TSA-Pre Surprise!!

[ScottM]

Holy hand grenade of Antioch! Not only did I get TSA Pre for the 4th time this year, I got it on an international flight!!

Happened at Terminal 3 of KORD!! Lines were long, even for us elite travelers. Floored me when the Pre-check person said to go into the Pre-Lane. Even more surprised when the TSA guy looked over my boarding pass, to Tokyo, my passport and let me go to the short line. Is this a change in policy that TSA-Pre will now be allowed for international or just a giant frack up?

 

[wsuffa]

New (and very much appreciated) change in policy. I think it started on May 15th, Scott.

You can expect more going forward. I am very glad for this as a fair amount of my travel involves international (and most with domestic connections).

 

[weilke]

Get a Global Entry card. Pre is the only good thing about the three stooges agency.

 

[Ghery]

Nice. I noticed earlier this month that UA has the logo on your boarding pass if you can use the TSA-Pre line. Not on my boarding passes for this evening. SEA-SFO-SYD-MEL. Oh well, my wife is traveling with me and she always needs the nude-o-scope because of her bionic joints. At least we'll use the quick line for those with "status" (UA 1K this year).

 

[PilotAlan]

Get a Global Entry card. Pre is the only good thing about the three stooges agency.

+1
Global Entry to get Pre Check was the best $100 I ever spent, followed closely by the money for the United Club Visa card.

 

[ScottM]

+1
Global Entry to get Pre Check was the best $100 I ever spent, followed closely by the money for the United Club Visa card.

There is an AA version of that card. I almost got it, but instead went with the Hilton version. For $95/year I am always Hilton Gold. I can save on the difference since most Hiltons will charge for WiFi. Plus I usually am able to get a free or greatly reduced cost, in miles, for my Admiral's club membership.

Bill, I had not heard that TSA finally allowed this for international. I was really surprised. Glad to hear they pulled their head out a little.

 

[wsuffa]

There is an AA version of that card. I almost got it, but instead went with the Hilton version. For $95/year I am always Hilton Gold. I can save on the difference since most Hiltons will charge for WiFi. Plus I usually am able to get a free or greatly reduced cost, in miles, for my Admiral's club membership.

Bill, I had not heard that TSA finally allowed this for international. I was really surprised. Glad to hear they pulled their head out a little.

Scott, they made the announcement about 10 days ago. Very glad for it as it was pretty annoying to use Global Entry only to end up being groped at security.

 

[jason]

Question for those that have Global Entry cards. Is there any way to avoid the body scanners? I generally opt out if I'm going to get scanned instead of going through the x-ray. What happens if you're Pre-check and you want to opt out?

 

[PilotAlan]

There is an AA version of that card.

Being based at a United hub, the United Club card is more than worth it. First class check in and boarding regardless of ticket class, first class security line (for places without Pre-Check), two bags free on every flight, airport Club privileges.

If I could fly my own plane for business, then we'd have a different discussion.

 

[PilotAlan]

Question for those that have Global Entry cards. Is there any way to avoid the body scanners?

The Pre-Check lanes use magnetometers (set lower than the rest) so you can keep your belt and shoes on. Can't do that with body scanners.
I have never seen a Pre-Check line with body scanners.

 

[weilke]

Question for those that have Global Entry cards. Is there any way to avoid the body scanners?

Global entry only helps you if you are at an airport that is big enough to have a separate 'Pre' line for active duty military, crews and 'Pre' approved passengers. The 'Pre' lines I have encountered all use magnetometers only.

 

[wsuffa]

The Pre-Check lanes use magnetometers (set lower than the rest) so you can keep your belt and shoes on. Can't do that with body scanners.
I have never seen a Pre-Check line with body scanners.

This.

Pre you generally get to leave shoes on, computers in bag, etc. and I have not seen a pre- line with a scanner.

