In which I give the US government my fingerprints

[carbonel]

Despite the fact that I generally fly several times a year, I have dragged my feet on signing up for PreCheck for privacy reasons. Delta used to give it to me on most flights as an unrequested perk, but that stopped years ago.

I finally gave in and signed up last month. I want it for the shorter lines and getting to keep my shoes on, as well as much preferring metal detectors to the naked scanners. I had intended to do Global Entry, which includes PreCheck, but the wait time for that is about five months, and the one for PreCheck was minimal.

The actual process was simple. I filled out forms on the website, and signed up for an appointment a couple of weeks in the future. My original appointment was for July 3, but it was canceled, presumably because someone decided to close the office on the day before July 4, but there was availability on July 5.

The site was a ten-minute drive from my house. The visit to the ID facility also took ten minutes, so the entire deal was about half an hour. I answered a few questions, gave the computer my fingerprints, and paid my money.

The cost was $78 for five years. As I mentioned in a discussion elsewhere, this is a bit of a Vimes's boot situation, since that comes to just over $15/year, but $78 might be a chunk of money to amass all at once for people whose employer expects them to have it but won't pay for it.

Comments

[quadong]

I also fly several times a year, but have not signed up for PreCheck. I don't think privacy concerns are my reason. Going through the regular security lines is an exercise in having no privacy (I get a pat down instead of a naked scanner, which doesn't change the bottom line), and while I guess giving them your fingerprints is a different kind of loss of privacy than having them root through your luggage and scan/pat your body, it doesn't seem like an obviously *greater* loss.

I'm pretty sure the reason I haven't done it is because it is a ceremony in which one officially capitulates to the world of security theater, and pays money for having the privilege of being allowed to capitulate.

[jazzfish]

I've been a Nexus (Global Entry) member since about three months after I moved to Vancouver. It's pretty great except that flights out of the US have a good chance of not picking up on it, for whatever reason.

[dreamshark]

Richard and I got Global Entry (which includes TSA Pre-Check) a few years ago because I had a credit card that reimbursed the $100 fee. It has been worth its weight in gold, primarily because of the drastically shorter security line. Every time we have just walked straight through the nearly empty TSA-Precheck line past huge lines in the regular lanes I ask myself why on earth every traveler doesn't have this. But of course, if they did then the Pre-Check lane would be just as slow as the regular one so I'm glad they don't.

As quadong says, I don't see any way that signing up for this service compromises my so-called privacy any more than flying already does. About the only way to travel these days where you couldn't be tracked every step of the way by malevolent government agencies (or hackers) is hitchhiking. Or possibly Greyhound. I haven't taken a cross-country bus in such a long time I don't even know if they now require ID to purchase a ticket.

[raine]

The government already has my fingerprints from my military service, so it's more of a matter of filling out the paperwork and getting my husband to do it, too, because I fly enough that I've sort of lost my patience with people who act like it's their first time flying, ever, or can't read the signs, or, well, be people. Glad to know the PreCheck process isn't cheap but is also not that difficult - thanks for sharing!

[athenais]

I find Global Entry well worth the cost since I travel internationally yearly, and I just did not feel like my privacy was that big a concern. I've gotten background checks done on me for jobs in the past. I am, however, dragging my feet on California's Real ID. They can just bite me. I'll travel over the border with my passport until absolutely forced to sign up for a more expensive driver's license.