TSA Pre✓™ Thoughts

I have been wanting to write this blog for a few months.    This is not my normal type of blog, but I need to write about something that has been bothering me with TSA Pre✓™.

Last September, I applied for and was accepted into the Global Entry program. (Best $100 I have spent for my travel) It will expedite my entry into the US from a foreign country.   In order to qualify for this I had to fill out an application, get fingerprinted and answer questions from a Border Patrol Officer at the airport.  With acceptance into the Global Entry program, you also receive TSA Pre✓™

In early 2013, the TSA piloted the Pre Check program where certain passengers (they started with top-level frequent flyers) were interviewed and accepted into the program .  This is a program where you don’t need to remove shoes, coats or take items out of your bags.   These are people who have been designated as low risk flyers.  I love the program and have been really happy with it since September.

Now here is the reason for the blog.  I have at least three friends who have been put in the TSA Pre✓™ line and don’t have Pre-Check status.  They write on Facebook how excited they are to have gone through this line.  Maybe this is the TSA ways of selling more TSA Pre✓™.   Actually, as I write this I remember it happened to me, prior to getting pre-check at the airport in Austin, TX. That day, everyone was put through the TSA Pre✓™ line.  Every time I have flown this year, I have seen passengers being put in the line without Pre-Check status.  The passengers are confused and wondering why they are put through the expedited line.  In both Denver and Ft. Lauderdale, I asked the TSA officer why this was happening and they said it was because the airport was busy.  In Ft. Lauderdale approximately 30 passengers from the “regular” line were placed in front of me.  They were all so confused as to why they didn’t have to take off their shoes or stuff out of their bag.

I thought we had these rules and regulations in place for a reason- to make flying safer.  Does allowing passengers without TSA Pre✓™ to go through these lines achieve this?  Thank you for listening and if you have any answers to this, please comment below.