screening Archives - TravelSkills

Prepare for more security scrutiny at overseas airports

October 25, 2017

U.S.-bound travelers from international airports like Munich are facing new security hassles. (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Remember back in June how the U.S. Department of Homeland Security abandoned its plan to ban laptops from aircraft cabins and instead agreed to settle for more thorough passenger screening? DHS gave foreign governments and airlines 120 days to implement stricter procedures, and that time is now up (thankfully after the peak summer season is over).

So starting this week, travelers bound for the U.S. from foreign countries can expect to see ramped-up security checks at the airport – changes that could mean longer lines, delayed departures and the need to get to the airport earlier than before.

Based on various reports that checked with a number of airlines, it looks like the tougher methods will generally involve personal interviews at check-in or filling out a new form prior to boarding.

Cathay Pacific travelers to the U.S. can no longer check in luggage downtown when taking the train to airport (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reports that Cathay Pacific will no longer allow U.S.-bound passengers to check in their luggage at downtown locations in Hong Kong and Kowloon; instead, they must do so at the airport. And it said that all airlines with flights from Hong Kong to the U.S. are telling passengers to get to the airport three hours before their scheduled departure to go through new security measures. The newspaper also said Singapore Airlines is warning travelers to expect a new security interview and possible inspection of their electronic devices.

In addition to Cathay Pacific, the Associated Press reports that Lufthansa, Air France, Emirates and Egypt Air all said they will implement security interviews of passengers on flights to the U.S., or require them to fill out new forms before departure. Emirates said that even transit and connecting passengers passing through Dubai’s airport would face new screening interviews at their boarding gates. And Egyptair told AP that passengers will also face more thorough searches of themselves and their carry-ons during security screening.

Every day, the tougher rules will affect about 325,000 travelers coming to the U.S. on 2,000 flights from 105 countries, according to Reuters . It quoted Alexandre de Juniac, head of the International Air Transport Association, as saying that the U.S. decision to impose “unilateral measures…without any prior consultation” was something IATA found to be “very concerning and disturbing.”

New TSA screening rules have also started in U.S. airports. (Chris McGinnis)

In the U.S., meanwhile, TSA in recent weeks has expanded to many more airports the new carry-on bag screening procedures that it announced a while back. “The new procedures require travelers to place all electronics larger than a cell phone in bins for X-ray screening when going through the security checkpoint,” TSA said. “The electronics should be placed in a bin with nothing on top or below, similar to how laptops have been screened for several years.” Thankfully the rules don’t apply to those passengers in PreCheck lines…yet.

In an unrelated development, TSA this week added five more airlines as participants in its PreCheck program, allowing passengers on those carriers to use the expedited PreCheck screening lanes. They include Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, All Nippon Airways, Finnair, and Contour Aviation, a Tennessee-based charter company. Here’s an updated list of all participating carriers.

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Airport news: United lounges, LaGuardia, Boston, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, DFW

October 21, 2017

United is testing food upgrades at its lounges, like a lobster roll at Boston. (Image: United)

In airport news, United is testing enhanced food service at four of its airport lounges; Delta, American and JetBlue are moving operations at New York LaGuardia; shared-use lounges expand at Boston Logan and move at Pittsburgh; Cleveland makes bag checking easier; and automated TSA lanes come to Dallas/Ft. Worth.

Forbes reports that United Airlines has started market-testing a big upgrade to the food service at a handful of its United Club airport lounges. The testing is going on in United Clubs at Boston, Orlando, Las Vegas and Houston Bush Intercontinental, Forbes said. Besides introducing regional favorites like New England lobster rolls and Boston cream pies at Logan, the airline is adding new hot breakfast items, soups, salads and a “Mediterranean board,” the article reported.

LaGuardia’s Marine Air Terminal is a short ride from the Central Terminal. (Image: LaGuardia Airport)

With all that construction going on during the massive rehabilitation of New York LaGuardia’s passenger terminals, Delta, American and JetBlue are shifting their operations there. Delta said that as of December 9, it is taking its Delta Shuttle flights to Chicago and Washington out of the Marine Air Terminal and moving them to Terminal C, where its LGA-Boston shuttles already operate. American said that by December 9, it will consolidate its LGA operations in Terminal B (the Central Terminal). “Since December 2013, (American’s) flights have been split between Terminals B and C. This consolidated operation means all customers will check in at Terminal B and American will operate flights from each of the terminal’s four concourses,” a spokesman said.

JetBlue, meanwhile, has decided to pull up stakes and move from the Central Terminal to the airport’s historic Marine Air Terminal. The art deco terminal opened in 1940, and during its history it has served as a seaplane terminal, a base for Northeast Corridor shuttle flights, and a facility for private jets. JetBlue has several flights a day between LGA and Boston, as well as non-stop service from LGA to Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, Fla. The airline said it should be in place at the new facility before the holidays in December, occupying four gates there. Most of JetBlue’s New York flights are at JFK Airport.

Airport Lounge Development, which operates lounges open to any passenger on a fee basis, has some news at Boston Logan and at Pittsburgh. The company said its Boston Club in Terminal E has just finished an extensive expansion, and now occupies more than 3,500 square feet with seating for 82. It also added new restrooms and shower facilities, new furniture and an enhanced food menu. (Besides The Club in Terminal E, the company also operates The Lounge in Boston’s Terminal C.) At Pittsburgh, meanwhile, The Club has shifted from a temporary location on Concourse C to a permanent one, also on Concourse C just off the Center Core. The temporary site started accepting guests in June. Day passes at both clubs cost $40.

Airport Lounge Development now has 17 locations open to all on a day pass basis. (Image: Airport Lounge Development)

The struggle may soon end for many passengers at Cleveland Hopkins, who have been required to lug their checked luggage after check-in to a separate TSA bag screening drop-off location. The airport this week started live testing of a new in-line baggage screening system on the south end of the ticketing lobby that will eliminate that step for passengers of United, JetBlue, Southwest and Air Canada. Previously, only United had an in-line baggage system at CLE. “If all system testing is successfully completed by mid-November, the free-standing bag security screening machines on the south end of the ticketing level will be removed by the busy Thanksgiving holiday weekend,” the airport said.

