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The TSA will send fewer non-enrolled travelers through PreCheck screening lines, beginning in early February.
“This is part of the natural progression of the TSA PreCheck program,” the agency explained in a statement. “In the future, we intend to only have enrolled or pre-vetted passengers, or those screened by K9s, in the expedited screening lanes.”
Under the program, which now has more than 4 million members, TSA performs background checks on applicants. Those who are approved pay $85 for five years. In addition to enjoying the use of separate, often faster, lanes at many airports for the identity check portion of the screening process, PreCheck members can pass through security stations without taking off shoes and belts, and without removing laptops from their carry-on baggage.
At present, fliers who aren’t PreCheck members are also sometimes allowed into PreCheck lines. They’re selected through a risk calculation based on information provided during the ticketing process.
The move to winnow down the number of those fliers comes approximately five months after security check lines that frequently lasted longer than an hour in large airports thrust the TSA onto front pages of newspapers and onto national network news programs.
The crisis was resolved quickly after Congress freed up $62 million of TSA funds that had been designated for other expenditures, and after airports and airlines also used their own funds to increase staffing that facilitated the work of the actual TSA screeners.
In addition, communication between the TSA, airlines and airports was improved with the establishment of an incident command center, which coordinates daily calls between the parties.
The TSA said it doesn’t expect that the measure to reduce the number of non-enrollees who can pass through PreCheck lanes will affect lines because the measures put in last year are still in place.
“That said, TSA will monitor operational impacts of these changes on airport checkpoints and on TSA PreCheck enrollment capabilities and adjust resources accordingly,” the agency said.
Sourse: travelweekly.com
