Hello out there in the blogosphere, I am Jonella. I
work with Bob at TSA and in particular I work on a lot of the TSA Pre✓™ communications. Since the launch of TSA Pre✓™
last October, more than 750,000 travelers have received expedited screening and
we’ve received lots of positive feedback and a few reoccurring questions or
themes that I want to address and what
better place than here on the TSA Blog!
“Why
is TSA Pre✓™
only open to a small, select group of passengers?”
TSA Pre✓™, as with our other risk-based initiatives, is based on the premise that most passengers do not pose a risk to security. Acting on that premise, we looked for pre-existing traveler databases we could utilize to test our ability to identify low-risk passengers. U.S. airlines and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have populations of travelers who have already provided details about themselves and both were willing to partner with TSA to offer TSA Pre✓™ benefits to their populations as part of our initial test of the expedited screening concept.
We are actively looking for ways to include more
populations in some of the risk-based screening initiatives. For example, we
recently added active duty U.S. service members to the TSA Pre✓™ population. We are starting their eligibility for
those traveling out of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport with plans of expanding this particular initiative to other
airports in the future through our partnership with the Department of Defense.
Frequent flyers contacted by aircraft operators do
not incur a fee to participate in TSA Pre✓™.
Currently, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines are participating in TSA Pre✓™ and operating out of 12 airports and both continue
to offer eligible passengers the opportunity to opt in. US Airways, United
Airlines and Alaska Airlines, which will join TSA Pre✓™ in the coming months, are also contacting eligible
passengers to invite them to opt in. JetBlue is expected to join later this
year. So, if you are a frequent flyer with any one of these airlines, check
your email and be sure to opt in so you can participate.
Another option for passengers is to join one of CBP’s
Trusted Traveler programs. TSA’s partnership with CBP automatically qualifies U.S. citizens who are members of Global Entry, SENTRI, and NEXUS for participation in TSA Pre✓™ - at no additional cost. People who are not
current members of those programs can apply anytime to get the dual benefit of
Global Entry for international travel and TSA Pre✓™
for domestic travel. Global Entry charges $100, and membership is good for five
years. The cost to join NEXUS is about half as much and also applies for five
years.
“I
opted into TSA Pre✓™
but I rarely, if ever, get expedited screening.”
Random and unpredictable security measures are a
part of everything we do. This is to ensure that terrorists and anyone with bad
intentions will have a hard time gaming the system. To that end, no one who
opts in should expect to get expedited screening every time they fly through a
TSA Pre✓™ airport. That said, some
passengers say they have opted in but seldom receive expedited screening and
there could be a few reasons for this.
First, it is important to remember that TSA Pre✓™ is currently only available for U.S. citizens
traveling domestically on a participating airline, out of a participating
airport. Click here
for the most updated list.
Secondly, if you are a member of a CBP Trusted
Traveler program, be sure you’re including your PASS ID – found in the top-left
corner on the back of your membership card – in the ‘Known Traveler’ field every
time you book a flight. If you’re not sure it’s in there, especially if you’re not
booking it yourself, you can always call your airline to confirm that your
number is on the reservation before you fly.
“I
can’t remember if I opted in with my airline. How can I find out?”
The airlines capture your TSA Pre✓™ opt-in status and transmit that information to TSA
along with your TSA Secure Flight passenger data. If you’re unsure whether you have already opted in,
I would encourage you to check your airline member profile. Some airlines have
the ability to add your TSA Pre✓™
opt-in status to your frequent flyer account information online. And remember,
if you’re already a member of one of the CBP Trusted Traveler programs you can
enter your PASS ID when booking your own travel or saving it in your frequent
flyer profile – that signals your opt-in status and that info will be transmitted
to TSA when the airline sends your other data.
We are excited about the initiative’s success and
look forward to its continued expansion. Stay tuned on the blog and TSA.gov for future announcements for
TSA Pre✓™.
I'll be blogging more in the future. See you next time!
If you’d like to comment on an unrelated topic you can do so in our Off Topic Comments post. You can also view our blog post archives or search our blog to find a related topic to comment in. If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact a Customer Support Manager at the airport you traveled, or will be traveling through by using Talk to TSA.
23 comments:
TSA Pre✓™, as with our other risk-based initiatives, is based on the premise that most passengers do not pose a risk to security.
.........................
If the above TSA statement was in the least bit true then TSA Pre✓™ would not be aimed at a relatively small number of travelers that TSA is targeting.
A real Risk Based program would isolate the small minority of travelers that might pose a problem.
TSA Pre✓™ is just another TSA boondoggle that misses its target.
Try again!
This is idiotic. You've created this nightmarish pile of stupidity layered on top of panic with a side order of bedwetting and now you're allowing an elite group of passengers the opportunity to sometimes go through what should be the standard screening protocol for everyone because you can't admit that all of your nonsense does nothing to make anyone safer. You people would be a joke if you weren't so dangerous and pathetic. Shame on you.