The latest major airport to get some of those new automated TSA screening lanes is Dallas/Ft. Worth, which has added four of them at checkpoints in Terminals A and D (checkpoints A21 and D22). Up to five travelers at a time can load their belongings into bins; items needing extra screening are shunted off to a separate conveyor belt so they won’t slow things down, and empty bins are sent back to the start via a separate automated belt to free up TSA officers from carrying them. Bins are 25 percent larger than before, and RFID tags are on each bin, “matching travelers to their property as they move throughout the security screening process,” DFW said. Over time, DFW expects to install 10 of the automated checkpoint lanes throughout the airport.

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Airport updates: O’Hare, LAX, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Boston

September 25, 2017

American’s new Flagship Lounges have hot and cold self-service buffets. (Image: American)

In airport news, American Airlines opens a big new lounge at Chicago O’Hare; Los Angeles International travelers can now use an app to speed up re-entry after international trips; Pittsburgh International will get a massive makeover; Minneapolis-St. Paul gets faster TSA screening lanes; and facial-recognition boarding is a hit with JetBlue passengers at Boston.

At Chicago O’Hare, American Airlines has cut the ribbon on its second new Flagship Lounge; the first was opened at New York JFK some months ago. At ORD, the lounge is in Terminal 3, in the crosswalk between Gates H6 and K6. Hours are 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Targeted for AA’s international travelers at its primary gateway airports, the 17,000 square foot O’Hare Flagship Lounge is open to qualifying first and business class passengers, AAdvantage Executive Platinums, Platinums and Platinum Pros; AAdvantage ConciergeKey members; and Oneworld Emerald and Sapphire travelers. American said it expects to open additional Flagship Lounges before year’s end at Los Angeles International and Miami International, and in 2018 at Dallas/Ft. Worth, Philadelphia and London Heathrow. The O’Hare lounge can handle up to 300 passengers. It has showers, “quiet rooms,” a self-service wine bar, create-your-own cocktail service, hot and cold buffets and a chef to prepare customized offerings.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Mobile Passport Control app is now available for travelers going through Customs at Los Angeles International’s Tom Bradley International Terminal as well as Terminals 2, 4 and 7, airport officials announced. Available free at the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, the app lets passengers create a profile and submit passport information and answers to CBP inspection questions via their smartphone or tablet. The app will then send users a receipt and an encrypted bar code to show to CBP agents at the airport. LAX is a little slow in rolling out the CBP Mobile Passport Control app – 22 other airports have already done so.

Rendering of the spacious atrium planned for Pittsburgh’s new landside building. (Image: Pittsburgh International Airport)

Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County Airport Authority has unveiled a major redevelopment plan that calls for construction of a new landside building for Pittsburgh International’s Midfield Terminal and scaling back the terminal’s number of gates from 75 to 51. Besides new security, ticketing and baggage facilities in the $784 million landside building – which would be between the airside C and D concourses – the project also includes an overhauled international arrivals area, 3,000-space parking garage and other improvements. The X-shaped Midfield Terminal was built 25 years ago to serve as a hub facility for US Airways, but since the carrier downsized that operation and then was merged into American, the terminal now handles less than half the traffic that it once did. The terminal was built to accommodate up to 32 million passengers a year, but it currently handles only 8.3 million; the new facility’s capacity would be 18 million. The $1.1 billion plan calls for razing the existing landside building and the people-mover that carriers travelers from that building to the airside concourses. Construction is planned for 2019 to 2023.

Minneapolis-St. Paul is the latest airport to install those new automated security lanes that are said to speed up the TSA screening process by as much as 30 percent. (Although we’ve heard from many frequent travelers who would disagree with that assessment.) MSP now has four of the new lanes at the Terminal 1 south checkpoint, and will expand them to the north checkpoint next year. The lanes allow several travelers to load their belongings into bins simultaneously; the bins are larger than before, and if a bag raises the concerns of the TSA agent manning the x-ray machine, it can be shuttled off on a separate conveyor belt for further examination without slowing down everyone else. Empty bins are sent back to the starting point by a separate conveyor belt, freeing up TSA agents for inspection duties.

Here’s how JetBlue’s facial recognition system works. (Image: JetBlue)

Some months ago, we reported on JetBlue starting to test facial recognition technology for passenger boarding at its Boston Logan hub. Instead of having to show a boarding pass, passport or anything else to the gate agent, passengers simply stand in front of a camera and proceed on board. After four months, SITA — the technology company that provided the new system — said its biometric scanning proved to be quite accurate in the tests, with a success rate of almost 100 percent matching passengers’ facial images to those in government databases to verify identity. The company said a majority of JetBlue passengers on the airline’s Boston to Aruba flights used the camera option to board.

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TSA phases in tougher domestic screening procedures

July 26, 2017

New TSA screening rules are coming to U.S. airports. (Chris McGinnis)

Those more stringent security inspection standards that the Department of Homeland Security recently stared requiring for overseas airports are being implemented for domestic travel as well.

The Transportation Security Administration said this week that persons who use the regular (non-PreCheck) screening lanes will be required to remove all electronic devices larger than a cell phone from their carry-on bags and put them in a separate bin to go through the x-ray machines. This includes tablet-sized devices. The devices should have nothing else below or on top of them – the same way laptops have been handled for several years.

TSA said the procedure will help its officers see a better x-ray image. The new requirement will not apply for persons using TSA’s PreCheck lanes- but be prepared for this for those times you don’t get selected, or your airline does not participate with PreCheck.

So far, we’ve heard that the enhanced screening for international flights is causing minimal delays, so let’s hope that stricter screening at domestic checkpoints follows suit.

Persons using PreCheck lanes will be exempt from the new requirements. (Image: TSA)

The new rules are already in place at 10 airports where they have been tested, including Boise, Colorado Springs, Detroit Metro, Ft. Lauderdale, Boston Logan, Los Angeles International, Lubbock, San Juan, Las Vegas and Phoenix Sky Harbor. They will be expanded “during the weeks and months ahead” to all airports, the agency said.

“In standard screening lanes, TSA officers will be stationed in front of the checkpoint X-ray machines to guide passengers through the screening process and recommend how best to arrange their carry-on items for X-ray screening,” the agency said.

“Travelers are encouraged to organize their carry-on bags and keep them uncluttered to ease the screening process and keep the lines moving. There are no changes to what travelers can bring through the checkpoint; food and liquid items that comply with the 3-1-1 liquids rule, electronics, and books continue to be allowed in carry-on bags.”

