Actually, I’m saying once in a blue moon, I’ll get a boarding pass without precheck on it. (actually, just once period) When I inquired about that, they told me that even those of us in the precheck system will very occasionally be kicked into the normal line. (more security theater I guess).
ETA: Since it only happened once, I suppose I should allow for the possibility that it was just some kind of glitch and the person I complained to didn’t know what he was taking about.
My wife and I fly across the country via Southwest Airlines roughly four times a year. We always pay Southwest the extra $12 apiece to take advantage of their “early bird check-in” option (so that we’re not frantically logging into our computers exactly 24 hours before flight time to get a good boarding number). We’ve never paid for or submitted any kind of application for TSA precheck status. But we always seem to get it.
(Now just watch - now that I’ve typed this, we won’t get it next time.)
Earlybird check-in on Southwest is not the same thing as TSA Pre-check, not even in the same ball park
I know that. I’m just listing all of the relevant items in our case - even the ones that really aren’t all that relevant.
I never fly, but my last two flights were magically pre checked. You still go thru the scanner and they scan your bags. But keeping your belt on and your shoes and your pockets speeds the line up for everyone.
I joined in November, and it was $85 for five years. I’ve traveled about 12 times since then, and it’s been fantastic. Although it might have something to do with the airport - I live in Portland, and it’s definitely great at that airport for departing flights.
One time flying back out of San Diego there was no Pre-Check line at all. They gave me a Xeroxed piece of construction paper that meant I didn’t have to take my shoes off, but I still had to go through the very long line. Everyone with Pre-Check was really irritated about that, lemme tell you.
Plus, they have Pok Pok wings, so win-win.
And VooDoo donuts.
He means at the airport - there’s no VooDoo at PDX. However, sadly the airport Pok Pok closed. Although they do still have Laurelwood, Rogue and Country Cat.
All you need is about 45 minute layover, payoff someone to get to the front of the line. Make sure you TSA pre-check and your back in the terminal, lickity split with your deviantly shaped pastries.
Prescreening your background cannot possibly provide absolute certainty. With limited resources, it makes perfect sense to me that prescreening will result in a lower probability of a more extensive search, rather than absolute certainty that you would never be more extensively searched.
*snip. Why would it be limited?
IOW, if the TSA deems that those assigned pre-check status do not need the normal amount of screening, then why not allow everyone who meets that criteria to not have to have the normal amount of screening?
Imagine me and another traveler, both with the same criteria which should allow for pre-check. I get one of the available slots by luck, but the other guy didn’t. I waltz through the fast lane while he is taking his belt off, shoes off, etc., for no discernible purpose.
I wish people would wake up and simply demand a return to pre-911 security procedures. Oh, but that is what allowed 9-11 to happen? No, what allowed 9-11 to happen was the idea that you sit back, do what the bad guys say, and everything will be all right. There could be no security at airports and the 9-11 style attacks would not happen again. We saw that play once and passengers will not sit back and let it happen again.
We are always prepared for the previous bad thing. I just hope some guy doesn’t try to stick something up his ass for terrorism purposes or else we will spend the rest of our lives spreading our cheeks to board a plane.
Why would it make sense that the prior poster should be allowed one type of easier access 49/50 times at the airport, but have to be scrutinized carefully that 50th time? If we just have to keep him honest because he might be a secret terrorist, it makes no sense to allow him the lesser scrutiny all of those other times.
The TSA ended the random selection of passengers for Pre-Check (a program called Managed Inclusion) some eight months ago.
http://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/TSA-Ends-Free-Passes-to-Airport-Pre-Check-Lines
Why do you insist on absolutes, rather than probabilities? Resources are limited, and it’s not acceptable for the TSA to extend wait times indefinitely. If you gain information on relative risk by pre-screening, surely it makes sense to adjust the probability of more extensive search accordingly. But it’s unwise ever to assure someone that they will never be searched, since background checks are not infallible.
The IRS adopts a similar approach to tax audits. Some are targeted to high-risk individuals, some are completely random.
Interesting, in that my wife and I flew earlier this month and she got the Precheck on her print-at-home boarding pass. I’m starting to think that the TSA isn’t the high-powered, efficient machine that we think it is. :rolleyes:
Do you have a cite that contradicts what I posted, or are you relying on anecdote?
They ended ‘managed inclusion 2’ which was where they pulled passengers out of the regular line, swabbed their hands, and let them go in the precheck line. It’s unclear if they ended the random assignment of pre-check status to pre-printed boarding passes that meet some secret threshold criteria.
I don’t know if you’re being facetious or not. The citation I’m using is my own experience which seems to contradict your assertion that the TSA Precheck was ended 8 months ago. I guess you’d want to call that an anecdote.
The latest article I could find (September 2015) said that Managed Inclusion II has ended, but Managed Inclusion I was still in effect. I was wrong.