When Is TSA Pre-check Not the Best Option?

a group of people in an airport

When every elite has it.

At the beginning of our mileage run this weekend, Jeanne & I parted ways at Dulles Airport security, me to the TSA pre-check line, Jeanne to the regular security line which was showing a 25 minute wait.

I get to my line and see, not kidding, at least 70 people in line.

a group of people in an airport

Ouch, looks like I was barely going to beat Jeanne through security, but at least I wouldn’t have to take my shoes off and my liquids out. 10 minutes later and I still hadn’t made it to the agent checking IDs, so it looked like Jeanne might win.

screens screenshot of a social media post

I finally make it through security in about 25 min and head down to wait for Jeanne. 10 minutes later I still hadn’t seen her and I was getting worried since our flight had probably started boarding. I send her a text message only to discover she was already on the plane!

She’d made it through security in 5 minutes because there was no one in the elite line (they were all upstairs with me!) and figured my tweet was a joke and I was already at the gate when she got through.

I did make it to the gate, but only after all of zone 5 had already boarded! I was not the last person in first to board though – the back was full but half of the front cabin was empty. Probably folks like me stuck in security.

Definitely not a good day for TSA pre-check and possibly some karmic payback for my post last week?

—————–

What did you think of this post? Give us a +1 below or leave a comment!

And don’t miss out on any of our adventures and tips. Get instant updates via e-mail or RSS Feed and follow us on twitter and Facebook.

Heels First’s Travel Advice–Sophisticated Travel, Uncomplicated Advice. The travels and tribulations of two frequent flyers jumping into the world of travel, sharing their travel advice. Join Keri and Jeanne as they tackle mileage runs, elite status, and of course–the perfect travel accessories.

Full Disclosure: I may receive affiliate credit from links in this post or on this site which will help fund my travels. Thank you for your support!

Related Posts:

4 Comments

  1. TSA is a joke; giving the traveling public a false sense of security. Just another bloated governmental agency.

  2. It’s a funny story, but I really wish people would stop flying to boycott the TSA. If we refused to put up with it, either the airlines would all go bankrupt or they would pressure the politicians to get rid of TSA. I’m betting on the latter.

  3. I have pre-TSA, but it did me no good in New York a few weeks ago because I have 2 knee replacements and when I go thru a regular x-ray, they set the machine off. They don’t have the new xray machines in that line; why should they, everyone is pre-screened. Worse, now they bring out not one, but two female TSAs to take me to a private room to check me. I’d have been better off staying in the interminable regular line and going through the new machine. What a bummer. Can’t win either way. Bin Laden knew exactly how to cripple us.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *