Today, it was announced that 5 new airlines have joined the TSA PreCheck program – Air Serbia, Condor Airlines, Porter Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and the United Kingdom and Scandinavian units of Thomas Cook Airlines.
TSA Is Adding More Airlines to PreCheck But Not Fixing a Real Issue
Link: TSA PreCheck Participating Airlines
This brings to grand total of airlines in the TSA PreCheck program to 52 domestic and international airlines. This is great for those travelers that crave the expedited screening process at airports and it allows for more time to be saved rather than standing in long security lines at the airports.
Read More: PreCheck Would Have Worked – Except for the TSA
At least that is what TSA has been trying to sell with the Precheck program for years and what they are trying to push with these additional airlines that join the program.
The Problem With Some Of These Airlines in the PreCheck Program
The problem is that some of these international airlines depart from terminals in US international airports that have, wait for it, no TSA Precheck facilities! That’s right, your nice expedited TSA PRE mark on your boarding pass will really translate to pretty much no advantage at many international terminals.
Over the last few months, I have flow on Turkish, Emirates, and Lufthansa from international terminals in the US and had my trusted traveler number entered and so received my TSA PRE marking on the boarding pass. T
he problem is when I get to the security entrance point, I am informed that they do not have a PRE line at this terminal and they just give my a bright card that I get to hand to the agent at the detectors and then I don’t have to go through the regular screening machine but I go through the metal detector.
Give Us Real PreCheck Lines Or Don’t Approve Airlines In Those Terminals
Can I be honest? I don’t care about the metal detector! I want to be able to leave my electronics in my bag, leave my belt and shoes on, and have a somewhat quicker process at security than everyone else that has not paid for the TSA Precheck program (which I don’t pay for anyway as I have it through my Global Entry and I don’t pay for that because I get it through my credit card).
TSA needs to start putting Precheck facilities in these terminals or just stop adding airlines for which having Precheck doesn’t matter.
Have you experienced this problem of no TSA Precheck lines with airlines on their list? Which airports and airlines?
Featured image By Arina P Habich, Courtesy of Shutterstock
There’s an entire thread on Flyertalk devoted to tracking airports w/no or limited (aka ‘PC lite’) pre-check available. This is a well known issue & incredibly frustrating for those who have paid for it-apparently TSA thinks those dollars were a charitable contribution instead of payment for a service they can’t or won’t provide. Since the airports on the list run the gamut from small (TOL) to large hubs (PHX), it would seem to be an issue rooted within the facility itself; my guess is that the FSD in the facility doesn’t believe in it & therefore does as little as possible to support it. It’s even more frustrating when you consider an airport like PHX has a PC enrollment center in it & signs all around the airport urging travelers to go sign up for it.
PreCheck Lite is fine if PC is not available. I have a checkpoint-friendly laptop backpack, so I’m usually though very quickly.
I’ve never gotten much benefit from precheck, maybe a little quicker sometimes, but sometimes the lines are even longer for precheck than for the regular ones. I’ve also had TSA insist that I take off shoes and belt in the precheck line (!). Global Entry, on the other hand, is a real timesaver.
My airport has pre-check for all the airlines you mention so I am perfectly happy. Turkish, Emirates, LH, SAS and Porter. And I have never had to wait more than 5-8 minutes in line.
In the one other airport I use with pre-check lite when I get the red card I get to keep my shoes on and not take my laptop out. I hope many more airlines get on-board.
Great! Glad you have the access to it. Hopefully, JFK Terminal 1 and IAH will roll it out also.
Totally agree. What I don’t get is why would it matter what line it is if I’m TSA pre as they use the same type equipment. We should be allowed to leave all the stuff in the bag anyway. Sure the line is longer but it is the same process basically. Also I really dislike airports where they push non tsa pre passengers into the dedicated tsa pre lines. I don’t mind the extra people but they dont know how tsa pre works so they slow the process down for everyone else. United at MCI is one of the worst lines I go through as they only open the tsa pre line as peak times but you don’t know until you get there is you will have to remove everything or not. Now including tablets laptops liquids snack foods etc.
MIA I’m looking at you.
I always tell people that arriving at the Miami airport is almost like being in the United States.
Foreign airlines ticket agents need to be educated on the known traveler number/PreCheck. Recently flew on Turkish SFO-IST and when doing online checkin, did not get the PreCheck logo …after making multiple calls to the Turkish Call Center.
The sfo ticket counter rep laughed and said the call center doesn’t know what to do wit the # so 99% of time it ends up in the ticket comments field! He was happy to add it and a new tsa PreCheck logo printed on my boarding pass