TSA Pre-Check 13 year old

[h&D3]

Debating on signing up for TSA precheck for our trip August 2024. Do we need to sign up for this prior to purchasing our airline tickets or how does this work (can it be added after we purchase)?
DH and I will get this as DD is only 16. So I've heard that we don't need to get it for her.
DS has a CLEAR membership through his work, but I'm not sure if I really want to pay $180 for all 3 of to get it.

 

[RoseGold]

Do we need to sign up for this prior to purchasing our airline tickets or how does this work (can it be added after we purchase)?

Most airlines will let you login and modify the traveler information, which includes adding this later. I've done it within days of travel when I'm not booked on my usual airlines.

 

[sam_gordon]

Debating on signing up for TSA precheck for our trip August 2024. Do we need to sign up for this prior to purchasing our airline tickets or how does this work (can it be added after we purchase)?

Yes. You can call the airline or login and add your KTN number once you get it. Just make sure the names match between what the airline has for you and what PreCheck has for you.

DH and I will get this as DD is only 16. So I've heard that we don't need to get it for her.

I think/thought the "included" Precheck for kids is for those under 13. If I'm wrong, someone will correct me.

DS has a CLEAR membership through his work, but I'm not sure if I really want to pay $180 for all 3 of to get it.

What are you going to do if you and DH gets precheck but DD doesn't? Send her through the normal security line by herself (nothing wrong with that)? One of you goes with her and the other goes PC? All three of you go normal security? If the last, there's no sense in having precheck (at least for this trip).

 

[EACarlson]

Debating on signing up for TSA precheck for our trip August 2024. Do we need to sign up for this prior to purchasing our airline tickets or how does this work (can it be added after we purchase)?
DH and I will get this as DD is only 16. So I've heard that we don't need to get it for her.
DS has a CLEAR membership through his work, but I'm not sure if I really want to pay $180 for all 3 of to get it.

There is another thread in this forum somewhere discussing whether or not TSA changed the policy. My position based on the press release from TSA is that the policy wasn't changed, but the algorithm may have been tweaked so more 13-17 year olds traveling with those that have Pre are getting it. I would recommend getting Pre for all three of you as soon as possible. Check your credit cards, many of them will pay for at least one of you. I wouldn't risk my daughter not getting Pre because I wasn't willing to pay for it, and since it's good for five years it will serve her up till 21. I've had pre for 4 years now and will never be without it again.

I wouldn't bother with Clear unless you are flying on a very regular basis out of one of the few airports that does not have separate lines for Pre and Clear+Pre. I'm currently on a three month free trial from Clear and flew from DCA yesterday, having Clear saved me two minutes vs not. My co-worker does not have Clear and was pretty much right behind me. I called to cancel this morning and they gave me two more months free. That takes me through my October trip to MCO, if I don't see a huge 60+ minute savings there, I'm going to get rid of it.

 

[Jimsig]

I wouldn't bother with Clear unless you are flying on a very regular basis out of one of the few airports that does not have separate lines for Pre and Clear+Pre. I'm currently on a three month free trial from Clear and flew from DCA yesterday, having Clear saved me two minutes vs not. My co-worker does not have Clear and was pretty much right behind me. I called to cancel this morning and they gave me two more months free. That takes me through my October trip to MCO, if I don't see a huge 60+ minute savings there, I'm going to get rid of it.

I have Clear for free through my Amex Card, I also have Pre. Used it in April for the first time with no issue. Went to use it at DCA on my return to BOS 2 weeks ago and the retina scan was fine and my info popped right up but 2 scanners could not read either my paper or mobile boarding pass. Sounded like it was an issue they were having now and then. The Clear rep took me to the pre-check line and told them I was having issues with the document scan so the TSA agent had to do it anyway. I'll see how I do on my return trip from MCO to BOS in a few weeks.

Unfortunately they do not have Clear at Terminal C for JetBlue at Logan, Only A (Delta) and B (SWA, United, AA) has it. Not sure why Terminal C doesn't have it. Terminal E probably doesn't have it as that's the Intl terminal in BOS. Though if I only had carry on and was flying JetBlue out of BOS I could use Term B security and walk over to C. Unfortunately it's not conducive to do this if you have to check luggage.