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Get ready: Huge security overhaul for international flights

June 28, 2017

American Airlines is starting to use Analogic computed tomography 3-D scanners for carry-ons. (Image: Analogic)

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is reportedly planning to impose strict new security standards for all airlines flying into the U.S. starting next month – a move that could lead to confusion, uncertainty and longer lines for passengers depending on how responsive airlines are in meeting the requirements.

According to various news services, DHS is ordering the new standards as an alternative to expanding its current “laptop ban” – a rule that currently bars passengers from carrying electronic devices larger than a smartphone into the cabins of U.S.-bound non-stop flights from 10 airports in the Middle East and North Africa.

However, DHS is also said to be threatening to extend the laptop ban to any airlines or airports that don’t meet its new security safeguards. The agency has been threatening for months to expand the laptop ban to European airports over concerns that terrorist groups are perfecting methods for hiding explosives in laptop computers. Reports suggested that DHS could even decide to withhold U.S. landing rights from non-compliant airlines.

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DHS wants more bomb-sniffing dogs at overseas airports. (Image: TSA)

The agency hasn’t said publicly exactly what its new standards will involve, but they would apply for the flights of 180 airlines from 280 airports in 105 countries rather than just those considered to pose the highest risk of a terrorist threat.

News reports indicated that the new requirements might include more sophisticated explosive trace detection scanning for passengers’ carry-ons, greater use of bomb-sniffing dogs, and more intensive screening of airport workers and even passengers themselves.

According to a report from Reuters, DHS will give airlines just 21 days to start using more effective explosive screening methods, and 120 days to implement other new security measures like enhanced screening of individual passengers.

At the same time, DHS officials have reportedly said that the 10 airports where the laptop ban currently applies could have that ban lifted if they implement the new security measures.

Middle Eastern airlines are offering in-cabin laptops and tablets to business class passengers affected by the ban. (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

DHS officials have met repeatedly with their European counterparts in recent weeks over the agency’s proposed expansion of the laptop ban. European security officials have expressed concerns that requiring large numbers of travelers to put their electronic devices into checked luggage could pose a greater risk of fires in the hold of an aircraft, since the lithium batteries on those devices are known to sometimes ignite spontaneously.

If the reports are correct that DHS will only allow three weeks for the implementation of more effective explosives screening, that raises the question of how the agency hopes to enforce its new requirements. Will it have enough personnel to inspect hundreds of airport locations overseas in the short term? Will the new standards be specific enough for clear decisions about which locations and airlines are compliant? Will they allow for any exemptions or extensions? And how will passengers know if a new laptop ban is about to be suddenly imposed on their flight to the U.S.?

DHS officials told USA Today they expect 99 percent of airlines will meet the new requirements in the allotted time frames. But with the peak summer season for international travel already under way, this could make for some interesting situations at overseas airports. Stay tuned.

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TSA could expose your books, magazines or newspapers

June 26, 2017

Should your books be protected from prying eyes at security screening? (Chris McGinnis)

Last month, we noted that the Transportation Security Administration might require travelers to remove more kinds of things from their carry-ons during the screening process. And one thing the TSA is considering has drawn the wrath of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The new TSA rules might require passengers to remove books, newspapers and other paper materials from their carry-ons to help its agents conduct more effective x-ray scans of over-packed bags.

But would you want fellow travelers to glance into a security bin and see exactly what kinds of things you’re reading? Maybe it wouldn’t bother you at all. But the ACLU believes there’s a principle at stake.

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“Books raise very special privacy issues,” ACLU senior policy analyst Jay Stanley wrote in a blog post on the organization’s website. “There is a long history of special legal protection for the privacy of one’s reading habits in the United States, not only through numerous Supreme Court and other court decisions, but also through state laws that criminalize the violation of public library reading privacy or require a warrant to obtain book sales, rental or lending records.”

TSA agents who conduct hand searches of travelers’ bags might already see what they’re reading. But adoption of a policy requiring all reading materials to be removed “would lead to more routine and systematic exposure and, inevitably, greater scrutiny of passengers’ reading materials in the course of the screening process,” Stanley wrote.

There’s even less screening privacy with new “smart lanes: like those at ATL. (Image: Delta)

The agency is supposed to be concerned only with traveler safety, he noted, and is not supposed to serve any other law enforcement functions. He noted that in 2010, the ACLU helped to defend a passenger who was handcuffed and questioned for five hours after he was found to be carrying a set of Arabic-language flash cards and a book that criticized U.S. foreign policy.

“A person who is reading a book entitled ‘Overcoming Sexual Abuse’ or ‘Overcoming Sexual Dysfunction’ is not likely to want to plop that volume down on the conveyor belt for all to see,” Stanley wrote. “Even someone reading a bestseller like ‘50 Shades of Grey’ or a mild self-help book with a title such as ‘What Should I Do With My Life?’ might be shy about exposing his or her reading habits. And of course someone reading Arab or Muslim literature in today’s environment has all too much cause to worry about discrimination.”

He said if TSA does move ahead with such a policy, it should allow travelers to store their books in a separate package when they go through security. “All kinds of things could serve that purpose, from a brown paper bag to manila folder,” he wrote. “We could even see the emergence of a product category of ‘book sleeves’ or the like—compartmentalized bags that allow for things to be separated for the x-ray without visually exposing them to anyone.” Or perhaps book covers like readers of a certain age may recall– when I was in elementary school my mom used to make them out of used A&P bags!

For many of us this may be a moot issue… it’s likely that the highly mobile, tech-savvy readers of TravelSkills consume their books and magazines on their phones or tablets.

What do you think about the possibility of exposing your reading material during TSA searches? Please leave your comments below.

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Airport news: SFO, Oakland runways + Minneapolis, Baltimore, Seattle

February 16, 2017

San Francisco’s Runway 28L will be repaved this spring. (Image: FAA)

In airport news, San Francisco runway work could mean some delays; Oakland also plans a runway rehab; Baltimore-Washington will expand its international terminal; faster security screening lanes are coming to Minneapolis-St. Paul; and Seattle breaks ground on more Alaska Airlines gates.

San Francisco International has scheduled a major maintenance project for its Runway 28L that could mean some weekend flight delays over the next four months. Officials said the runway, which is used mainly for arriving flights, will be repaved and will get new centerline lights and ground markings. While most of the work will be done during late-night hours, officials said, the runway will be shut down during several weekends. The weekend closures are scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday through noon the following Monday on the weekends of March 31; April 7, 21 and 28; May 5, 12 and 19; and June 2 and 9. The schedule is subject to change depending on weather, and “some delays may occur during weekend closures,” official said.

A similar project is coming this summer at Oakland International, where Runway 12-30 is due to get an asphalt concrete overlay – something it needs every 15 years, officials said. The airport hasn’t issued a schedule for the work yet, but said it expects to exercise “a short-duration, full closure option” for the runway, which is typically is use 24 hours a day. During the closure, the airport will use a parallel taxiway as a temporary runway – the same thing it did during the last repaving in 2001. The airport didn’t say what the impact would be on flight operations, but it will discuss that and other details of the project at a public meeting on Thursday (February 16), scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Oakland’s Metropolitan Golf Links, 10051 Doolittle Drive.

Baltimore-Washington’s Concourse E extension will add more international gates. (Image: BWI Airport)

Baltimore-Washington International this spring will start construction of six new gates for its international terminal, including two full-service gates and four for arrivals only. The project involves building a 70,000 square foot extension of BWI’s Concourse E. Last year, BWI added two international gates as part of its new D/E Connector project. Airport officials said international traffic at BWI has been surging in recent years as airlines like WOW and Norwegian started service there; Southwest is the biggest international operator there, with flights to eight destinations in Latin American and the Caribbean.

Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Metropolitan Airports Commission has approved a $1.6 million plan to install some of those new security screening checkpoints that use new design features to move passengers through the process as much as 40 percent faster. The checkpoints allow up to five persons at once to load items into plastic bins, use an automatic return conveyor belt to move empty bins back to the loading area, and shunt questionable bags off to a side station for inspection instead of holding up the line. They’ve been appearing in major airports recently including Atlanta, Chicago O’Hare and Los Angeles. The new MSP lanes will occupy four center lanes in Terminal 1’s south checkpoint, and should be in operation by this summer.

A new Alaska Airlines rooftop lounge will be part of Seattle’s North Satellite expansion. (Image: Seattle-Tacoma Airport)

Officials at Seattle-Tacoma International have broken ground on an eight-gate, $550 million expansion of Alaska Airlines’ North Satellite Terminal. The existing structure will be extended 240 feet to the west, and will also get a new upper level mezzanine and a $41 million, 15,000 square foot rooftop lounge for Alaska’s customers. The project will more than double the amount of space available for shopping and dining concessions. After the expansion is finished in 2019, the existing North Satellite space will be renovated and modernized.

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TSA adds more airlines to PreCheck program

January 26, 2017

TSA PreCheck is now available for travelers on 30 airlines. (Image: TSA)

The Transportation Security Administration said it has increased the number of airlines participating in its PreCheck program by 50 percent, including some major foreign carriers.

The agency announced that PreCheck members traveling on 11 more airlines can now gain access to the expedited screening lanes, giving the program a total of 30 airline participants.

The new carriers in PreCheck are both large and small, foreign and domestic. They include: Aruba Airlines, Avianca, Boutique Airlines, Emirates, Key Lime Air, Miami Air International, Southern Airways Express, Spirit Airlines, Sunwing, Virgin Atlantic, and Xtra Airways.

While the expansion is good news for PreCheck members traveling on those airlines, it could mean longer lines at PreCheck lanes.

“Partnering with 11 additional airlines to offer TSA PreCheck will significantly increase our trusted traveler population, and reflects our commitment to implement the most effective aviation security,” said TSA Acting Administrator Huban Gowadia.

Membership in PreCheck costs $85 for five years. PreCheck expedited screening is also open to members of Customs and Border Protection’s trusted traveler programs like Global Entry. PreCheck screening is now offered at some 180 U.S. airports, TSA said.

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Airport news: Newark, JFK, San Francisco, Baltimore, Miami

November 25, 2016

A fast screening lane like this one at Atlanta has opened in United’s Newark Liberty International hub. (Image: Delta)

In airport news, Newark is the latest facility to start using automated TSA screening lanes to speed up the inspection process; British Airways plans a big upgrade of its terminal at New York JFK; healthy snack machines are coming to San Francisco International; Baltimore/Washington International opens a new connector between two concourses and a new security checkpoint; and Miami International adds a bunch of new shops and restaurants in its North Terminal.

United Airlines and the Transportation Security Administration have opened the first of 17 automated screening lanes coming to United’s hub at Newark Liberty International. Like the other automated lanes popping up around the country, the Newark lane allows several passengers to load their items into bins simultaneously; has an automated conveyor belt that pulls the bins into the x-ray machine instead of requiring travelers to push them; shunts questionable items off onto a separate belt for more detailed inspection without slowing down other passengers; and offers bins that are 25 percent larger than other lanes. The new automated lanes are expected to reduce screening wait times by 30 percent.

British Airways announced plans to spend $110 million improving its airport facilities in the U.S., and the bulk of that amount – more than $65 million – will be spent on its Terminal 7 at New York JFK. The airline said the JFK terminal will get an overhaul of check-in, security and gate areas as well as upgrades to its first class and business class lounges. The rest of the funding will be used for improvements to British Airways’ airport lounges at San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Houston and Seattle. (A BA spokesperson told TravelSkills that there’s no current update or timeline for the long-awaited expansion of its lounge at SFO’s International Terminal A.)

Healthy snack vending machines copmingto SFO will accept smartphone payment systems. (Image: Gillys Vending)

Healthy snack vending machines coming to SFO will accept smartphone payment systems. (Image: Gilly Vending)

Want to grab a quick snack at San Francisco International? You’ll get more healthy choices starting next year thanks to the airport’s new contract with Gilly Vending. The company said its vending machines will be stocked with “organic, gluten-free, low-salt, sugar-free and low-calorie” product selections. “The offerings in the new multi-year contract will highlight only‎ premium quality snack products from recognized brands packed with an abundance of nutrients and antioxidants which are proven to boost energy and stamina such as dried fruits, coconut chips, carob, quinoa, chia, nuts and whole grains,” Gilly said. Yum! What’s more, the machines will accept cashless pay systems including Google, Android and Apple Pay.

