# TSA Pre-Check **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 12, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251 "2015-12-12T16:13:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/1 "2015-12-12T16:13:37Z")
TSA Pre-Check gives you shorter security lines and a little less hassle (don’t have to take your shoes off). If you are ‘Pre-checked’ it’s noted on the boarding pass. I almost missed it. Is this a random thing? I never signed up for it, but got it on the last 4 flights my wife and I took. Perhaps my Wife and I fit into the computer algorithm that says we are not a threat? Maybe just lucky? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/2 "2015-12-12T16:17:44Z")
According to [this](https://www.tsa.gov/tsa-precheck): “TSA Pre✓® is an expedited security screening program connecting travelers departing from the United States with smarter security and a better air travel experience. Passengers considered low-risk who qualify for the program can receive expedited screening either as a member of the program or another specific trusted traveler group.” I am Pre Check because I am enrolled in the NEXUS program. You must have joined a program or become part of a ‘trusted traveler group’ without realizing it. Congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/3 "2015-12-12T17:01:45Z")
You don’t have to be part of a specific “trusted traveler group”. The particulars of what the airline and the TSA know about you and your travels, plus a random factor just have to add up to a certain number of points in there internal algorithm. And without there being any red or even light pink flags attached to what they know about you. The fact you’ve gotten it a few times in a row is no guarantee it’ll continue that way. Unless you do something overt like join Nexus, Global Entry, the actual TSA Trusted traveler program, or a few others. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/4 "2015-12-12T18:23:27Z")
In the Miami airport they have some touch screen during the security line, you press and it tells you if continue the normal process, or go to the TSA-pre check line, where you can keep your shoes and stuff. Doesn’t seem to be anything special, and I’ve gotten it a couple of times. Of course, I also avoid Miami if I can, so I don’t know if things have changed within the last year. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/5 "2015-12-12T19:40:41Z")
TSA PreCheck doesn’t really guarantee you anything. Passengers in this line are occasionally randomly pulled out and searched. Too much metal in your footwear means they come off. Even though I’m in the PreCheck line I always take my steel toed boots off; same with my belt buckle that has too much metal on it. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/6 "2015-12-12T19:51:13Z")
I don’t travel much, but I’ve had the pre-screened status appear on my ticket a few times. The last time I flew, however, I got the pre-screened status on my outbound trip but _also_ got the supposedly random selection for a pat-down. Given the choice I’d rather have taken my shoes off. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/7 "2015-12-12T21:12:00Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > TSA PreCheck doesn’t really guarantee you anything. Passengers in this line are occasionally randomly pulled out and searched. Too much metal in your footwear means they come off. Even though I’m in the PreCheck line I always take my steel toed boots off; same with my belt buckle that has too much metal on it. I agree. On my last flight I was prechecked, and I had dressed so that I had no metal anywhere on my body, and I was pulled out and frisked. I’m not young and I’m not good-looking, so it certainly wasn’t that. The woman in charge was telling everyone their pockets had to be empty - not even paper - so I had nothing in my pockets, either. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/8 "2015-12-12T21:30:01Z")
I hate being That Guy, but I’ve never found it to be a particularly onerous or time-consuming task to take my shoes off. What _is_ annoying is getting stuck in line behind somebody who thinks he qualifies for special treatment and holds up the line while he tries to figure out how to untie his shoes. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/9 "2015-12-12T23:00:21Z")
I fly several times a year, and the last few times I was allowed to keep my shoes on. Did I perhaps get presceened without knowing? Older white guy, if that makes a difference. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/10 "2015-12-12T23:46:43Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I hate being That Guy, but I’ve never found it to be a particularly onerous or time-consuming task to take my shoes off. What _is_ annoying is getting stuck in line behind somebody who thinks he qualifies for special treatment and holds up the line while he tries to figure out how to untie his shoes. Shoes are part of it - but you can also keep your computers in your carry-on bag, and skip the whole-body scan (you just walk through a metal detector). Not only that, but everyone else in your line gets the same treatment, so the line generally moves faster than the “ordinary schmuck” line. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/11 "2015-12-12T23:50:56Z")
> [@seal\_cleaner](#): > > I fly several times a year, and the last few times I was allowed to keep my shoes on. Did I perhaps get presceened without knowing? Older white guy, if that makes a difference. Seventy five years old and older (and 12 yo and under) automatically qualify you for PreCheck. Are you around that old or look like you may be? (Maybe its all those years you spent outside cleaning seals at the beach.) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/12 "2015-12-13T00:18:26Z")