 

[Mike Marzano]

Debating on signing up for TSA precheck for our trip August 2024. Do we need to sign up for this prior to purchasing our airline tickets or how does this work (can it be added after we purchase)?
DH and I will get this as DD is only 16. So I've heard that we don't need to get it for her.
DS has a CLEAR membership through his work, but I'm not sure if I really want to pay $180 for all 3 of to get it.

As long as you get your Known Traveler Number and provide it before you get your boarding pass, you're fine. Like we use the American Airlines app to check in for our flight and get boarding pass, as long as we have the current Known Traveler Number in our American account before we check in via the app, TSA Pre-Check will be indicated on our boarding pass.

When my wife was transitioning between Pre-Check and Global Entry, she didn't realize her KTN from Pre-Check was still in her American account and expired, so her boarding pass did not indicate TSA Pre-Check. She had to call (or stop at the ticket counter I forget) with her Global Entry KTN to get it fixed and a new boarding pass.

As for teens, I went on a trip to Disney with our son(14) in June, he was covered by my TSA Pre-Check. His ticket was noted with Pre-Check. He does not have his own. He was also covered last October (13 at the time) by our Pre-Check, as he was on trips when he was younger.

 

[sam_gordon]

As long as you get your Known Traveler Number and provide it before you get your boarding pass, you're fine. Like we use the American Airlines app to check in for our flight and get boarding pass, as long as we have the current Known Traveler Number in our American account before we check in via the app, TSA Pre-Check will be indicated on our boarding pass.

A) Even if you don't have your KTN number when you get your BP, you can add it and the airline can reissue the BP. When I went on my first flight after getting KTN, my BP didn't have "Pre-Check". I called the airline and found out my name with the airline was 'firstnamemiddlename lastname' (apparently been that way for years). But when I applied for Pre-check, I did it just under 'firstname lastname', since the names didn't match, I didn't get Pre-check. The airline was able to fix whatever while I was talking to them on the phone and I had Pre-Check when I flew the next day.
B) After having Pre-Check for almost a year, DW & I were flying back from a vacation. Not only did I not have "Pre-check" on my BP, I couldn't get my BP. I had been selected for the dreaded "Secondary Security Screening". Didn't help that this was in a foreign country, they (security) was 'pushing' me through the line, which of course DW had to wait in, security took my passport in one direction, I waited on DW to get through the metal detector, hoping I could figure out where he went with it (fortunately I did).

 

[EACarlson]

As long as you get your Known Traveler Number and provide it before you get your boarding pass, you're fine. Like we use the American Airlines app to check in for our flight and get boarding pass, as long as we have the current Known Traveler Number in our American account before we check in via the app, TSA Pre-Check will be indicated on our boarding pass.

This is not true for most other airlines and don't actually think it is true for AA. Adding the KTN to your profile on airlines websites will add it to new reservations going forward, you will still need to go into your current reservations and add the KTN there.

 

[Mike Marzano]

This is not true for most other airlines and don't actually think it is true for AA. Adding the KTN to your profile on airlines websites will add it to new reservations going forward, you will still need to go into your current reservations and add the KTN there.

I can only go by what AA rep told my wife AFTER her KTN expired and she didn't realize until she got her boarding pass in the app.

It was several years ago, so things could have changed. OR the rep had given us wrong info.

 

[Mike Marzano]

A) Even if you don't have your KTN number when you get your BP, you can add it and the airline can reissue the BP. When I went on my first flight after getting KTN, my BP didn't have "Pre-Check". I called the airline and found out my name with the airline was 'firstnamemiddlename lastname' (apparently been that way for years). But when I applied for Pre-check, I did it just under 'firstname lastname', since the names didn't match, I didn't get Pre-check. The airline was able to fix whatever while I was talking to them on the phone and I had Pre-Check when I flew the next day.

Yes, 2nd paragraph of my post, I explained how my wife called (or stopped at ticket counter, I can't remember which, as it was several years ago) to have her boarding pass fixed after noticing hers in the app (after checking in 24hrs before flight) didn't have Pre-Check on it. When checking in for the return flight in the app, Pre-Check was on the boarding pass she received in the app.