The new D/E Connector and security checkpoint at BWI. (Image: Baltimore Washington Airport)

Baltimore/Washington International Airport has opened a new secure connector linking its Concourse D with its international Concourse E. The $125 million expansion project also includes a new security checkpoint for domestic and international passengers, as well as new passenger concessions and restrooms. The airport plans to eliminate the old security checkpoints for the D and E concourses. Other aspects of the project include an outdoor patio with airfield views, and a children’s play area. The connector will serve as an art gallery for displays of the work of local artists. Officials noted that BWI’s passenger traffic hit a record 24 million in 2015 and is continuing to grow this year.

Officials at Miami International have cut the ribbon on the North Terminal Marketplace – a collection of 10 new restaurants and shops intended to give travelers “a multi-cultural taste of Miami,” the airport said. Located between Gates D-26 and D-29, the marketplace includes a pizzeria; a Caribbean specialty restaurant; singer Gloria Estefan’s Estefan Kitchen Express; a farm-to-table restaurant called Fig and Fennel; an empanadas outlet; a seafood deli; and retail shops selling cigars, Miami Marlins merchandise, designer porcelain dolls, and fashions from Perry Ellis.

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CLEAR lanes coming to ATL, LAX, NYC

November 15, 2016

The CLEAR trusted traveler program is expanding to four more airports. (Image: CLEAR)

CLEAR, the members-only organization that lets you bypass those long security lines and go right into screening, will soon be available in four more major airports.

In an email to members, company said that it plans to open new CLEAR lanes at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, Los Angeles International, New York LaGuardia and New York JFK. It did not say exactly when it would appear in those airports – just that “We will be sharing launch dates in the coming weeks.” What’s also not clear (couldn’t help myself!) is whether CLEAR will only operate at Delta terminals at LAX and NYC or if it will be in multiple terminals as at SFO.

CLEAR already has airport lanes at Austin, Baltimore/Washington, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Denver, Detroit, Houston Bush Intercontinental, Las Vegas, Miami, Orlando, San Antonio, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and both Washington D.C. airports. You can look up exact CLEAR locations here.

CLEAR’s new logo

Earlier this year, Delta acquired an equity stake in CLEAR, and since then the company has been expected to open new facilities at the carrier’s primary airports – and the four new ones certainly fill that bill.

Standard membership in CLEAR costs $179 a year, but Delta’s involvement in the company has brought discounts for SkyMiles members based on their elite status. Membership is free for Diamond Medallions, and just $79 a year for Platinum, Gold and Silver Medallions. Non-elite SkyMiles members are eligible for a $99 CLEAR annual membership.

CLEAR gives members biometric-based IDs that let them access priority lanes for security screening. That gets them quickly into the regular screening process — or even into PreCheck for eligible flights, if they are a member of that TSA trusted traveler program. With regular PreCheck lines getting longer at some airports as TSA continues to push for greatly expanded traveler participation in that program, CLEAR might be a better way to go if it’s available at your preferred airports. (It’s definitely save me a few hundred dollars in flight change fees when I’ve been late to the airport, or been surprised by super-long lines.)

Have you used CLEAR or do you plan to now that it’s hitting critical mass in terms of key airports? Please leave your comments below.

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Airports rapidly adding faster TSA security screening lanes

November 14, 2016

New automated TSA screening lanes in American’s Terminal 3 at Chicago O’Hare. (Image: American Airlines)

Those new, speedier, more automated TSA airport security screening lines are proliferating quickly: This week new lanes opened at Chicago O’Hare for both United and American Airlines customers — including the first one exclusively for PreCheck members. And more lanes are coming to airports Dallas Ft Worth and Atlanta as well.

United said it has opened a “fully redesigned” TSA PreCheck security checkpoint for its Terminal 1 base at Chicago O’Hare, with one of the new automated checkpoints for PreCheck travelers and two others for regular screening. At the same time, American Airlines said it now has two of the faster screening lanes in operation at its Terminal 3 at O’Hare.

United’s new automated TSA security lanes at Chicago O’Hare (Photo: United)

Similar to the new lanes that opened earlier this year at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson and more recently at Los Angeles International, the new facilities allow up to five passengers at a time to load their carry-on belongings into plastic bins, and automatically draw bags into the x-ray device instead of requiring passengers to push them. They also have an automatic return conveyor belt to bring empty bins back to the beginning of the line, and a secondary screening belt for bags that need an extra inspection, so that they won’t hold up the line. The bins are also 25 percent larger than before.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the new lanes are helping O’Hare to eliminate security bottlenecks that hampered its operations. “Earlier this year, wait times at (O’Hare’s) TSA checkpoints escalated to an unacceptable 104 minutes,” he said. “Working together with our federal and airline partners, we resolved this crisis and today have average wait times that are among the shortest of major airports in the country.”

Another fast screening lane is being built at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson. (Image: Delta)

Last month, United opened a pair of the faster screening lanes in its Terminal 7 at Los Angeles International Airport. And earlier in the year the concept was first introduced by Delta and TSA at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson. Speaking of ATL, another new automated TSA lane is now being constructed at the South security checkpoint, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution – although this project will not require the checkpoint to be shut down as it was last spring when the first two lanes were installed there.

Meanwhile, the board that governs Dallas/Ft. Worth International this week is expected to approve a $3.5 million expenditure to install 10 of the faster screening lanes around the airport, in Terminals A, D and E. The plan calls for two machines each at checkpoints near Gates A21, D18, D22, D30 and E18, according to the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. The work is expected to be finished by next spring.

United is also working on an overhaul of security screening at its Newark hub, where it is consolidating four checkpoints into one centralized facility. American said it expects to add the new lanes early next year at Los Angeles, Miami and New York JFK as well.

Readers: Have you had a chance to try these new automated screening lanes yet? What did you think?

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LAX gets faster security screening lanes

October 13, 2016

The new lanes, like this one at Atlanta, let five travelers load bins at once. (Image: Delta)

The deployment of a new design for TSA security screening lanes takes another step forward this week as the faster processing comes to Los Angeles International Airport.

In a joint effort by United Airlines and TSA, the new “innovation lanes” are due to go into use this week in United’s Terminal 7 at LAX. The new design permits up to five passengers at once to load their personal items into bins on conveyor belts, instead of doing so one at a time.

The lanes also feature “return” belts that bring empty bins back to the start of the process, sparing TSA workers the chore of doing that manually. And bags that are determined to need more detailed inspection after being x-rayed are shunted off the main conveyor so they don’t slow down the line. The new lanes were first introduced earlier this year by Delta and TSA at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International.

