TSA Pre-Check: Life in the Air Travel Fast Lane

STORRS/WINDSDOR LOCKS, CT — A couple of weeks ago, a man and his daughter approached the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at Bradley international airport. It was early — about 4:30 a.m. — but the terminal was hopping with four outbound flights scheduled.

That meant lines at the TSA stations.

At the TSA desk, a staffer raised his eyebrows when he saw the two tickets, however.

"Oh ... pre-check. You are going to like this," he said.

He was right. Security was done in less than 5 minutes. Pre-check cuts the wait time at the airport down to a fraction of what it could be. The 60 people in line at Dunkin' Donuts thus became a bigger source of aggravation.

TSA Pre-Check is a risk-based security program that provides a more convenient and faster way to travel. Once issued a Known Traveler Number, TSA Pre-Check enrollees are no longer required to remove shoes, belts or light jackets, and laptops and liquids can stay in carry-on bags during airport security screening.

One misnomer is that the gold star given to those who go through extra security steps during driver's license renewal get pre-check status automatically.

"No, it's all random," one TSA officer said. Another said the random selection is a tease to give people a taste of how easy Pre-Check makes it.

The TSA has a website dedicated to Pre-Check, but this week it was even easier to enroll in the program when the TSA Pre-Check RV came to to the University of Connecticut.

The RV program is run by IdentoGO by MorphoTrust, officials said.

The RV is a rolling office with two windows to enroll folks in the Pre-Check program. The process is easy. One can enter his or her vital statistics online when making an appointment, then bring a government-issued photo ID with proof of U.S. Citizenship (i.e. a passport or birth certificate) and complete a short fingerprinting process.

It takes a few minutes. The cost of $85 ($17 per year).

"I see a lot of travelers and Pre-Check is the way to go," one Delta pilot said while having breakfast at Bradley. "It takes no time at all to enroll and it saves a lot of time."

Photo Credit: Chris Dehnel