Woman Pays for TSA PreCheck. Then Realizes One Small Detail After Being Denied by Airport Security: ‘No Idea That Was a Thing’
You could get randomly selected despite having PreCheck.
The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) PreCheck program is said to offer travelers the benefit of skipping the long wait for security checks through its dedicated lanes across the US. But for one woman, she realized that access to the fast lane is not guaranteed despite paying up to $85 for the five-year benefit.
“Did you guys know that when you have TSA PreCheck, […] you applied for it, you got accepted, you paid for it,” Blake Healey (@blakehealey1) said in a video shared on TikTok. “You can still go to the airport and then get denied and not be guaranteed TSA PreCheck?”
Healey said she found herself in such a predicament when she arrived at the airport for her United Airlines flight, only to be left “shocked” when TSA allegedly told her that her ticket didn’t have PreCheck. “I got to the counter, I had my ticket, it said TSA PreCheck,” Healey said. “And I get up there, and she’s like, ‘Oh, yeah. You don’t have PreCheck.’”
PreCheck travelers can be randomly selected for the TSA regular lane
According to Healey, she tried to explain to the TSA agent that she had PreCheck and that it was written on her ticket. However, Healey said that the agent couldn’t see her ticket status on their system and advised her to return to United Airlines’ counter to raise her concern.
Healey went back to the United Airlines counter and claimed that the employee was able to see her PreCheck status on her booking. She was eventually given a physical boarding ticket and was told to show the agent that instead of her digital pass, as physical tickets usually worked for PreCheck.
When Healey returned to the TSA counter, she said the agent allegedly still couldn’t see the PreCheck status on their end, which left the TikToker seemingly confused about the situation. “That is so strange. Do you know why it’s saying that?” Healey asked the agent, only to be told a small detail that she supposedly didn’t know: Her PreCheck benefit was “not guaranteed” every time she traveled within the US.
“You’re just not guaranteed to have it every time. […] It says that you were randomly selected to go through regular security,” the TSA agent said, according to Healey. “[I had] no idea that was a thing, and I looked it up in Google. And, yeah, you’re not guaranteed to have it every time,” Healey said.
Viewers also shared their own experiences of getting denied access to PreCheck and the confusion that followed. “This happened to me once and I had literally flown the same airline using precheck on the way there. No one could explain this to me tho they all just kept saying idk hahah,” one user said.
Only low-risk travelers get PreCheck access
Some pointed out that the TSA agent’s wording was what resulted in the TikToker’s confusion, saying, “Getting randomly selected to go through the regular security line is not the same as saying ‘you don’t have it’. All that trouble going back to the counter and back in line could’ve been saved if she just said you’re ‘randomly selected as pre-check member…’”
Another user claiming to work for an airline advised travelers to try applying for the US Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Global Entry program, as it supposedly guarantees PreCheck access due to background checks. “If you have Global Entry, you’re guaranteed to get TSA Precheck everything time since you go through a background check with customs and border patrol. If you only have TSA Precheck, you can be randomly selected to go through the regular line,” the viewer said.
According to TSA’s website, PreCheck allows travelers who are seen as low-risk to have access to TSA’s expedited screening, which allegedly takes only 10 minutes or less to pass through. While security normally requires travelers to remove certain items from their person, those with PreCheck are not required to remove their shoes, belts, light jackets, laptops, or liquids for X-ray screening.
It should also be noted that while the PreCheck program is in effect, the TSA “uses unpredictable security measures” to safeguard airports. They state in a disclaimer that all travelers passing through the airports will be screened, and that expedited screening is not guaranteed for all individuals. Aside from issues on your travel profile, there doesn’t seem to be another explanation of how one gets picked to go through regular screening, as it’s all down to the odds.
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