The two United lanes in T7 are expected to be joined by at least nine more in other LAX terminals by the end of 2017. In Atlanta, use of the new lanes has reportedly reduced waiting times in security screening lines by 30 percent.

TSA said it has reduced long waiting lines to manageable levels. (Image: Jim Glab)

TSA said it has succeeded in reducing long waiting lines to manageable levels. (Image: Jim Glab)

United has said it is also bringing the new lane design to its hubs at Chicago O’Hare and Newark Liberty International. At the latter airport, United plans to combine four existing security checkpoints into one central facility with 17 lanes.

American Airlines is also on board with the new lanes, planning to bring them to its Phoenix Sky Harbor hub by the end of this year, followed by installations at Chicago O’Hare, Dallas/Ft. Worth, LAX and Miami.

TSA and the airlines put the “innovation lanes” on a fast track this year after the agency started facing extra-long wait times for security screening at the beginning of the busy summer travel season. The agency also budgeted more for overtime, urged more travelers to join its PreCheck program, and started hiring more screeners to deal with the problem, and officials said last month that it all worked. They said their efforts reduced waiting time to 30 minutes or less for 98 percent of travelers, and to 15 minutes or less for 92 percent. PreCheck members typically wait five minutes or less, TSA said.

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United gets on TSA’s speedy screening lines bandwagon

July 20, 2016

New TSA lanes at ATL let up to five travelers load bins at once. (Image: Delta)

As the Transportation Security Administration continues its efforts to get travelers through airport screening faster, United Airlines is the latest carrier to unveil plans for new “automated” screening lanes at key hub airports.

Delta was the first carrier on board with the new program, when it cooperated with TSA in the installation of new screening equipment and procedures at a TSA checkpoint in Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson earlier this year. Then a few weeks ago, American Airlines announced similar plans for its screening lanes at Phoenix Sky Harbor this fall, to be followed by Chicago O’Hare, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Los Angeles, and Miami International. And now United plans to bring the “automated” lanes to its hubs as well, starting with Newark Liberty this fall and then to Chicago O’Hare and Los Angeles International.

United’s plans also call for the reconfiguration and consolidation of passenger screening checkpoints at Newark, O’Hare and Los Angeles. That includes combining four existing checkpoints at Newark’s Terminal C into one centralized facility with 17 lanes.

The new lanes feature automated belts that extend back farther so that passengers don’t have to keep pushing the bins of their belongings into the x-ray machines, and they allow up to five travelers at once to put their bins onto the belt, instead of doing it one at a time. The systems also have new conveyor belts that return empty bins back to the head of the screening line so that TSA employees don’t have to do it. If a passenger’s bag is determined to need a closer look after being x-rayed, that bag is automatically shunted off the main belt for further inspection without holding up the line.

United’s Terminal C at Newark will be the first of its hubs to get the new screening lines. (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Based on the results of the new screening configuration at Atlanta’s airport, TSA said the revised equipment and procedures should reduce line time for screening by 30 percent.

United will also work with TSA in opening up a temporary PreCheck enrollment center in downtown Chicago’s Willis Tower next month, followed by new permanent enrollment centers at its hub airports in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Newark and Chicago.

And the above installations could be just the beginning. TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger told USA Today that the agency hopes to see up to 60 of the new screening lanes in place at the nation’s busiest airports by the end of the year.

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Is TSA PreCheck too expensive?

June 3, 2016

TSA PreCheck now has 370 sign-up centers. (Image: TSA)

The Transportation Security Administration has been urging travelers to sign up for its PreCheck trusted traveler program as the best way to avoid long lines at security checkpoints – but a new survey suggests that the PreCheck fee might be too pricey, slowing down enrollment.

TSA has a target of 25 million members for PreCheck, but it has fallen far behind that goal. So far, fewer than 2.8 million travelers have joined. Joining PreCheck requires a background interview at a TSA PreCheck enrollment center and payment of an $85 fee for a five-year membership.

The new survey of 1,000 domestic travelers conducted for the U.S. Travel Association (USTA) found that just over one in five said they expect to enroll in PreCheck as it is. But of the rest, half said they considered the $85 fee to be a deterrent to signing up for the program.

USTA said that if TSA would reduce the sign-up fee, that could go a long way toward boosting membership in PreCheck, which offers members an expedited security clearance process in which they don’t have to remove shoes or take laptops out of their cases. (PreCheck privileges are also extended to members of Customs & Border Protection’s Global Entry program, which carries a comparable $100 fee but also allows faster re-entry to the U.S. for international travelers.)

A lower fee and simpler enrollment procedure could bring in as many as 7 million new PreCheck members, USTA estimated. About one in five survey respondents who said they were unlikely to join cited a cumbersome enrollment process, and said they would prefer an online option.

TSA has made a big push to facilitate PreCheck membership in the past couple of years, using an outside vendor called MorphoTrust to expand the number of enrollment centers to 370 nationwide. The $85 fee is split between TSA, MorphoTrust and the FBI, which provides a fingerprint-based criminal background check for applicants.

What do YOU think? Is $85 (or just $17 per year) too much to pay for PreCheck? (Personally, I would probably pay more than that, but ….) Please leave your comments below!

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Long TSA lines might keep many travelers from flying

May 26, 2016

Will heavy media coverage of long lines keep travelers at home this summer? (Image: Jim Glab)

Maybe those long lines at the Transportation Security Administration’s airport checkpoints won’t be so bad this summer after all – not because TSA will process them much faster, but because many travelers might decide to avoid the airport altogether rather than face an extra-long wait for screening.

That’s the ominous conclusion of a new consumer survey conducted by the U.S. Travel Association (USTA), which found that almost 22 percent of Americans planning a summer plane trip “will either travel by other means or delay or cancel their trips because of saturation coverage of hours-long waits at airport security checkpoints.”

Saturation coverage is no exaggeration: Major media outlets have been serving up daily stories on the miseries of security line waiting times; Congress has been holding well-publicized hearings on the issue this week; and social media have been clogged with consumer posts and tweets of long TSA lines, inspired by the @HatetheWait campaign started by Airlines for America (A4A), the airline industry’s main lobbying group.

“We’re looking at convincing data that says hundreds of thousands of people are potentially reconsidering whether to get on an airplane every single day. Given the importance of travel to both our economy and our way of life, it is not an overstatement to call that a national crisis in need of a national solution,” said USTA CEO Roger Dow.

