I just watched a belligerent passenger who tried to cut a horrendously long TSA security screening line get led away in handcuffs. The line must be an hour long, and Mr. Entitled sauntered up and argued his flight was departing in 20 min. The guard told him to get in line like everyone else, and the dude had a meltdown.
Now that I’m sitting at my departure gate, It’s quite a spectator sport watching passengers run down the terminal. Pretty impressive how fast they can run with baggage.
Saw an ordinary Joe get put in a police car in cuffs a few weeks ago as I was picking up DW from a trip. I wondered what happened buy your scenario is likely a possibility.
the TSA is security theater. That said… between some of the folks who work for the TSA and some of the self important travelers it is very unpleasant to travel.
When I was at O’Hare back in mid-May, the lines were horrendous for people not holding TSA pre-check or having perks with an airline loyalty program - 2-3 hours and hundreds of people missing flights and sleeping on cots overnight. TSA pre-check for me got me through security in less than ten minutes at both O’Hare and Philadelphia. This last weekend pre-check got me through lines in less than five minutes at O’Hare and LaGuardia (O’Hare regular lines were MUCH shorter last weekend; I’m guessing no more than 20-30 minutes).
I was able to get TSA pre-check for five years very easily and quickly (and $85). I went online on a Tuesday night and was able to get an appointment for an ‘interview’ for Thursday morning down in the city (the wait for an appointment if you wanted to go to O’Hare was a month), and by Friday afternoon I had my confirmation, so three days. However, when I decided to get Global Entry, the first available appointment at O’Hare was almost a month out, so he’s going in a week and a half; we’ll see if he gets Global Entry clearance as fast as I got TSA pre-check clearance.
This all being said, I have learned (through others) that if you’re flying in/out of smaller airports, they may not all have TSA pre-check lines, so it may do you no good in some places. We are flying in/out of Sacramento this weekend, so we’ll see as we exit the airport on Saturday if they have it so we can plan accordingly on our departure.
It costs $100 for 5 years, and you have to go in person for an interview. It think it is so worth it! I’ve traveled several times this summer already and have not had any problems getting through security quickly because of TSA Pre!
Supposedly it’s better now…BUT at the start of April, my husband and I would definitely have missed out flight if the nice Southwest ticket agent hadn’t escorted us to the priority check in line. Even with that,mew got to thr gate with barely five minutes before boarding.
Oh…and did I mention, we were at the airport at 4:45 a.m for a 6:15 flight departure?
Flying from Atlanta to dc we got through with tsa pre check in about 45 minutes and the regular line looked hours long. Flying early seems to be the key to avoiding lines. If I actually believed tsa prevented attacks I’d be more willing to accept the wait.
I have Global Entry. It comes w TSA Pre privileges.
Last week when I arrived in the US on an int’l flight, the immigration lines were staggering-- even for US citizens. I walked past the horde, scanned my fingerprints at a kiosk, and was done. Then I got to use the TSA Pre lane for security. I breezed through the gauntlet so quickly that I managed to get on an earlier flight.
In May, when I heard these horror stories I got online on a Sunday morning and made 4 appointments (one for each in our family) for Thursday afternoon to get approved for TSA precheck. We had our approvals within a few days. I heard a news story recently that appointments are now weeks out. (I imagine it varies, however, depending on where you go).
Glad we got it early! I haven’t traveled as yet, but the rest of my family has and it’s saved them time. (Though I don’t think they’ve seen quite the long lines as described here)
**You do not have to go on your scheduled appointment date. **You can go earlier and just wait in line, but you absolutely MUST have an appointment in the system, because you need to have the info that is in the appt date confirmation email.
I did it this way. I made an appt that was weeks out, then I went in the next day and took care of it. The privileges get activated immediately at the appointment.
ORD traveler here. I fly international more frequently than domestic. Global entry so I get the TSA pre-check, International terminal 5 has no pre-check lines as all those airlines are foreign owned. Cathay Pacific is warning US travelers to give the full 3 hours for clearing security. I fly them every 2 or 3 months. My May trip was the first trip that came with warning. The line for check-in (required, no way to print boarding pass at home or kiosk for Cathay) was at least 80 people long, three and a half hours before the flight. Everyone took the warning seriously! In prior months, I have arrived 3 hours before that flight and am the only one trying to approach the counter for boarding pass.
Domestic flight several months ago, arrived before 7 AM; it was on a Monday. Pre-check line took 20 - 25 minutes even though it moved steadily. Leaving in a couple days domestic - that pre-check better show up on the boarding pass! If not, I will give this over three hours.