LGBprechecklane

LGBprechecklane

Photo courtesy of TSA

Forget the days of showing up an hour and a half before your flight at Long Beach Airport. For the frequent airline traveler, it will soon soon be possible to get into the airport and through security in a fraction of that time. 

At least that’s the goal, says Federal Security Director Nancy Baggot, who oversees the John Wayne and Long Beach airports, the latter of which is rolling out Transportation Security Administration’s PreCheck system sometime in the next week.

PreCheck is a pre-screening initiative already installed in at least 80 airports that allows expedited screening for passengers that have information on file. Passengers must be flying on one of the seven participating major airlines and can become enrolled in PreCheck either through the airlines’ frequent flyer programs or through an online application.

Those who carry Customs and Border Protection’s Global Entry, Sentri and Nexus passes are also eligible for PreCheck.

“TSA’s goal is to deter and detect terrorist acts, so we’re looking for a needle in a haystack. So it makes sense for us to make that haystack smaller to make the needle easier to find,” Baggot said of the idea behind PreCheck. “We want to transition most of the traveling public into a pre-check category so we can do expedited screenings on these people.”

Once assigned a Known Traveler Number by the TSA and a boarding pass through an approved airline, PreCheck passengers can use a separate screening lane where they are allowed to leave on shoes and jackets and are not required to remove electronics or liquids from their bag.

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Of the four airlines that fly out from Long Beach Airport, three–US Airways, Alaska and Delta–are already partnered with TSA on the PreCheck initiatve. In November, Jet Blue will be joining, meaning the remaining 80% of LGB’s passengers will soon be flying on a PreCheck-participating airline. 

Baggot’s goal is to have 25% of all flying public at Long Beach going through TSA PreCheck lanes by the end of the year.

“On our busiest days, we serve 6000 passengers. If I could take 25% of that population and have those people expedited in one lane going through the security at one-fifth the amount of time, I can also provide better customer service,” Baggot said. “Security is our priority but you can do that with customer service, too.”

With a soft roll-out in these early days of October, the PreCheck lanes at LGB will be open in the mornings from 5:30AM-7:30AM, as that is when the majority of US Airways, Alaska and Delta priority passengers fly. In December, once Jet Blue signs on, then the lane will be open and staffed all day long.

All PreCheck passengers are still subject to random additional screenings.

“We want to remain random and unpredictable,” Baggot said.  

For more information on PreCheck or to learn how to obtain a Known Passenger Number, visit TSA.gov

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