No doubt consumers are especially dubious about air travel when they hear statistics like those presented to a congressional committee this week by a senior American Airlines executive, who estimated that so far this year, some 70,000 passengers and 40,000 checked bags missed their flights due to TSA screening delays – and that was just on American.

More PreCheck enrollments could help alleviate long lines. (Image: TSA)

Some help is on the way. Congress recently approved plans for TSA to reshuffle its budget so it has more money to spend on staff overtime and on hiring additional screeners. The private sector is also getting involved: Delta, American and United Airlines have each said they expect to spend up to $4 million or more this summer in assigning their own employees to help out the TSA with non-screening duties at security checkpoints, like managing lines and moving plastic bins from one end of the checkpoint to the other; some airports are also hiring private contractors to handle the same kinds of tasks.

Still, that may all amount to applying Band-aids to a gaping wound. Everyone seems to agree that the real problem nationwide is in the raw numbers: TSA estimates it will need to screen 740 million travelers this year, a 15 percent increase over 2013, even though its staff of inspectors has been reduced by 12 percent during that time due to budget cuts.

There is some evidence that throwing resources at the problem can help. At Chicago O’Hare, where passengers were facing line times of two hours or more a few weeks ago, the wait dropped to just 15 minutes this week after TSA added more inspectors, extra canine units and a new management team, according to the Chicago Tribune. But it’s unlikely that the agency could do the same at a large number of airports in the immediate future.

It’s ironic that Congress is so outraged by TSA’s shortcomings in passenger screenings, according to A4A, which charged this week that Congress largely created the problem by short-changing the agency’s budget. The government collects a security fee from every passenger to pay for airport screenings, but A4A alleged that under terms of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, Congress directed that billions of dollars from those collections be diverted away from TSA’s budget to pay for deficit reduction instead.

All parties seem to agree that one of the best solutions would be a surge in enrollments for TSA’s PreCheck program, which gives travelers access to expedited screening procedures with shorter lines. But that’s all they agree on. Some airline executives have suggested that TSA should revert back to earlier procedures that allowed its inspectors to direct non-suspicious travelers into the PreCheck lanes just to even out the screening workload. But some members of Congress, TSA executives and newspaper editorialists have called for airlines to eliminate checked baggage fees at least for the summer so that fewer passenger would be dragging overstuffed carry-ons through the security lines.

Readers: You probably belong to TSA PreCheck so you’re not that concerned, but what would you suggest as the best way for government and/or the private sector to address this “national crisis”?

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New solutions emerge for TSA airport security mess

May 13, 2016

A shortage of TSA inspectors is contributing to long lines. (Image: TSA)

The Transportation Security Administration has been warning travelers to expect extra-long lines at airport security checkpoints during the busy summer travel season. The agency has announced some steps it is taking to alleviate the problem, but other stakeholders in the industry are groping for solutions to the problem as well.

TSA got some good news this week as Congress approved the agency’s request to let it shift funds around among its accounts, freeing up $34 million that can be used to pay overtime for its airport officers, and also allowing it to hire another 768 new inspectors. It remains to be seen, though, how much this might help with the problem of long lines this summer.

One proposal that’s getting the most attention is one that’s least likely to happen. Two Democratic Senators – Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut – have asked U.S. airlines to eliminate their checked bag fees for the summer. The thinking is that if travelers can check bags for free, they won’t haul so many overstuffed carry-ons through the security checkpoints, backing up the lines. Even if that might work, there’s no reason to believe that airlines are going to give up one of their most lucrative revenue streams just because a couple of politicians asked them to.

Delta is taking a more pragmatic approach. The airline said this week it will assign some of its airport employees to take over non-security-related tasks at checkpoints to free up TSA inspectors for actual inspections. That includes things like managing lines and returning plastic bins from one side of the checkpoint to the other. The airline will also lend expertise “from industrial engineers and other areas” to make recommendations on redesigning checkpoints for a more efficient flow of travelers, the company said.

Baggage fees mean more overstuffed carry-ons and thus longer TSA lines. (Image: Jim Glab)

Speaking of checkpoint redesigns, officials at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport are hoping for a May 24 debut of an overhauled south security checkpoint, which has been closed for a few weeks for reconstruction. Two new lanes there will each have five stations where five passengers can simultaneously put their belongings into plastic bins for screening. The conveyor belts are automated so passengers don’t have to linger to push their bins into the scanner. And RFID tags on each bin will allow a TSA screener to shuttle suspect bins off to a separate line where an officer can manually inspect the items in them. There’s also a lower-level conveyor belt that automatically returns plastic bins back to the other side of the inspection station so that TSA agents don’t have to haul them there manually.

Some stakeholders want to give up on TSA altogether. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey – which operates LaGuardia, JFK and Newark airports — has become the largest airport authority thus far to tell TSA it is thinking of going private with its security inspections, replacing TSA staff with contractors of its own choosing. A similar idea has already been expressed by the Seattle and Atlanta airports. In a letter to TSA, the Port Authority said it can “no longer tolerate the continuing inadequacy of TSA passenger screening services.” It cited statistics showing that waiting times this spring at its airports were almost twice as long as last year.

The airline industry started a social media campaign to complain about long security lines. (Image: Airlines for America)

Meanwhile, the airline industry, as represented by its trade organization Airlines for America, has launched a social media campaign called “I Hate the Wait.” At that site, travelers who are waiting in long security lines at the airport can click on pre-set buttons to send a Tweet to TSA customer service (@AskTSA) with the tag #ihatethewait or to post a photo of their waiting line on Instagram and tag it @TSA. “Help improve efficiency by sharing your security line experience with the TSA,” A4A says – although it seems like this program is designed more to harass the agency than to bring about real efficiencies.

TSA has suggested that the best way travelers can help alleviate the long lines is by joining the PreCheck program (or Customs and Border Protection’s Global Entry, which includes PreCheck privileges). It has also put part of the blame on Congress for cutting back its budget, leading to a reduction in the number of agents available for front-line inspections.

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TSA PreCheck membership is exploding- rate your experience

January 15, 2016

TSA PreCheck now has 355 sign-up centers. (Image: TSA)

On my way back from New York to San Francisco last week, I was the ONLY traveler in the PreCheck line at JFK on a Monday morning at around 10 am. Granted, it’s not really rush hour, but still… it felt like a ghost town.

