PreCheck Is About to Feel Less Like PreCheck

TSA is preparing a redesigned PreCheck experience that will look quite different from the lanes travelers know. The agency says new setups will arrive at seven airports over about six weeks starting October 6. It has not named the airports, and existing PreCheck lanes stay as they are until they are upgraded.

The new lanes combine three pieces of technology. Electronic gates use facial matching to verify identity, reducing the need for an officer to check each document by hand. Passengers would walk through advanced imaging body scanners rather than the metal detectors PreCheck typically uses. And automated software would flag only the bag images that need an officer’s review, a tool already tested in Nashville and Las Vegas.

TSA Administrator David Cummins says the package should double throughput per lane and help add 20 million PreCheck members over three years, up from roughly 50 million today. He put the equipment cost at about $4 million per unit, with an expected three-year payback from operating savings and enrollment revenue. Staffing would shrink through attrition rather than layoffs.

What has not changed matters too. No loosening of carry-on rules has been confirmed, so the 3.4-ounce liquids limit still applies, even though water has been discussed as a possibility. A broader plan called Horizon 25 is set to launch officially in November, so more details should follow.

Sources: View from the Wing, Deep Arrival