I’ve been getting randomly assigned it on my boarding passes for years, but I’d never understood why. For instance, I got it on my flight back from IAD this week, but not on my flight out from LAX. So here’s the story, sort of.
Anyway, they say it’s going to end, so if I want to get it, I have to actually sign up and pay the 85 bucks. So I decided to finally do it. I have to go to LAX with my passport and fingers on Monday morning to complete the process.
First the airlines are “nickel and dime-ing” with “pay a few bucks more to check a bag” and “pay some more bucks to not get deep-vein thrombosis from a coffin-sized seat space.”
Now the feral gummint is in on the act? Go the airport and write a check for 85 bucks to get preferential treatment. I thought we lived in a democratic republic, but this is Disneyland-style “market segmentation.”
Rand, I certainly don’t begrudge you choosing to spend $85 for this perk. I don’t begrudge the TSA speeding frequent fliers through the line based on their profiling system of whatever.
But are they going to offer (after spending 100+ bucks on a passport) for another 85 bucks a “cut in line at the National Parks and the Washington Monument” pass?
You won’t regret it, Rand. I did it a couple of months ago, and on my last trip, it saved me from missing my plane. I was leaving Vegas after a business trip, and when I saw the security gate, my heart sank. It was a glacier of people, which describes the mass and state of motion best. The TSA precheck line, however, had fewer that a dozen people in it, and flew through the checkpoint like it wasn’t there. I got all the way to the gate, then discovered that I had left my travel folder, with all of my receipts, back at the ticket counter. I went back, got the folder, went back through precheck and was at the gate well before boarding, and several minutes before some of the people who had gone into the regular line the same time I first went through the precheck arrived.
Actually, after I started to apply, but before I paid (that wouldn’t have happened until I went in for my appointment at LAX on Monday), someone suggested that I apply for Global Access instead, which is only $15 more ($100) and includes pre-check. The only problem with this is that it’s a more extensive process, with more background checks and an interview, and it may take a few weeks. I guess if I was in a hurry, I’d do both, but I have no immediate plans to fly.
Cheaper alternative: Fly Southwest and join the Rapid Rewards program.
How is that a “cheaper alternative”?
Southwest provides TSA Precheck for free as a Rapid Rewards benefit.
This is true. I use Southwest so often that when I recently flew on frontier to save a few dollars I was told that I could not use the pre check line and I had to start over in the slow line.
OK, but then I have to fly Southwest, and I don’t get the customs benefit.
What I’m doing will work for any airline.
OK, but then I have to fly Southwest
I believe that is exactly what I said.
It’s ironic that you’re complaining about how Customs costs you time and money, even while you want tighter border controls to stop illegal immigration. If you think those new controls will be cheap or efficient, or won’t affect you personally, you’re dreaming.
But then, I’m constantly amazed at how many “libertarians” who think government would be highly efficient if it just implemented the programs *they* want.
I sure wish that occasionally you’d respond to what I actually wrote, as opposed to what you imagine that I wrote.