It was little more than nine months ago that the Transportation Security Administration announced that membership in its trusted traveler program — which entitles members to expedited screening procedures — had passed the 1 million mark. And now that membership number has doubled.

TSA said this week that PreCheck now has more than 2 million travelers enrolled. And member applications are continuing to increase.

The agency has also continued to expand the option to more U.S. airports. TSA said that during 2015, it added 48 more airports to the program, so it now offers a total of 450 special screening lanes at 167 U.S. airports.

Over the past year or so, the agency embarked on a huge expansion of enrollment centers for the PreCheck program, using an outside vendor called MorphoTrust, a subsidiary of the French identity firm Safran.

The firm has boosted the number of enrollment offices, which it calls IdentoGO Centers, to more than 355 locations nationwide. And even though that expansion has resulted in a doubling of PreCheck membership since last March, “IdentoGO Centers are now processing nearly 50 percent more applications every day, compared to earlier in 2015,” the company said.

Besides opening hundreds of new enrollment centers, the company has also started a mobile enrollment program for businesses and has used a partnership with H&R Block to create more retail options for walk-in sign-ups.

PreCheck membership costs $85 for five years. Expedited screening is also open to members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection trusted traveler programs like Global Entry.

A few months ago, TSA said that it had started to scale back on the practice of steering non-members of PreCheck into the PreCheck screening lanes in order to more equitably balance the loads on its inspectors.

Readers: Is it taking you longer to get through PreCheck lines recently? Overall, how would you rate your opinion of PreCheck these days?

Despite a lot of the bellyaching I hear, I’d still say it’s pretty excellent! I know there are plenty of folks who may not agree, but to me PreCheck is one of the best things to happen to air travel since the introduction of seatback TV 🙂

Please vote and post comments below.

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TSA explains confusion over PreCheck policies

September 23, 2015

TSA still allows some non-members of PreCheck to use the expedited screening lanes if they pass the “sniff test.” (Image: TSA)

A few days ago, we ran an item citing news reports which said that the Transportation Security Administration was no longer allowing passengers to be screened in the expedited PreCheck lanes if they are not members of that program, which requires a personal interview and payment of an $85 fee.

That item attracted comments from a number of readers, some of whom said that they were not members of PreCheck, but they were still being sent to the PreCheck lanes for screening — a practice the TSA calls “managed inclusion.” TSA started that practice many months ago to even out the inspection loads between PreCheck and non-PreCheck lanes.

So what’s going on here? Are non-members still going through PreCheck lanes or not?

“The confusion lies in the fact that we ended Managed Inclusion 2, but have left Managed Inclusion 1 in place,” TSA spokesman Mike Englund tells TravelSkills. (See full statement below)

In Managed Inclusion 1 — which remains in effect — PreCheck screening is available for “certain travelers who have been pre-screened by TSA canines,” Englund said. In other words, if a dog’s nose finds you acceptable, you might be selected for the fast inspection even if you are not an enrolled member of PreCheck and don’t have a known traveler number. (It only applies, obviously, in airports where TSA dogs are on duty.)

Managed Inclusion 2, he explained, was a program in which TSA relied on “behavior detection officers and explosive trace detection sampling” to direct certain passengers into the PreCheck lanes even if they weren’t paid members.

Englund told us: “Overall, the agency is now moving toward offering TSA PreCheck expedited screening only to trusted and pre-vetted travelers enrolled in the TSA PreCheck program, and is working with a number or partners to expand enrollment in program.” He did not say how long it might be until PreCheck screenings are limited only to paid members.

So while there won’t be as many non-members in PreCheck lines, there will still be some.

Here’s the full statement on this matter from TSA:

“TSA routinely evaluates the effectiveness of airport checkpoint screening procedures at all U.S. airports to ensure the security of travelers. TSA has recently eliminated the practice of utilizing behavior detection officers and explosive trace detection sampling to direct certain passengers into TSA Pre✓® expedited screening lanes, a practice known as “Managed Inclusion II.” TSA will also continue to offer expedited screening to certain travelers who have been pre-screened by TSA canines, a practice known as “Managed Inclusion I.” Overall, the agency is now moving toward offering TSA Pre✓® expedited screening only to trusted and pre-vetted travelers enrolled in the TSA Pre✓® program, and is working with a number or partners to expand enrollment in program. Aviation security employs multiple layers, both seen and unseen, to ensure the safety of the traveling public, and TSA constantly tests and challenges this system in order to enhance capabilities and improve techniques as threats evolve.”

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TSA scores with PreCheck expedited security screening

October 21, 2011

Here’s one of several first-person accounts among TICKET readers who have been selected for the TSA’s special “PreCheck” expedited security line at ATL.

So far, it seems like the frequently maligned TSA has knocked one outta the ballpark with this test. Time will tell if or when we see how far it expands beyond the testing stage. By the time the holiday crowds appear at airports later this year, everyone’s going to want to get into this special program! (Currently only at airports in Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit and Miami.)

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Here’s how TICKET reader DW described his recent trip through the super special line:

I flew to Ohio this past weekend to visit family and tested the new expedited screening line at Atlanta. From what I had read, I would qualify because I’m enrolled in Global Entry, but I wasn’t clear how they would verify that – so I brought my passport just in case. Turns out I didn’t need it.
The location is at the end of the Delta ticketing area (the “T-South” screening area). They have two lines there, one for regular travelers and one for the expedited line. They scan boarding pass as you approach, so my Global Entry status must have been captured on the Delta boarding pass because they directed me into the expedited line. There was one person in front of me at the ID check station and by the time the agent had confirmed my boarding pass and ID, that person was walking through the metal detector. I walked in, put my bag on the belt and walked through. No hassle. From the time I approached the line to the time I was through the security screening it took a total of less than three minutes.
They don’t need liquids or laptops to be removed from cases, so bags can go direct on the belt and through. And they don’t require that we remove shoes, belts or blazers so I kept all three on. Really very easy – and if they do roll it out and the crowds increase, it’ll still go much faster without all the jockeying at the metal detector to remove shoes and laptops.
The experience was positive enough that my partner and his son are both going to enroll in Global Entry* – not because they travel so much internationally, but because it qualifies them for this lane . . . .

*Note that American Express Platinum card holders get Global Entry free as part of the card’s new benefit package.

What do you think…Are YOU one of the chosen few who’ve tested the new PreCheck line? Please leave your comments below!

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