Entry, which includes TSA Precheck benefits (cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-entry).

• What if the PreCheck line is longer than the regular line? There's not much you can do except complain. A TSA agent can't switch you to a shorter line, even if you ask to move from a "fast" line such as PreCheck into a regular, slower line. File a brief, polite grievance to the TSA. Here's how to reach it: tsa.gov/contact-center/form/complaints.



Christopher Elliott is a consumer advocate and editor at large for National Geographic Traveler. Contact him at chris@elliott.org or visit elliott.org.

That's why regular flyers should get "Clear."

My home airport of Salt Lake City usually never has long lines so I haven't seen the need to sign up for "Clear" yet (I have Pre-Check and Global Entry), but the day that "Clear" arrives in Philadelphia I definitely will sign up for it.

And part of the problem with Pre-Check (as with most things) is that there are just too many people who have no clue what they're doing and hold up the operation having to walk through the metal detector three or four times because they don't remove all metal. Frequent flyers like myself or just smart flyers know they should have all that stuff in their carry on before they even get to the security checkpoint. Drives me crazy.

I travel several times per month on business and have been experiencing this more and more. Most recently on a flight home from DFW. The Pre-check line was 40+ people deep while the normal security line had about 8 people in it. Eventually they did switch things up and open another Pre-check lane but by that point I was almost through and there were 60+ folks behind me.

Regardless of what the article says the original big advertising push for Precheck WAS to get you through security faster. As a frequent business traveler lugging multiple electronic devices with everything packed into a carry on, not having to pull everything out of the bag is a huge plus. Almost as much as the speed. I've seen clear in action and it is impressive but Pre-check would be good enough for me if it was consistently fast. That and I would not feel comfortable being walked past the entire Precheck line!!

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

That's why regular flyers should get "Clear..."

First I've heard of that. I have Global Entry (which includes PreCheck), those work for me.

Please explain Clear for me and other members. I assume this is the correct site:

https://www.clearme.com/home

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

That's why regular flyers should get "Clear..."

First I've heard of that. I have Global Entry (which includes PreCheck), those work for me.

Please explain Clear for me and other members. I assume this is the correct site:

https://www.clearme.com/home

Quickly stated, it allows you to bypass the ID check part by the TSA. Instead of waiting in line to have your driver's license, passport, or whatever checked, a Clear agent assists you with using a machine that reads your fingerprint to identify you, and then he escorts you passed the TSA ID checkpoint right to the security check. You never even have to pull out your ID. You still have to wait to be screened, but if there is a long line for just the ID check, Clear let's you bypass that.

At the moment though, it is only available at certain airports.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

And part of the problem with Pre-Check (as with most things) is that there are just too many people who have no clue what they're doing and hold up the operation having to walk through the metal detector three or four times because they don't remove all metal. Frequent flyers like myself or just smart flyers know they should have all that stuff in their carry on before they even get to the security checkpoint. Drives me crazy.

Ain’t that the truth. I fly at least twice a month and the tools that get the complimentary Pre Check are the problem.

Last month I had a guy in front of me that brought a box cutter in his carry on. When the TSA guy showed it to him, he was like ‘well, I took the blade out’. Yea, but he didn’t take the extra blades that are in the handle out.

Tool.....

Slid right through at both LAX and Ft. Lauderdale this month.

Clear = $179.00 per year...

No thanks

Monday morning business travel. The line for peons is shorter than the PreCheck line.

In my experience, Clear was a useless fuck of a service compared to precheck. I've noticed precheck has been increasingly long/slow but it's still better than standard TSA lines.

Longer lines don't bother me, what bothers me is giving Pre Check to people who have no idea how to go through airport security at a base level must less expedited.

I kid you not, the last time I flew the woman in front of me had no IDEA where to go once we got to the bag scanner/metal detector area. Even with people guiding her she she couldn't figure it out on her own and bottled everything up.

quote:

Originally posted by mark_a:
Clear = $179.00 per year...

No thanks

For people who fly very often, it's absolutely worth it.

How about no more TSA?

This has happened to me a few times, especially at DFW, where the lines are usually short. The TSA is dumping everyone in precheck because they know that the whole body-scan, shoes off, liquids out, BS doesn't actually make anything safer.

quote:

Originally posted by Dallas239:
This has happened to me a few times, especially at DFW, where the lines are usually short. The TSA is dumping everyone in precheck because they know that the whole body-scan, shoes off, liquids out, BS doesn't actually make anything safer.

Yup.

Something new that is now being enforced by the way is that any device larger than a cell phone must come out of your bag in addition to any laptop. I had to take my tablet and reader out the other day. Also for some reason, tsa was pulling aside any bags that they thought had food in it. Don't know what that was all about. They didn't take the food; they just wanted to look at it.

I haven’t had the issue with the PreCheck lines being longer than the normal lines. I’d still keep it to avoid getting my hands and stuff swabbed. The swab usually ruins my day. In PreCheck, I only get it if I’m lucky enough to get picked for a random.

As a frequent flyer, on my commute to CA to work, I signed up and use CLEAR. It is well worth the money. What still pisses me off is the "random" alert when I pass through, and then either have to get felt up, or re-screened. 5 times in a row isn't random in my book. I hate the TSA.

quote:

Originally posted by mark_a:
Clear = $179.00 per year...

No thanks

And not in Philly, Newark or Chicago.........my primaries.

Too
Stupid for
Arby's

I've got pre-check and fly about twice a year... it is always a gamble for me... heck, half the time they pull me over and sniff me anyway or send me through the microwave machine which always messes up and then I have to get patted down....

Personally, I know it's all a joke but does give a whole lot of folks a job. and I suspect half of them could not keep a 'regular' job. Y'all do realize that if you fly first class they give you metal eating utensils?

the whole security thing is not really to keep one person (terrorist) from downing a plane.., it is to keep a stupid citizen from bringing the wrong chemicals or electronics or such on the plan and accidentally killing everyone.

I travel pretty frequently as well and have notice the lines getting longer for Pre-check. In most of the airports I've been in over the past year or so the pre-check line seems to be the long line.

Traveling though a bunch of smaller airports, it seems that people can't figure out which line to get in, so you end up with a bunch of non pre-check folks in the pre-check line as there is no gate keeper to guide them to the right line.

As far as Clear goes, I think I've been through one airport this year that has it. Unless it gets put in everywhere, not worth the money in my book.