It’s getting easier to join TSA’s PreCheck program. (Image: TSA)
You still haven’t signed up with the Transportation Security Administration’s PreCheck program because you just haven’t had the time to go through the processing, or because you can’t find a convenient enrollment center? That should no longer be an excuse as new partnerships are creating more places to sign up and longer hours when you can do so.
Enrolling in PreCheck and getting a Known Traveler Number is increasingly important if you want to be chosen for the fast lane at airport security. That’s because the TSA is now limiting the number of travelers it allows through who are not full fledged and vetted members.
Important note: These new signup locations are for PreCheck only– you cannot apply for the more robust Global Entry (which includes PreCheck) at these new locations.
MorphoTrust USA, which provides enrollment services for TSA, is offering Saturday hours at 13 locations around the country, including major airports like San Francisco, Los Angeles (Terminal 1), Dallas/Ft. Worth and others. The San Francisco airport location is also starting expanded weekday hours, along with eight other locations.
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You can search for sign-up centers and their hours here. Once you have located a center you want to use, you can pre-enroll online.
MorphoTrust is also teaming up with H&R Block to make its IdentoGO PreCheck sign-up services available at a greater number of locations around the country. The partnership will add several dozen more enrollment locations to the existing 330.
Persons who join must undergo a personal interview and pay an $85 fee (good for five years); in return, they can use TSA’s expedited PreCheck security screening lanes at airports. (Members of Customs and Border Protection’s trusted traveler programs like Global Entry ($100/5 years) also have access to PreCheck lanes)
TSA said the number of registered members recently passed the 1.5 million mark.
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This is great news. I always travel with TSA Precheck, yet the friends and family I travel with don’t have it. When I suggest signing up, they were never able to get an appointment because they were always booked up for a couple of months! I never understood that, but it’s about time that they actually open it up for more people.
PreCheck in Chicago O’Hare 30 Oct 2015 Terminal 3. At 10:30 am PreCheck was not open because “it was too early.” On the same day about 3am local time PreCheck in Abu Dhabi was a breeze. FYI we have global entry. Outside Canada, the UAE, Bahanas your Global Entry status is worthless. However, the airlines and air ports in India laid down the red carpet Business and First Class in security, customs, and immigration.
I’m leaning towards getting Global Entry. I’ve been on the fence about it for a while as I’m already using CLEAR.
But now with my Intl travels, GE and reciprocations of it being accepted abroad seem to work in my favor. Have upcoming travels to Canada, Mexico and Korea and Germany.
It’s my understanding that one doesn’t need to join those countries respective programs to be in the “fast track lanes” for passport controls.
Note that this applies to TSA PreCheck only. You can’t go to these centers to enroll in GlobalEntry (which many travelers equate with TSA PC).
While it may be easier to join PC, using it, especially full PC, is becoming harder as has been well documented on sites like TSA Status & on Flyertalk. There has clearly been a reduction in the hours that full PC is available, even in major airports. This, I think, clearly correlates back to last winter when TSA kicked the airline elites, who had been enrolled by their respective FF programs, out in the hopes of boosting the paid enrollment numbers. However, I can’t be the only person who now regrets paying the TSA extortion fee for a service I can only rarely use now because the lanes are simply not open.
I just signed up for TSA pre, and it took only five business days to get the trusted passenger number. I was one that was randomly selected for TSA pre before.
I love TSA Pre. Love it, love it, love it. The TSA agents who supervise my entry through security even seem more lovable than the agents in the regular line, but perhaps they are less stressed out because the TSA Pre travelers sail through so easily. On a recent trip my shoes set off the metal detector in the TSA Pre line, and the TSA agent was so friendly and knowledgeable. He told me certain types of shoes had metal bars embedded in the soles, and he offered to watch the screen of the X-ray machine to confirm as I sent my shoes through. I wasn’t allowed back to see the screen for myself, but I could could see it clearly as a reflection in the plate glass behind it. Sure enough, both shoes had metal bars inside. The TSA agent patiently explained the situation with a smile and suggested that I not wear these shoes on future trips. The whole experience was so darn pleasant that I almost tipped him.
Just like regular security lines at Newark Liberty, eh?