Why Are TSA Pre-Check Lines Getting So Much Longer?

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Joe and I have had Global Entry, and with it, TSA PreCheck, for about 8 years now. For years after we got it, we’d go to our home airport of MCO and the only people on the TSA PreCheck line were us. Or maybe there’d be a small handful of people in front of us. Not many; just 2 or 3. Once we’d get past the security officer, we’d usually be the only ones putting our stuff on the conveyor belt. Or maybe we’d have 1 person in front of us. Two tops.

Times have changed and nowadays the TSA PreCheck queue often has upwards of 10 to 15 people waiting to get their ID/boarding pass checked by (usually two, not just one) TSA officers. After that, there are 2 dedicated queues (never just one anymore), each with about 5 to 10 waiting to put their stuff on the conveyor belt and themselves through the scanners (by the way, this is what TSA workers see on those body scanners nowadays. Quite a change, huh?)

The Transportation Security Administration says that in April 2022, 94% of TSA PreCheck passengers waited less than 5 minutes. I could agree with that – with the occasional exception, that’s pretty much what we’ve experienced.

But still, after 8 years (well, really 6. Figure 2 of those years were COVID and significantly fewer people were traveling), why were the lines so much longer than they’ve virtually doubled the number of officers and scanners?

I intended to find out.

For background, in March 2020, the TSA had a press release that said, “TSA PreCheck™ reaches milestone with 10 million members.”

Fast forward 2 years and 2 months…in May, 2022, they put out another release, “The State of the Transportation Security Administration.” This one was a transcript of the speech David P. Pekoske, the  Administrator of the TSA gave to the House Committee on Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security. It’s typical of any government release…all the wonderful things they’ve done since 9/11, agile and responsive security across all modes of transportation, how far the TSA reaches (430 airports, BTW), they prevented nearly 5,500 firearms from being brought into plane cabins, yadda yadda yadda. You can read it all here.

But one sentence got my attention:

“…bringing the total number of Known Traveler Number holders to over 27 million.” (as per TSA, a Known Traveler Number (KTN) is issued to all individuals approved to receive TSA PreCheck® expedited screening).

Twenty-seven million? Well, that would certainly explain why the lines were longer. But then again, in March 2020, it was only 10 million! How did they get 17 million people in just 2 years (during a pandemic, no less), when it took them 7 years to get to 10 million?

That number just seemed way too high, so I did some more searching. And yeah…I don’t know where Pekoske was getting that 27 million from, but the TSA themselves said in a January 2022 press release that in 2021, “seven new airlines joined the TSA PreCheck program and over 1.8 million individuals enrolled in the expedited screening program, bringing the total number of Known Traveler Number holders to over 11 million.”

So what’d they do, get 16 million PreCheck members in 4 months? I don’t think so. 😉

According to the daily statistics the TSA releases, Americans are traveling not quite as much as they were in 2019 (the last full year before the pandemic), but it’s getting close (just from eyeballing it, it looks like roughly 75% to well over 90% of 2019’s numbers, depending on the day. So figure an average of about 85%? Give or take?). So with fewer passengers than in 2019, even with a 10% increase in PreCheck members, why are the PreCheck lines so much longer than they were before the pandemic?

I have no idea. I’ve been in the queue and nothing is really taking any longer. But as long as they double up on the officers so the wait is still 5 minutes or less, I’m not complaining.

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