To TSAPre or not to TSAPre – the American / USAirways problem

by MilesFromBlighty 6 Comments

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These boarding passes all originated from a single American Airlines ticket, Las Vegas to LA, to Philadelphia to Dublin. The first segment was on American, and the next two on USAirways. The booking had my passport information in, and my BA number for all of the segments.

At check-in at Vegas the agent printed the three passes at the same time, yet only one scored PreCheck.

I suppose it could be that, as the TSA say, PreCheck is random, or there is something odd between the AA and US systems.

As it was, the important (i.e. busy airport) gave me PreCheck, and I was able to connect airside at LA to US, so didn’t need to experience the normal TSA line.

Have you had this problem with US/AA?

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  1. I don’t think this is unusual. If I understand you, at LA and PHL you were changing planes, which usually means you don’t have to outside of security so you don’t need to go through security again at all, therefore no Pre-Check is needed.

  2. Nope. Never had the problem.
    .
    Then again, I have Global Entry, and I have a “Trusted Traveler” number. I put my “Trusted Traveler” number in each FF program’s website.
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    I always get TSAPre, unless it is a direct international flight on a carrier that does not participate in the program.
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    Besides, since you were making connections and had no reason to leave the airport, the only one that matters is the first one.
    .
    That may be an artifact of the USAir system.

  3. My wife and I are members of Global Entry and have Trusted Traveler #s. On a flight with JetBlue, she was Pre✅ and I was not. When I asked I was told that I had a 20% chance of not being Pre✅. I wasn’t too happy.

  4. Often have same problem. That integration of the two airlines is a mess! So sad their customers continue to suffer.

  5. My husband, teen daughter and I travel about 6-8 times per year together. We do not have Global Entry. Every time we travel, two of us are randomly selected for TSA Pre and the remaining family member is not. There is no apparent order to this process; but always one of the three of us is without TSA Pre. ALWAYS. Because we do not want to split up, we all end up going through the general security lane. So in the end, the so-called random process of assigning TSA Pre is not working for this family.

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