I’ve been awarded the grandiose privilege of pre-check a few times when flying in the last few years, without ever signing up for anything. I think there’s an algorithm based on how annoyed you look when walking into the airport, where they figure that giving you pre-check will make you so grateful that you’ll pay money to (semi) automatically get it in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Ispolkom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47774/32.png) [@Ispolkom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ispolkom)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/13 "2015-12-13T00:46:00Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The fact you’ve gotten it a few times in a row is no guarantee it’ll continue that way. Unless you’re my wife, whose gotten it (literally) 14 straight times in the past 2.5 years. I finally signed up for it just so I didn’t have to watch her waltz through while I was removing my shoes and belt. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/14 "2015-12-13T01:58:53Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > I hate being That Guy, but I’ve never found it to be a particularly onerous or time-consuming task to take my shoes off. What _is_ annoying is getting stuck in line behind somebody who thinks he qualifies for special treatment and holds up the line while he tries to figure out how to untie his shoes. Yeah. Folks who are good at the full-up drill can be processed almost as fast as they can through the simplified pre-check process. But when a pro’s in line behind 10 amateurs, a non-English speaker, 3 elderly, and 4 toddlers, things get \*really \*slow. Hint to all: the week surrounding Thanksgiving, the week surrounding Christmas, the week surrounding New Years, the week surrounding Easter, and any flight to or from Orlando have vastly more amateurs than typical flights. Plan accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/15 "2015-12-13T03:00:13Z")
Random free pre-check is [ending](https://www.tsa.gov/tsa-precheck/apply), folks. You will have to apply for pre-check, go through a reasonable background check, and pay a fee of $85, which covers you for five years. You’ll get a Known Traveler Number (KTN) that you’ll enter whenever you book a flight. We got ours earlier this year. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/16 "2015-12-13T03:04:21Z")
> [@KarlGrenze](#): > > In the Miami airport they have some touch screen during the security line, you press and it tells you if continue the normal process, or go to the TSA-pre check line, where you can keep your shoes and stuff. Doesn’t seem to be anything special, and I’ve gotten it a couple of times. > > Of course, I also avoid Miami if I can, so I don’t know if things have changed within the last year. I just got TSA Pre-Check in Miami making a connection from Panama last month. I’ve gotten it a few times in the past. Once it was critical for making a connection when my flight was delayed. (I never signed up for anything). ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/17 "2015-12-13T03:14:57Z")
Flying international and landing in Denver, I had the anti-precheck. Was searched at every opportunity. The chief TSA lady (in Denver) told me she had to take my passport and show it to her supervisor for clearance. Can they take your passport? I don’t like not having my passport. So, I told her, “Wherever my passport goes, I go.” And followed her. She got it cleared, and I was pre-check after that. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/18 "2015-12-13T03:23:55Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Random free pre-check is [ending](https://www.tsa.gov/tsa-precheck/apply), folks. You will have to apply for pre-check, go through a reasonable background check, and pay a fee of $85, which covers you for five years. You’ll get a Known Traveler Number (KTN) that you’ll enter whenever you book a flight. We got ours earlier this year. And if you read the fine print, you find that even with the KTN you are subject to search at TSA’s discretion. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/19 "2015-12-13T09:04:45Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Random free pre-check is [ending](https://www.tsa.gov/tsa-precheck/apply), folks. You will have to apply for pre-check, go through a reasonable background check, and pay a fee of $85, which covers you for five years. You’ll get a Known Traveler Number (KTN) that you’ll enter whenever you book a flight. We got ours earlier this year. Your link provided useful info about the TSA Precheck program, but I didn’t see anything about the ending of random free Precheck, which was called the Managed Inclusion Program. It ended in September, according to these sites: > **[TSA Ends Precheck Free Rides With Shut Down of Managed Inclusion Program](https://skift.com/2015/09/18/tsa-ends-precheck-free-rides-with-shut-down-of-managed-inclusion-program/)** > > Those enrolled in the TSA's Precheck (or TSA Pre✓®) program are about to encounter a lower volume of traffic in airport security lines. As of this > **[What Is TSA PreCheck, And Is It Worth It?](https://onemileatatime.com/guides/tsa-precheck/)** > > What is TSA PreCheck, how does it work, how do you enroll, how much does it cost, and when is it valid? Here's what you need to know. This is rather annoying, since I was a beneficiary of the MIP (although I didn’t know it was called that until a few minutes ago). For the past few years I regularly (about 90% of the time) got Precheck, without having signed up for it, presumably because I’m a middle-aged white guy who flies 10-15 times a year. My wife (white, but not a guy, doesn’t fly as much as I do, and very young looking for her age, which I would never characterize as middle) usually did not, which was inconvenient when we traveled together. So she signed up and paid the $85. Then, the last two times we’ve flown back east, I didn’t get Precheck. Now I know why. So I’ll sign up for [Global Entry](http://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-entry), which speeds passage through international checkpoints and includes TSA Precheck, and is only $15 more. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251/20 "2015-12-13T13:39:54Z")
For any USA-ian who travels international at all, Global Entry is definitely a much better deal than signing up for Known Traveler. And yes, everybody is still subject to randomly getting the normal check or the expanded check. But the rate at which the computer randomly selects people is pretty darn low. And yes, that selection is random by computer. It snags the young, the old, the crewmembers, etc. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-pre-check/740251.md?page=2)