TSA,I WAS ABLE TO USE THIS TSA PRE PROGRAM, SINCE I HAVE A GLOBAL PASS ID AT ATLANTA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT RECENTLY. THE TSA FEDERAL AGENTS WERE SUPERIOR IN ALL ABILITIES AND THIS EXPERIENCE WAS ABOVE MY EXPECTATIONS AS AN EXPERIENCED TRAVELER. I WAS BETTER ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH MY MISSION WITH TEAM TSA ON MY WINNING TEAM. I AM A FORMER ARMY OFFICER AND THEREFORE APPRECIATED THE ARMY LIKE DRILL TEAM PRECISION OF THE ATLANTA TSA AGENTS IN MATTERS TSA PRE. GRATEFUL, CAPTAIN KAMANSKY
Why are you focusing on those that are low risk? Would not your resources(unlimited as they are) be better focused on the high risk people?
If you have a government security clearance, why can't that be used as a qualification for TSA Pre?
Jonella said:
"TSA Pre✓™, as with our other risk-based initiatives, is based on the premise that most passengers do not pose a risk to security. Acting on that premise, we looked for pre-existing traveler databases we could utilize to test our ability to identify low-risk passengers."
What do you mean by "test your ability"? How can you possibly test that?
Testing your ability to identify low-risk people would require knowing who is low risk and who isn't. The only possible test is to wait a few years and see if a few terrorists get through your screening.
Maybe you should try this test out on your employees first, since you seem to have issues with identifying low risk people there.
How much is PreCheck costing us in administrative and back-end programming? I have a better idea: let all travelers leave their shoes on and skip AIT for primary screening. You yourself admit that the number of terrorists in the world is minuscule. What's your metric for determining the success of PreCheck?
...the premise that most passengers do not pose a risk to security.
.... test our ability to identify low-risk passengers.
If most passengers do not pose a threat, it is very easy to identify low-risk passengers.
Shoes, belts, jackets, liquid baggies and laptops should not be removed for anyone.
The scoop on Pre is that the TSA can´t admit that taking off shoes does nothing for security, so they stop doing it to the groups that compain most, or get most press (frequent fliers, military and now also grannies, who are exempt from shoe removal even if they don´t qualify for full Precheck).
For ten years, you people have taken away our Constitution throughout every aspect of the transportation sector and you are selling it back to us, one privileged class at a time.
Jonella,
Blogger Bog hasn't answered a question I had, which is, "What's the difference in the background checks done by TSA for its PreCheck, and the background checks done by the U.S. State Department for passports?"
Passports are not cheap. Why should travelers have to pay for an additional background check, and pay yet another fee?
If i'm eligible through having a Nexus Pass, do i need to be flying one of the participating airlines in order to use the program? For example, it appears that Alaska Airlines is the only airline mentioned for Seattle. If i'm flying out of Seattle on United, can i provide my Nexus pass # to United and use Precheck?
The TSA could readily capitalize on Gov't-conducted background checks - currently on file -- that are already bought, paid for, and up-dated every 5 years: Classified Security Clearances. One should easily and quickly qualify for trusted traveler status by holding an active classified security clearance, say Top Secret and TS/SCI, which have a background investigation going back 10 years and re-investigated every 5 years. Similarly, and as valid, are Secret security clearances that go back 7 years w/ the background investigation. ALL also include fingerprints checks w/ FBI and name checks thru all the indices held by FBI (wants, warrants, criminal history). These background checks greatly exceed any $100 check by TSA, and all know the "trusted traveler" interview by the Gov't is simply a means to gather info for that more limited check.
So, for Gov't, military, and contractor staff the already on file, paid for, and in greater depth security clearance backgournd investigations should be used and honored to designate trusted travelers.
What's the pupose of this Blog if noone from TSA HQ is going to answer the actual questions posted here? The website for Pre Check has limited information.
If I Opt'd in through Delta & AA and have been screened as Pre Check passenger in the past, does that automatically Opt me in with one of the new carriers coming online like Alaska at SEA?
Hi,
I'm wondering TSA Pre-Check programs would expanded to Canadian citzens? Many thousands of Canadian's have NEXUS likes myself; we work/live in the US on a work or study visa status (such as TN, F-1, H-1) and because of the extensice travel on behalf of our work we also hold an elite status with our respective airlines (american and delta). Hence is it possible for us to opt into TSA Pre-Check or is it only for US Citizens?
Welcome to the era of two-classes of citizenship.
After erecting a nightmarish cattle chute which already requires the forfeiture of personal dignity, the TSA now offers accelerated processing if one forgoes yet further rights.
See Something, Report Something has a new twist. A new mobile app to report unfair TSA screeners:
http://tinyurl.com/83m27l7
Two Thumbs Up!
See Something, Report Something has a new twist. A new mobile app to report unfair TSA screeners.
Two Thumbs Up!
Background Checks are pretty scary when your waiting for results. Especially when it can cost you a potential job offer.
Trying to understand how a TS clearance with a badge that gets me on military bases and into the Pentagon is not enough to join this program. I am not considered a risk to the nation's secrets, but I am to an airplane...?
The logic behind this program is flawed...
What about passengers such as myself who are ZERO risk?
Believe it or not, MOST people (99.99%) of all travelers who are US citizens are ZERO risk, not "low" risk...
Anyway, I will never fly again as long as the TSA touches people.
I wonder how many people simply avoid flying? How much has this lost revenue hurt the airline industries?
As someone who flies 100k miles a year and as a result, spends a ton of time at airports, TSA Pre is a fantastic innovation. Checking someone like myself twice a week is an utter waste of time and resources that can be better spent on higher risk travelers. I hope the program succeeds and expands. It is easier to complain than solve real problems for travelers. Thank you TSA for putting travelers first this time.
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