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TSA Pre-Check Rules!

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madoka said:
A lot of those agents seem like DMV rejects.

Once I was in a hurry to catch a flight. I had a bunch of books in my carry on. The TSA agent starts going through them rather slowly. When I pointed out that they were just books, she gave me a rude look and started flipping through them page by page!
Click to expand...

Smart move.

😵
 
I fly pretty often... As a matter of fact, I'm 30k feet in the air as I type this. Flew JFK to Syracuse Thursday morning and the security line was pretty bad (about an hour). Coming back, Syracuse was obviously much smaller.... But for 85 bucks I am thinking it's well worth it.
 
On the one hand it's probably worth the $85 to avoid the theater of incompetence that is the TSA. On the other hand, everyone should be pissed off that they've taken incompetence to a level so high they can extort money out of the other passengers who don't want to spend hours in line waiting.

Would you feel just as happy if your DMV did something similar? Hey, we're going to remove the online option, creating huge lines at the DMV, but for just $100 per couple of years you can get a fast pass!".

It's a rip-off.
 
OutHouse said:
had to fly last week for work and probably will a lot more this summer. Last month I went through the process of getting the TSA Pre-Check. So glad i did after watching the 1.5-2 hour security lines at DIA and Ohare last week. So nice not having to take off my shoes, take the laptop out or take off my jacket and. to get through security in about 5 minutes. if you fly a lot, the 85 bucks for 5 years is well worth it.
Click to expand...

If you fly internationally Global Entry is only $100 and comes with TSA Precheck.

But yes PreCheck is awesome except they keep fucking with the program. For a while it was a small number of people. Then it grew but precheck resources didn't so it became sucky. Then they grew the resources. Only to be offset shortly thereafter but the 'random inclusion' program where people would randomly be told to go to the precheck line instead of the regular line. Except they didn't know how to do precheck so they still took everything off\out which made the lines slower than regular lines (because there are usually more regular lines open)

They've stopped that for now so PreCheck is back to being a larger benefit but who knows what the future holds

Double Trouble said:
On the one hand it's probably worth the $85 to avoid the theater of incompetence that is the TSA. On the other hand, everyone should be pissed off that they've taken incompetence to a level so high they can extort money out of the other passengers who don't want to spend hours in line waiting.

Would you feel just as happy if your DMV did something similar? Hey, we're going to remove the online option, creating huge lines at the DMV, but for just $100 per couple of years you can get a fast pass!".

It's a rip-off.
Click to expand...

The reasoning isn't incompetence - its an agreement that in exchange for giving them more detailed information about yourself and having your finger prints run and stored they build a profile of you as a 'Trusted Traveler' and you get a reduced screening procedure. (You're still checked for explosives, guns etc). Its theoretically a win-win-win situation as you can have a line for less likely suspects who also tend to be high frequency airport security users who can be cycled through a line much faster but with fewer TSA employees. This lessens the staffing burden which can allow for more regular lines to be staffed while also reducing the number of people waiting in those lines. Its also theoretically self funding so those who don't use Precheck aren't subsidizing those that do.

TallBill said:
Don't blame the agents doing their job.
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Yep! Well, I mean if you consider a 95% failure rate as doing their job or lying about the need to increase taxes and fees

I mean their failure rate actually rose after spending $540 million to 'fix the issue'

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/01/politics/tsa-failed-undercover-airport-screening-tests/
http://reason.org/news/show/airport-policy-security-news-111#f
 
Griffinhart said:
I just went through the Global Entry process last month. I have been starting to do a bit of international travel and it makes getting through customs a bit quicker (potentially). It also gets me through the TSA checkpoints quicker. I'm hoping it was worth the $100.
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Depends on the length of the lines but when the lines are long its soooo worth it. If you fly semi-reguarly I think you'd be hard pressed to not get a benefit out of it
 
I fly a few times a week now, pre-check is worth it. Who cares about the TSA and the long lines. It's a tool to help you.
I fly through Atlanta all the time. Fuck that line.
 
brianmanahan said:
basically. it's so nice compared to the alternative though, TSA precheck has saved me hours of time on my last couple of flights. i also got global entry which makes it quicker to get back into the US from other countries.

when you get precheck they do a background check and stuff. check work history, residence history, etc. and your stuff still gets sent through a scanner.

you're just allowed to keep jackets and shoes on, and don't have to take laptops out of bags. and the lines are much, much shorter.
Click to expand...

