TSA PreCheck

How to lose your TSA PreCheck status

Unruly airline passengers may face fines and the wrath of crew members and other passengers.

Now, under a new partnership between the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), unruly passengers may also end up kicked off the TSA PreCheck roster.

TSA PreCheck gives travelers access to expedited security screening. Precheck-qualified travelers don’t need to remove shoes, laptops, belts, light jackets, or take out their bag of lotions and liquids. The fee is $85 for five years and requires fingerprinting and a background check.

Under the new partnership, the FAA will share information with TSA about passengers facing fines for unruly behavior. And TSA may then remove those passengers from TSA PreCheck screening eligibility.

“If you act out of line, you will wait in line,” FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said. “Our partnership aims to promote safe and responsible passenger behavior. One unruly incident is one too many.” 

“TSA has zero tolerance for the unruly behaviors, especially those involving physical assault occurring aboard aircraft,” said TSA Administrator David Pekoske. “This partnership with FAA will help ensure the safety and security of all passengers and hold those who violate federal regulations accountable for their actions.”

Other ways to lose TSA PreCheck Status

On its website, TSA spells out other actions that might cause a traveler’s PreCheck status to be revoked ‘for a period of time.’

The list includes refusing to wear a mask, making a bomb threat, or bringing a firearm to an airport or onto an aircraft:

If you commit certain violations of federal security regulations, such as refusal to wear a mask in U.S. transportation systems covered by the January 31, 2021 Security Directive and subsequent amendments, assault, threat, intimidation, or interference with flight crew, physical or sexual assault or threat of physical or sexual assault of any individual on an aircraft, interference with security operations, access control violations, providing false or fraudulent documents, making a bomb threat, or bringing a firearm, explosive, or other prohibited item to an airport or onboard an aircraft, you are denied expedited screening for a period of time.

Travel Tidbits from an airport near you

More airlines join the TSA Precheck program

The list of airlines participating in the TSAPrecheck program, which gives travelers access to an expedited line at airport security lanes, is growing.

New on the list of participating airlines: Qatar Airways and Edelweiss Air.
That brings the list of participating airlines up to 67.

Edelweiss operates at 5 U.S. airports; Qatar has flights in and out of 10 U.S. airports.

Another robot for Austin-Bergstrom Int’l Airport

Need coffee when you travel? Of course you do.

At Austin-Bergstrom International Airport there are now two places you can have a robot-machine brew you a cup 24 hours a day.

Austin-based Briggo is opening its second robotic Coffee Haus location at AUS in May inside the new nine-gate expansion space. The first machine is at Gate 17.

What we’re reading: working conditions at Miami International Airport

Working conditions at airports in the news

This disturbing CBS Miami story is about terrible working conditions for many employess at Miami International Airport. The story raises real concerns not just about some of the lowest paying workers at this airport, but about working conditions for employees at other airports.

The story describes low pay and terrible and dangerous working conditions for many people hired to clean airplanes, move baggage and do others tasks key to keeping your trip on track.

Here’s an excerpt:

A crew of four cabin cleaners can be given as little as ten minutes to clean a plane. They claim that is not enough time. Eulen disagrees, stating “…our workforce is sufficient to meet and face the demand.”

One cabin cleaner described what they can face on a plane: “You can find blankets with blood, people puke in the blankets, you can find Pampers on the floor.”

He said his supervisor has told him not to waste time cleaning too thoroughly. “Just make it look like it look nice and clean, just a rag and you are done.”

The contractor referenced is Eulen America, which provides a variety of services to Delta, American and likely other airlines not just at MIA, but at Fort Lauderdale, Washington DC and New York.

Alarmed?

TSA adds 9 airlines to PreCheck program

The Transportation Security Administration has added nine new domestic and international carriers to the pre-check expedited screening program.

New airlines joining the program are: Air India, Asiana Airlines, China Airlines, Eastern Airlines, Elite Airways, EVA Airways, Japan Airlines, TAP Air Portugal and Volaris.

This brings the total number of airlines participating in TSA Precheck program to 65 domestic and international carriers. (The full list of participating airlines is below.)

Whether you’re enrolled in TSA Precheck or not, it’s helpful to know how long you’ll be waiting in line.

That’s now easier at John F. Kennedy International (JFK), Newark Liberty International (EWR), LaGuardia (LGA), and New York Stewart International (SWF) airports, where the respective websites now show up-to-date TSA wait times, as well as taxi wait times. The wait times are also shown on monitors inside the terminals.

According to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the real-time tracking information is part of the agency’s “aggressive efforts to deliver an enhanced customer experience” for passengers using its airports.

Here are all the airlines currently participating in TSA’s PreCheck program:

Aeromexico

Air Canada

Air France

Air India

Air Serbia

Alaska Airlines

All Nippon Airways

Allegiant Air

American Airlines

Aruba Airlines

Asiana Airlines

Avianca

Boutique Airlines

British Airways

Brussels Airlines

Cape Air

Cathay Pacific Airways

China Airlines

Condor Airlines

Contour Aviation

Copa Airlines

Delta Air Lines

Eastern Airlines

Elite Airways

Emirates

Etihad Airways

EVA Air

Finnair

Flycana

Frontier Airlines

Hawaiian Airlines

Icelandair

InterCaribbean Airways

Japan Airlines

JetBlue Airways

Key Lime Air

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

Korean Air

Lufthansa

Miami Air International

Norwegian Air

Philippine Airlines

Porter Airlines

Scandinavian Airlines

Seaborne Airlines

Silver Airways

Singapore Airlines

Southern Airways Express

Southwest Airlines

Spirit Airlines

Sun Country Airlines

Sunwing Airlines

Swift Air

Swiss International Air Lines

TAP Air Portugal

Thomas Cook Airlines (Scan.)

Thomas Cook Airlines (UK)

Turkish Airlines

United Airlines

ViaAir

Virgin Atlantic

Volaris

WestJet

World Atlantic

Xtra Airways

Travel Tidbits: new pre-check airline + fresh art at Miami Int’l Airport

Just in time for summer, we learn that the latest airline to join TSA’s pre-check program is British Airways, bringing to 53 the number of airlines participating in the program.

And Miami International Airport has some new, high-flying art:

The new work is called ‘Ando Volando’ (I’m Flying) and is by Miami-based artist Emilio Adán Martínez. Look for it in the Concourse E satellite. The new kite-like artwork has a companion display, ‘Andan Volando’ (They are flying), located inside Concourse D.

Both installations are constructed with paper, string and Australian pine branches and are meant to resemble kites and boats and suggest the idea of flight.

Want TSA PreCheck? Go buy some paper.

Summer is coming and checkpoint security lines at airports around the country are going to get longer.

So if you haven’t signed up for TSA’s PreCheck program yet, now would be a good time.

Don’t want to take an extra trip to the airport to do that? You may not have to if you’ve got a Staples office supply story nearby.

Staples office supply company and Idemia, the company that has the TSA contract to enroll people in the PreCheck program, have teamed up to set up IdentoGO enrollment centers in 50 Staples stores.

The cost of enrollment in the TSA PreCheck program is $85 and is good for five years at $17 per year.

Need to get new passport photo or a certified birth certificate?  Those IdentoGO Centers at Staples will help with those too.

 And if Staples isn’t in your community, check this site for another place to sign-up for TSA PreCheck.