That said, understand the limitations:
1) not all airports have pre, check the TSA list.
2) not all airlines have pre, and not all airlines at a given airport can use Pre. A prime example is DCA, where the AA pier has no Pre- line. You can go through Pre- at the US pier & take the airside shuttle over, but that can take as long as using the regular security at the AA pier. Southwest does NOT have Pre, nor do most of the low-cost-carriers.
3) You've got to put the Global Entry number in your ticketing profile on the airline you use (or enter it when making the reservation). Pre- only works if the "OK" is encoded into the bar code on your boarding pass.
4) You're not guaranteed of getting Pre- on any given flight, even if you have Global Entry.
5) At some airports, the lines for Pre- can be as long as regular security lines. (Example, Monday AM at IAD, where I was #45 in line for Pre-).

 

[PilotAlan]

This.

Pre you generally get to leave shoes on, computers in bag, etc. and I have not seen a pre- line with a scanner.

That said, understand the limitations:
1) not all airports have pre, check the TSA list.
2) not all airlines have pre, and not all airlines at a given airport can use Pre. A prime example is DCA, where the AA pier has no Pre- line. You can go through Pre- at the US pier & take the airside shuttle over, but that can take as long as using the regular security at the AA pier. Southwest does NOT have Pre, nor do most of the low-cost-carriers.
3) You've got to put the Global Entry number in your ticketing profile on the airline you use (or enter it when making the reservation). Pre- only works if the "OK" is encoded into the bar code on your boarding pass.
4) You're not guaranteed of getting Pre- on any given flight, even if you have Global Entry.
5) At some airports, the lines for Pre- can be as long as regular security lines. (Example, Monday AM at IAD, where I was #45 in line for Pre-).

This. Although I've never seen #5, but find it easy to believe in DC.

I am based in Denver, which has PreCheck, and either fly to DCA or IAD (which have PreCheck), or to small regional airports where security wait times are pretty much zero (Pierre or Rapid City, SD; Bismarck or Fargo, ND; Helena, MT) or Salt Lake City which has PreCheck.

PreCheck is not guaranteed, but as I said before, the United Club Card gets me into the 1st class line when there's no PreCheck, PreCheck is too long, or if I'm not authorized for PreCheck on that trip.

 

[denverpilot]

Get a Global Entry card. Pre is the only good thing about the three stooges agency.

Yeah, we've hit the point where we think the system to bypass the bad system is a benefit now, that we are all willing to pay for. Haha. Rich.

 

[SCCutler]

SWA allows passengers to use the shortcut line (same one you pay for with Business Select) if you are Pre-Check approved. You just have to make sure to include that in your res.

 

[weilke]

I have not encountered long lines at the DCA Pre checkpoint. The line that has been there tends to move quickly as everyone just puts their bag on the belt and walks through the magnetometer rather than the dance required in the regular lanes. Also, as everyone has done this a time or two before, there are few if any 'bag checks' for gallon bottles of hair conditioner or the like.

 

[Ghery]

There is an AA version of that card. I almost got it, but instead went with the Hilton version. For $95/year I am always Hilton Gold. I can save on the difference since most Hiltons will charge for WiFi. Plus I usually am able to get a free or greatly reduced cost, in miles, for my Admiral's club membership.

Bill, I had not heard that TSA finally allowed this for international. I was really surprised. Glad to hear they pulled their head out a little.

And Hilton charges a ton for WiFi. The one I'm staying at in Melbourne, Australia wants $25 a day. Nope, not doing that. I'm on-line at the MCG, home of our symposium this week. Quite a view of the field from where I'm sitting typing this, too.

 

[jsnapp]

Global entry only helps you if you are at an airport that is big enough to have a separate 'Pre' line for active duty military, crews and 'Pre' approved passengers. The 'Pre' lines I have encountered all use magnetometers only.

If you use your Global Entry number in your profile with united, AA, Alaska or delta you get TSA pre unless you get the random standard line. I have it and it works great. Also works great coming back into us. The NEXuS card also works to get you in the pre line if the number is loads in your profile