B) After having Pre-Check for almost a year, DW & I were flying back from a vacation. Not only did I not have "Pre-check" on my BP, I couldn't get my BP. I had been selected for the dreaded "Secondary Security Screening". Didn't help that this was in a foreign country, they (security) was 'pushing' me through the line, which of course DW had to wait in, security took my passport in one direction, I waited on DW to get through the metal detector, hoping I could figure out where he went with it (fortunately I did).

You mention the experience was in a foreign country? I thought Pre-Check was for domestic only. Global Entry is needed for returning from International destinations. I haven't travel internationally yet, so I don't know their procedures.

 

[sam_gordon]

Yes, 2nd paragraph of my post, I explained how my wife called (or stopped at ticket counter, I can't remember which, as it was several years ago) to have her boarding pass fixed after noticing hers in the app (after checking in 24hrs before flight) didn't have Pre-Check on it. When checking in for the return flight in the app, Pre-Check was on the boarding pass she received in the app.

You're right, I missed it.

You mention the experience was in a foreign country? I thought Pre-Check was for domestic only. Global Entry is needed for returning from International destinations. I haven't travel internationally yet, so I don't know their procedures.

Yes, foreign country. But my BP for the connecting, Domestic flight also didn't have PC. My wife's did. The point is even having a valid KTN number doesn't guarantee pre-check status.

 

[pschro1]

Just to put a bow on this topic, I did chat/text with TSA and they said that my 13 year old wont be guaranteed Pre-Check unless he has his own KTN. We will get him his own KTN when the date gets closer to actually traveling. This way we will feel more comfortable knowing that he will be almost guaranteed to get it.

As far as adding a KTN to an exisiting reservation, I do have some experience with this. When my wife created her own southwest account (so she could get the points), I accidently mistyped her KTN into her account. When it came to check in day and I realised she didnt have Pre-Check we panicked. I don't remember if we were able to fix it online, or if we had to go through southwest themself, but the KTN number was fixed and she was able to reprint her boarding pass with the pre-check symbol on it.

So while I can't necessarily speak for other airlines, we were able to "add" precheck to my wifes southwest reservation less then 24 hours before we flew.

 

[EACarlson]

Just to put a bow on this topic, I did chat/text with TSA and they said that my 13 year old wont be guaranteed Pre-Check unless he has his own KTN. We will get him his own KTN when the date gets closer to actually traveling. This way we will feel more comfortable knowing that he will be almost guaranteed to get it.

As far as adding a KTN to an exisiting reservation, I do have some experience with this. When my wife created her own southwest account (so she could get the points), I accidently mistyped her KTN into her account. When it came to check in day and I realised she didnt have Pre-Check we panicked. I don't remember if we were able to fix it online, or if we had to go through southwest themself, but the KTN number was fixed and she was able to reprint her boarding pass with the pre-check symbol on it.

So while I can't necessarily speak for other airlines, we were able to "add" precheck to my wifes southwest reservation less then 24 hours before we flew.

You can certainly add the KTN, it's the method of adding it that you have to watch. With Southwest and Delta for sure. You have to add it to the specific reservation if it's not in the profile when the reservation is made. Simply adding it to the profile will not add it to previously booked reservations.

 

[Jimsig]

...
As far as adding a KTN to an exisiting reservation, I do have some experience with this. When my wife created her own southwest account (so she could get the points), I accidently mistyped her KTN into her account. When it came to check in day and I realised she didnt have Pre-Check we panicked. I don't remember if we were able to fix it online, or if we had to go through southwest themself, but the KTN number was fixed and she was able to reprint her boarding pass with the pre-check symbol on it.

So while I can't necessarily speak for other airlines, we were able to "add" precheck to my wifes southwest reservation less then 24 hours before we flew.

Happened to my brother, they accidently entered his wife's KTN for both of them. Of course they didn't find out until about 2 hours before the flight as we were driving to the airport as they didn't bother checking in around the 24 hour mark like I suggested. Luckily a JB agent realized what had happened, they had 2 separate reservations due to paying for points for a couple tickets and a credit card for the others and she was able to look at both of the reservations. She then let them use a computer to look up my brothers KTN as for some reasons no one could get a cell signal to look it up on their phones. Once they had that figured out she printed new BP's and Pre-Check showed.