Travel

Pay to skip to the front of the airport security line? It works -- sometimes.

It’s now full-speed ahead into the busy travel season. Planes are filled to the brim, airports are more crowded and tempers are short. Travelers of all stripes (business, vacation or family travel) are looking for strategies to make their trips go smoothly.

What about the TSA? Love them or loathe them, they are smack in the middle of any airplane trip. With less staff and more travelers, you’ll be waiting longer to get through security. There are a couple of things you can do to mitigate your misery.

Apply for Global Entry

It costs $100 for five years. You have to fill out an online application and go to the airport for a personal interview. They take your picture and your fingerprints.

The Global Entry program is designed for frequent international travelers — and speeds up your re-entry into the U.S. at the airport. The side benefit is that you get TSA Pre-Check. Feel free to rant and rave about the idea of paying more money and being fingerprinted. I did. But I got over it quickly after I passed the interview and now I go to the front of the line at security.

Some people can’t pass the application process for Global Entry, due to a variety of reasons, including a criminal record. TSA’s pre-check program costs $85 and also requires a background check. You will go to the enrollment center at the University Center in Anchorage to complete the process for pre-check, but you can begin by pre-enrolling online.*

The pre-check experience varies according to airlines and airport. Most major airports now have a dedicated pre-check line, but that’s not the case everywhere.
In Alaska, Anchorage has a dedicated line, but they don’t have one in Juneau or any other airport in the state. Sometimes, if you’re pre-check, the TSA employee checking your ID will give you a card, which means you can leave your shoes on. Usually you can walk through the metal detector instead of the expensive “hands-up” machine.

If you’re flying on Condor or Icelandair, you won’t get pre-check. That’s because those carriers do not participate in the program. Air Canada, which provides seasonal nonstop service from Anchorage to Vancouver, B.C., does participate, though.*

Last month, I traveled on Air New Zealand from LAX in Los Angeles. Many of the international flights go out of Terminal “T,” the Tom Bradley International Terminal. It’s a good thing I showed up three hours early, because it took about an hour and a half to get through security. Again, even though I had Global Entry, Air New Zealand does not participate in the pre-check program. In fact, there is no pre-check line at Terminal T. Many airline representatives were calling out for passengers who had flights that were boarding, to try and expedite their security check by bringing them to the front of the line.

Seattle’s Sea-Tac Airport has terrible lines at security. There are pre-check lines, but they’re not always open. After you clear customs in Seattle (or any other international gateway, including Anchorage), you have to go back through security for your connecting flights. There is a dedicated pre-check line near baggage claim for international travelers at Sea-Tac. But when I returned from Hong Kong last month, the pre-check line was closed. It took about 35 minutes to get through the line.

Elite-level frequent flyers and first class travelers can usually skip to the front of the line at most big airports. And it’s at the big airports like Chicago and Atlanta (and Seattle) that the security bottlenecks occur. But not all elite-level flyers are created equal. For example, in Anchorage you can use the short line if you’re “MVP” on Alaska. In Seattle, you have to be “MVP Gold” to cut in line.

Airline alliances

Elite frequent flyer status includes a number of benefits, in addition to the occasional first class upgrade. In today’s airline world, your elite status may transfer to other airlines. Here’s a quick refresher on airline alliances and how they affect Alaska travelers:

* If you are an MVP on Alaska Airlines, you’ll also receive extra consideration on American, Hainan Airlines, Icelandair, Emirates, Korean Air, Japan Air Lines and even Delta. That can mean better seats on the aircraft, bonus frequent flyer miles and early boarding.

* Delta Air Lines is part of the Skyteam Alliance that includes KLM, China Airlines, Alitalia, Aeroflot and Air France, among others.

* United Airlines started the Star Alliance, which includes Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand, Lufthansa, Air Canada, Copa Airlines, Asiana Airlines and others.

* American Airlines belongs to oneworld, which includes British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, LAN and Qantas, among others.

Some airlines belong to more than one alliance and others don’t belong to any. I flew earlier this week on Condor Air, which features the nonstop service from Anchorage to Frankfurt. The carrier does belong to Lufthansa’s “Miles and More” program, but not to other Star Alliance members, including United Airlines.

Aside from cutting in line with either pre-check or elite status, there’s not much you can do to avoid the long security lines this summer. I’ve experienced airport security in four different countries in the last couple of months. Every country approaches the airport security mission a little differently, but the U.S. seems to have the toughest time with it. As citizens, it appears we’re willing to put up with anything in exchange for the feeling of security.

So, now the TSA is encouraging travelers to be fingerprinted and investigated. In fact, they’ve cut their staffing budgets, assuming more travelers would sign up. Not enough people have invested the additional $85-$100 and endured the background checks, but the TSA is pressing ahead

As it stands today, you are not required to go through the pre-check process. But if you don’t want to pay the extra money, or if you can’t pass the background check, you’re going to wait. And this summer, you could be waiting a long, long time.

*Correction: An earlier version of this story implied that travelers who do not qualify for Global Entry would qualify for pre-check, despite having a criminal history. However, both Global Entry and TSA pre-check require background checks. It incorrectly stated that international carriers do not participate in the pre-check program. In fact, several airlines that operate from Anchorage and fly internationally do participate in pre-check:  Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Air Canada, JetBlue Airways, Sun Country and United.

Scott McMurren is an Anchorage-based marketing consultant, serving clients in the transportation, hospitality, media and specialty destination sectors, among others. Contact him by email at zoom907@me.com. You can follow him on Twitter (@alaskatravelGRM) and alaskatravelgram.com. For more information, visit alaskatravelgram.com/about.

Scott McMurren

Scott McMurren is an Anchorage-based marketing consultant, serving clients in the transportation, hospitality, media and specialty destination sectors, among others. Contact him by email at zoom907@me.com. Subscribe to his e-newsletter at alaskatravelgram.com. For more information, visit alaskatravelgram.com/about.

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