I bet the handcuffed guy’s wife is rolling her eyes! I got Pre-check a couple of months ago. There was no wait (the plave was literally empty when I showed up for my Saturdsy appointment – just me & the employees). The whole thing took maybe 10 minutes. They said it might take as long as 3 weeks to hear back. But I got an email from them one day later (Sunday) with my approval.
It isn’t that there is no line at all for Pre-check (sometimes there is), but it goes a lot faster. No shoes, coats, laptops, or liquid juggling.
I was in a european airport’s version of TSA for non EU passports and it had ridiculously long lines. However, they have added a simple feature which I think is genius. There is a gigantic digital clock and a sign that reads. “If your flight departs within x minutes of this time (I think it said 30) then come to the front of the line. If however, it does not…you will be sent to the very end of the line.”
This is just crazy. The airlines know how many are traveling each day and TSA could easily schedule accordingly.
I have a DFW to JFK with connection to Canada coming up in August. Our first leg we are flying First Class. Do you think 2 hours in advance is plenty for a 7am flight? We have not had any problems at DFW, even when the lines were making front page news in other areas.
Yes, at the place I went to (not the airport), there were walk-ins (who had already applied online and had appointments in the future), but I don’t know how long they were going to have to wait. As it was, my appointment was at 9:45AM (I got there by 9:40), and I wasn’t called back until 10:10AM; but then it took less than ten minutes.
The unfortunate part of sitting there was watching people coming in for appointments for getting finger-printed for conceal-carry licenses (and other licenses). I just did not need to know how many people are doing that every morning in Chicago, in just one location! If I’d been at the airport, I wouldn’t have had to watch that.
When I happened to be in the airport where my Global Entry interview was scheduled for a month later, I stopped by the Global Entry office to ask them about coming in on an earlier day. They said no problem. They could take me on a different day than the interview date, on a space-available basis. But I had to bring a copy of the info in the confirmation email.
I think it’s helpful to know which airports at which times are a problem. Phoenix is rough. Phoenix on a Saturday is horrendous. New Orleans terminal B isn’t bad (southwest), terminals C and D will have you waiting (everyone else).
I have TSA precheck and it helps. Sometimes it’s a slower line but only when the lines are pretty short anyway. As more people get it it will be less of an advantage and I wonder what the next solution might be. Having adequate airport employees for check in, bag drop, and security seems like a no brainer. I’ve waited longer in the the Jet Blue bag drop line at JFK than the security line before I was precheck.
I applied for TSA Pre-check right at the Denver International Airport. It has a dedicated TSA Pre-check office right in the airport, before going through security. I just walked in, had a to fill out an application in the waiting room. I had to wait my turn but it was less than 20 minutes. You have to have the necessary ID material to apply.
Walking in may have worked for you @GMTplus7 , because they weren’t as backed up. It sure sounds like it’s not a promising option today at most places.
We were extremely disappointed when we flew out of SFO with TSA Precheck and, on a Sunday night, they didn’t hae enough staff to have a separate Precheck line. We had to wait on the regular line, but we were given a laminated sheet that said we had Precheck. What that meant is that we didn’t have to take off our shoes, but we still had to separate out our 3-1-1 bags (which we had packed in our carry-ons since we didn’t think we’d have to take them out) and take out laptops.
I was surprised that a major airport would do that.
I have been at a major airport with no separate Precheck line too. I also think it may have been later in the day or night, but I do not recall clearly the time or exact place. It may have been terminal A at Newark, but I am not certain. Terminal C had a separate line on my last trip, and it was fine/fast.
Additionally, my last trip I flew on saturday, which seemed far less crowded than other days in recent memory.
@saffysmum It took 19 days to get our “pending review” reviewed for Global Entry.
Our appointments are at LAX on July 29 (not the earliest we could get, but a date that works for everyone in our group). We may follow the suggestion from @GMTplus7 and show up significantly earlier than the 8:30pm appointment. (LAX is about a 2 hour drive for us, plus or minus traffic.)
After the Global Entry interview, are you approved and in the system, or do you have to wait some amount of time for a card to arrive?
DH travels a lot domestically and internationally and loves having Global Entry and TSA Pre-check. The rest of us fly less and usually out of our small airport with short security lines, and so never bothered. But, we have an international vacation scheduled for August.
H, S and I have Global Entry and have been bugging D to get it as well. She’s been dragging her feet, tho she flies several times/year. We will get her to do it this winter, if not sooner.