Thanks to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) program PreCheck, travelers who qualify are no longer subjected to many of the time consuming restraints that are commonly encountered by those in the general security lanes. The cost of a 5 year membership is $85, and enables passengers to expedite their time spent with security via a dedicated lane where they don’t have to remove shoes, laptops, liquids, belts and light jackets.
But, some members of the program have encountered issues accessing these PreCheck benefits. “I can tell you from personal experience, for 99.9 percent of the people who aren’t getting PreCheck, it is user error,’’ said TSA spokeswoman Lorie Dankers. One common reason attributed to the issues includes passengers either forgetting to enter their Known Traveler Number, or entering information such as their birth date, gender and name that doesn’t matchup with what appears on their TSA PreCheck applications.
Initiating a membership consists of submitting an application, visiting an enrollment center and passing a background check. The PreCheck program is continuing to expand with over 4 million members. According to the TSA, “in May 2017, 97% of TSA Pre✓®passengers waited less than 5 min.” https://www.tsa.gov/precheck. After registering on-line you can select Oschmann Employee Screening Services’ office in Tucson, AZ as your enrollment center to complete your fingerprinting
Here are some tips to keep in mind if you are planning to use PreCheck:
Known Traveler Number – Also called a Trusted Traveler Number, ensure that you enter this nine-character code in a box on the reservations page of the airline or travel website.
Enter your Known Traveler Number on your profile in your airline frequent-flier accounts.
Check in online for your flight 24 hours in advance.
To fix the problem at the airport, arrive at the airline ticket counter at least two hours before your flight.
To learn more about TSA PreCheck and to apply online visit https://www.tsa.gov/precheck.
