TSA Precheck timing-how long before approval?

[Jimsig]

DH and I having been going back and forth on this. We may only fly a few times more in our lives. But decided to go for it.

Did you make an appointment but happen to be at staples and took care of it?

Staples by us, doesn't have an appointment for three weeks, I'd rather try for a walk in a few days. I'd be curious if it's waiting 1 hour or 5.

What you can always do is make an appointment for the 3 weeks out and keep checking and try to modify it to an earlier slot as people do cancel. But in the mean time or even before you make an appointment maybe you could call that Staples and ask them what the average wait time for a standby appointment is. If the average wait time is within your liking make a trip to the store. If doing standby your best bet might to rope drop and be there before it opens so you are hopefully the first one in standby.

If you only fly once a year it's $17 a trip or $8.50 each way which it not bad when you figure it that way. The first time we used it my daughter was under the age so she could tag along with us. For both the outbound and return trip there were about 200 people waiting in the regular security line and the pre-check line was empty. Right then and there I knew it was worth it. Especially if you fly through Orlando.


When I made my daughters appointment last summer Staples were pretty full but there was an appointment located about 50 miles away at an Identogo the following week. Luckily my parents have a vacation home near that location and we happened to be going down for a few days that week.

 

[gharter]

We generally fly about 2 or 3 times a year. However, going through security in 5 minutes instead of an hour + is priceless. Never regretted getting this and an easy renew when our time came up.

 

[EACarlson]

So many credit cards cover the cost of it that I don't even think about what it costs per year. Of course I fly 10 or so times a year but all it takes to be worth it in my mind is one morning departure from MCO. The first time I used Precheck it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and the regular line at MSP was 2.5 hours. Precheck was 15 minutes.

 

[Donna M]

DH and I having been going back and forth on this. We may only fly a few times more in our lives. But decided to go for it.

Did you make an appointment but happen to be at staples and took care of it?

Staples by us, doesn't have an appointment for three weeks, I'd rather try for a walk in a few days. I'd be curious if it's waiting 1 hour or 5.

I think that was our situation too, we had appointments a few weeks out but gave it a shot and were lucky to not have to wait in a line, only 10 minutes or so, we went on different days too. I cancelled the appointment when I got home.

I am glad we have it even though we only use it once a year. Being older, itś nice not having to take off our shoes, open our cpap bags, or get our liquids out.

 

[jo-jo]

I think that was our situation too, we had appointments a few weeks out but gave it a shot and were lucky to not have to wait in a line, only 10 minutes or so, we went on different days too. I cancelled the appointment when I got home.

I am glad we have it even though we only use it once a year. Being older, itś nice not having to take off our shoes, open our cpap bags, or get our liquids out.

Yes, this is more for me than DH. DH is old enough not to take off shoes. I handle the carry ons, so it’s me with the shoes, liquids, tablets, medical……

 

[MarBee]

Just got our daughter’s on Wednesday. We had the approval on Thursday night.

 

[CarlyMur09]

Did the appointment on Friday, and had our KTN’s this morning (Sunday.)

 

[jo-jo]

We attempted to do a walk-in this morning. Was up next, but then someone with an appointment showed up a few mins early. Took them, And the people kept coming. We waited about 40 mins and gave up. Tried different local about 25 mins away. Walked right in.

I’ll post when we get the numbers.

I got my number. About 36 hours from interview, 48 hours from first filling out form.

 

[gharter]

When we originally did this, I think we had our "interview" on Wednesday and our KTN on Friday.
Much faster than we expected.

 

[gparr]

My wife and I walked in this past Friday…had our KTN Saturday evening.

 

[sheilafri]

If it helps - there is a ap for this! The ap does not allow you to schedule a interview, what it does do it pop up with notifications when there is a available day/time at your pre - selected locations where you are willing to travel to interview.

We applied - my husband had his conditional approval (or whatever it is called) and ability to go interview in 24 hours. I'm still waiting, and it's been a good month. We wonder if my husband got approved so fast due to his already being cleared for base passed on Ft. Meade/NSA & Ft. Belvoir - but who knows. I've read it can take upwards of 9 months to hear back.

The app is called Global Interview. Again, it doesn't let you schedule - just alerts you to openings. And I was told by a border agent that they often release openings on Tuesdays, sometimes Mondays. No idea if it's true or not...just passing it along!

We have a international flight later this year, might do the walk-in interview when we arrive, although honestly the last thing I feel like doing is waiting around after a long vacation and a 10 hour flight.

I did the post-return interview a couple years ago as my original appointment was canceled. It was pretty painless. Just mentioned it to the passport control agent. He walked me over to the area at the end of passport control, there were a couple people ahead of me so I had to wait about 10 minutes. When I got out DH said he had just gotten our luggage, so it really only held us up by a couple minutes. I believe I had to have a confirmation number of some sort with me. This was just after a return flight from Europe.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

We did ours last month. Made an appointment, on a Saturday. DH got his in less than 3 days. Mine took 3.5 weeks. Figured that mine was more difficult due to name changes.