See, if i have a passport, i should get this treatment with out the other bullshit. Not that i fly much, but if it would get me to bypass a bunch of crap, feel good security, i'd take my passport with me for any domestic flights as well. Because what this service tells me is they are doing the same work they are supposed to do with a passport. Or they are doing a shitty job with passports.
 
They got my $85 for pre-check. With my latest project at work I am regularly having to fly between Orange County and Phoenix and the $85 dollars for 5-years is a bargain. Even though my work doesn't pay for it, not having to go through all the hassle of the regular line is worth it. The 1st trip when I got to bypass the hour long line at Sky-harbor was more than worth it.
 
I'm still baffled at why a pre-check would work....
So lets say with a new ISIS recruit with a clean record sign up for a pre-check. Afterward, this person can just skip the recheck routine ??
I mean its good for 5 yrs. What if a person decide later to become a terrorist...
I maybe totally wrong here. Explain to me why the pre-check works.
 
Sonikku said:
Flying sucks ever since 9/11.
Click to expand...

It's true, given the option I'd rather drive across the country than deal with that clusterfuck. If I'm going to be fondled by some guy in a cheap cop outfit it's going to be the breakaway kind, and afterward I'm going to chill the eff out, not make human origami in steerage where everything is designed for manlets. The entire experience sucks these days, from check in to cruise to disembarkation.
 
I've found most of the TSA agents I've talked to to be pretty efficient and friendly.

Its the idiots who came to the airport with no f-ing clue what they're doing which slows the lines down.

I'm glad to see so much hate for the TSA though. It just helps ensure that all you haters won't sign up for pre-check, which keeps my lines nice and short. $100 for global entry and TSA precheck for 5 years? So I can go back to security being like it was before 9/11? No brainer.
 
kaerflog said:
I'm still baffled at why a pre-check would work....
So lets say with a new ISIS recruit with a clean record sign up for a pre-check. Afterward, this person can just skip the recheck routine ??
I mean its good for 5 yrs. What if a person decide later to become a terrorist...
I maybe totally wrong here. Explain to me why the pre-check works.
Click to expand...

Are you saying a US citizen with a clean record becomes a ISIS recruit without raising the suspicion of any intelligence service in the US?
 
kaerflog said:
I'm still baffled at why a pre-check would work....
So lets say with a new ISIS recruit with a clean record sign up for a pre-check. Afterward, this person can just skip the recheck routine ??
I mean its good for 5 yrs. What if a person decide later to become a terrorist...
I maybe totally wrong here. Explain to me why the pre-check works.
Click to expand...

It works as well as everything else Homeland Security does.

I bet those agriculture checkpoints going into California are more effective. And I'm not even joking.
 
Great system. Start a pointless government entity that wastes billions of dollars and, among other things, makes flying miserable.

Pointless entity then comes up with a way to partly lessen the effects of their incompetence by coming up with a system that requires taxpayers to give them money directly.

Yeah…it rules! 😀

-KeithP
 
KB said:
The genius of this plan is that because of special lanes for this, it takes away space from standard passengers, and their lines get longer. The longer their lines the more people sign up for this.
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Not locally at least. They send the Pre check people through standard metal detectors and everyone else has to filter through the super slow privacy invading nudie-scanners. Different lines and equipment.
 
kaerflog said:
I'm still baffled at why a pre-check would work....
So lets say with a new ISIS recruit with a clean record sign up for a pre-check. Afterward, this person can just skip the recheck routine ??
I mean its good for 5 yrs. What if a person decide later to become a terrorist...
I maybe totally wrong here. Explain to me why the pre-check works.
Click to expand...
It works because the normal check is terrible. They are checking fluids that are too small to be a problem, belts that are never a problem, and shoes (which one time was a failed weapon). All the focus on these unimportant issues and then they miss the big issues (real weapons for example that get through all the time).

If you have pre-check, then they stop focusing on the unimportant details and instead scan you head-to-toe and your belongings for weapons. End of story.
 
Ruptga said:
It's true, given the option I'd rather drive across the country than deal with that clusterfuck. If I'm going to be fondled by some guy in a cheap cop outfit it's going to be the breakaway kind, and afterward I'm going to chill the eff out, not make human origami in steerage where everything is designed for manlets. The entire experience sucks these days, from check in to cruise to disembarkation.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I flew to Florida a couple months ago from San Diego. By the time we landed in Orlando and collected our rental car you would have been halfway to Phoenix.
 
It's like this with everything now, money grabs. Remember those toll lanes? Yeah. More are coming, since the government will alway need more of your money.
 
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