ha happened the last time I traveled with my family, i sent then ahead with the bags and they met me in the lounge, why on earth should they have to wait just because I didnt get it together to get precheck?
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Hubby usually goes through line with me (unless I luck out and also get precheck), but…. he usually has my ticket on his cellphone.
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Used to work that way but no more. Daughter said they stopped giving the second passenger the pre-check status last year.
Daughter has precheck but boyfriend didn’t buy it. She says that’s his problem and makes him go through the regular line while she goes ahead. They actually fly a lot and she doesn’t understand why he doesn’t get it.
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Sensible daughter! I think early in a relationship it would be polite to stick together for the first trip or two. After that it’s on the other person to get their act together or be left standing in line by themselves.
Leaving the security line to pee may not be a great idea - it may attract the wrong attention…
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The boyfriend should at least check the potential passengers nearby in the security line before choosing. I mean if there’s a “hot guy” nearby in her line he may be rolling the dice by leaving her to fend for herself…
Ditto if it’s the other way around also.
If time is tight and pre-checked person can’t miss the flight then yes, go ahead. If it’s a leisure flight or there is enough time then do it together. Person with pre-check can be thoughtful and go together but person without pre-check can be thoughtful and ask other person to go ahead. Either way, it’s not a big deal.
Another vote for meeting up after security. It just slows down the line even more to have the extra person when they don’t need to be there. And she should give her liquids to the bf doing pre check.
If she can’t afford tsa pre check that would make a great gift if they are going to continue to travel together. Lots of CC give discounts for precheck or even covers it entirely.
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I second what @momofboiler1 said. Give her the $ to sign up for precheck for the future as a holiday gift. It is good for several years. Some airlines offer to pay for it as part of their credit card benefits. The application doesn’t take very long, and TSA Pre is a great perk to have. In busy airports, ATL for example, any extra people in the regular line slows it down for everyone trying to get through to their flights.
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Exactly! Especially the electronics
Couple should stay together. If my boyfriend left me to go through TSA it would be a huge red flag and I’d wonder what other disrespectful things he might do down the line. I have a disability so I could be more sensitive to this topic.
In fact this was a recent issue just a few weeks ago. There were 4 of us on a girl’s trip. One made the Uber reservations for us. I let the group know I was worried it wouldn’t leave us enough time because of security. I was upset because she only took her needs in consideration when two of us did not have TSA pre. This was a planned girls trip together. In my mind that means going to the airport together(we all live on the same block) and running through the motions together at the airport, because on past trips with other friends that’s how we do it. We stick together and as that was the point of making the trip in the first place.
As I said I have a disability, so flying is actually a lot easier if a friend or family member can go through security with me. Obviously I do travel solo and make things work but if I’m traveling with friends or family I expect we all stay together.
I find it extremely rude to leave someone on their own because they don’t have TSA pre unless the non TSA person literally does not care and tells the TSA approved person to please go ahead, and I’ll see you on the other side. I’d probably only say that if they really needed to get to the restroom. 
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If boyfriend is still looking for a gift for girlfriend,
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While a little different, I have pre-check, my 2 traveling mates do not. I always go through pre-check (gone are the days when “traveling together” meant we all could pre-check), they do not. While we aren’t boy/girl friend, we look at it as me taking up more security time/space for those in that line. We don’t need that. One of my mates has 2 knee replacements that takes extra time through security. Nope, traditional TSA security line doesn’t need an extra body/bags to be worried about.
My husband has pre-check. I don’t. We periodically have a little race… the person who can get through their security line first wins bragging rights for 15 minutes. On many occasions, when I used the airline status line, I came out ahead, especially at SEA (I am very strategic about picking the machine to send my crap through 
). One thing we learned is that only one laptop is allowed to stay on the bags of a pre-check person, so I now take mine with me.
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My daughter’s boyfriend has had 3-4 years to get pre-check and has failed to do it. Daughter usually books the tickets (because she was taught to do it when she was 15 years old and boyfriend graduated from college with his mother still booking all his travel) and because she had precheck he usually was given it too but as I said, that changed. Should she have to ‘waste’ her pre=check because he doesn’t sign up for it?
If you have a disability, you can take a wheelchair and get through the pre-check/faster lane, just ask at the check in for a wheelchair. We do this for my mother who doesn’t usually use a wheelchair but walking at the airport is too far for her. Sometimes they let the companions go through the wheelchair lane too.
If you need help, ask for it but don’t hold it against your travel companions because they have pre-check. For the Uber, yes, you have to get to the airport with the time you need for checking luggage, going through security, etc.and you also have to be prepared that pre-check isn’t always available (got there once at 4 am and we had to go through the regular line, and it was a bunch of business travelers with all the electronics and shoes and belts that weren’t used to having to load it all into bins - talk about a slow down!)
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We have not found that to be the case. I get TSA precheck automatically but my traveling companions on the same reservation haven’t received it. I wait for them at the other side of security.
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Capital One credit card will pay for Global Entry as a member benefit. I highly recommend it. I will never go without it again.
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I just made 2 of my daughters appointments for tsa pre, the earliest one I could get was 1/6 and 1 goes back to college on the 9th, glad to see this post. And I think it’s fair to split up.
Yes, if it were just a matter of waiting longer in line, I would not go ahead. But it’s also having to take your shoes and jacket off, taking your baggie of liquids out, and going though the longer, more invasive scan.
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For everyone looking at this for college students, if there is Clear at your airport it is the easiest thing every, $50 a year and there is NO LINE EVER
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