I often get TSA precheck randomly. Never when I really NEED it, so I’m getting Global Entry. I gifted it to my daughter and her boyfriend for her graduation present as they’ll live in Florida and travel to Mexico and Caribbean more often now. She texted me from the airport line yesterday and said “I can’t WAIT to get precheck!” I really don’t know why we didn’t get it a few years ago because she flies all the time and MCO is the worst TSA lines in the world. Hot, crowded, people with everything they own trying to bring it as carry on.
I’m not looking forward to our next trip. We’re heading to Australia with 16YO and 20YO daughters. 20YO has a hidden disability and takes about a dozen different meds. Her doctor advised us to travel with 2 sets of enough meds for the entire trip - one in her carryon, one in mine - just in case. She is usually not in charge of her own meds, and couldn’t answer if they ask her what each is for. I can just see some TSA agent thinking she’s being flip with them (which also isn’t beyond her) if she tells them to ask her mother. 16YO gets anxious in airports (through TSA and waiting for flight, she’s fine on the plane itself), and anything with her sister is likely to make things worse, so I’m not looking forward to that part of the trip.
I was in the TSA precheck line a short time ago. BTW every thing went great both ways but I flew out of small regional airports both ways.
The girl in front of me had global entry but not TSA precheck. The TSA agent said that precheck was not guaranteed for global entry but was usually granted as the person had been screened. I was surprised but the girl had to go through regular security. The TSA agent said that precheck was usually granted as a courtesy to global entry.
Here’s an article where the same thing happened to the writer. https://www.cntraveler.com/story/global-entry-vs-tsa-precheck-all-the-differences-explained
I’m super confused, according to the article the TSA agent was wrong but that you shouldn’t argue with them. My boarding pass had the precheck symbol on it, I suspect the person in front of me had global entry which should include precheck but the agent was confused? No idea, but luckily the lines were short for both.
I know that the time that I flew before this I had entered my precheck number but it didn’t make it to my reservation. I had precheck on the way there but not on the way home. I know I added it to my reservation, it wasn’t that bad. I was flying with my H and he doesn’t have precheck
@CTScoutmom , TSA won’t care about your daughter’s meds. It’s Customs (both in Australia and in the USA) that might question her, but as long as you have her prescriptions and not just loose pills in unlabeled bottles, she should be just fine.
Thumper, though the SS is one of the govt ids we get, I’ve never seen it critical to flying. Your passport is enough, some circumstances may allow the DL. But ensure your ticket matches.
Lol, whenever I can, I fly as early in the day as possible. Shorter lines. Of course, not possible with Euro flights overnight.
Global entry is supposed to be pre-check +, so I think that TSA agent was wrong. But I agree that you shouldn’t argue with them.
I’ve learned to always check and make sure the TSA pre-check symbol is on my boarding pass. I haven’t had any issues with AA, but SWA in particular had issues with sometimes missing it especially if the reservation was made through a travel agent. I’ve made several calls to SWA while standing just outside security to get them to add my KTN to my reservation, then thanks to the miracle of smartphones I can just bring up an updated boarding pass to get through security.
Agreed that everything I’ve read on Global entry (including on the TSA website) says it’s a superset of pre-check. I was actually thinking of getting Global entry instead of pre-check when my pre-check expires next year. Now you guys have me rethinking it if the pre-check portion isn’t foolproof since I do a lot of domestic travel.
TSA precheck isn’t fail proof either. The last time I had it, I was going through security at 4 am. Oops, no pre check lines open, but we all thought we were in the pre check line and when we got through to the conveyor belts, suddenly we had to take off our shoes and belts and it caused a big bottleneck. Plus there were people who had received ‘special’ colored cards and they were pre check, so were sent over to our line. Big mess.
I’m getting Global Entry and it says that it includes Pre check but you have to enter the number and get it on the boarding pass, that you can’t just show your card except for international. My niece has either Clear or Nexus through her employee ID (she works at a refinery that is also a Port of Entry) and she doesn’t have any trouble getting Pre Check to work.
I thought this OpEd was timely, given this thread.
After pointlessly groping countless Americans, the TSA is keeping a secret watchlist of those who fight back
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-bovard-tsa-watchlist-20180528-story.html
@deb922 , while the girl had Global Entry she also has to update any frequent flyer programs with her KTN. Presenting the global entry card domestically doesn’t give TSA Pre-Check. Privileges though it’s an extension from Global Entry. Boarding pass must display TSA Pre-Check