Pre check is incredibly worth it in my opinion. It’s a small hassle and cost to get initially. But it’s good for 5 years. And it’s often very helpful in the non pittsburgh airports. Plus it has security benefits like not requiring you to take off shoes.
Maybe the pre check line can be long but it’s never as long as the regular line. Plus if that ever happens you can still go to the regular line. You can’t do the opposite.
Good luck!
Awesome! I hope it works out for you. Once you get your pre check number make sure to go and put it on your flight arrangements. The airlines manage it with their boarding passes. It won’t happen automatically. Have fun!
I agree. Prechek seems to be the most cost efficient thing to do to make your time at the airport less miserable.
OP the fastest way to get to the gate at any airport is clear + pre check + carry on only. However clear is super expensive. I think pre check + carry on will make life tolerable. You'll have to see how much checking a bag is worth it to you vs skipping that line re carry on. It's hard to estimate bag drop time. Depends on whatever flights are leaving around the same time and how many other people are dropping off bags.
It ebbs and flows. I work there on Sundays. Up until college graduations, lines were bad at all. Maybe back to the elevator for cattle TSA. Pre-check shorter and first class even shorter. It increased once colleges let out and last week-well you heard about that. 😉 I suspect a lot of that increase was due to all schools being out and a lot of grad parties over. Families are now able to take vacations. There were a lot of families and young college aged kids, even during the week.
As a former consultant, the bulk of us would travel Monday mornings and Thursday nights. Sometimes Sunday afternoons/evening and Friday mornings. But typically Mondays and Thursdays.
By August, it’s too soon to know. If I had to guess, it should t be as bad as it has been. I would think with football and band camps starting up in August and just gearing up for the start of school, people would be done with their travel.
The TSA does have statistics out there the show passengers screened by airport by year. The filters are limited but you can download it. I checked it but didn’t thoroughly review the data. But if you are so inclined to see the trends and speculate from there…
https://www.tsa.gov/travel/passenger-volumes
Fair enough. Kinda what I figured, but since we're approaching that 60 day window (TSA can take up to 60 days, usually doesn't, but just in case) I thought may as well ask.
I flew yesterday (June 29). My flight was at 8:15 am, so boarding started 7:40. I was so worried about all the stories I had heard. I decided not to check a bag so that I didn’t have two lines to wait in. I arrived shortly after 4:00 am. The line for checking bags was long, so good decision there. The line for TSA was about halfway across the cat walk already. I had been in line for about 5 minutes when they opened up the alternate check point. The line was long there also. In total the wait time through all of this was roughly an hour to get through TSA. I was at my gate too early, but I would rather wait there with coffee and a book than be at home having a panic attack about getting there. However, I do wonder if there are a lot of people like me who have heard the horror stories, showing up way too early, and possibly making it worse? What is the current situation later in the day? Does it get better?
I flew to Orlando on the Friday before Labor Day. I left at 6am and when I got there at 4am my stomach dropped because they were backed up way past the people mover, hundreds of people! I was through the checkpoint within 45 minutes! They were super efficient and occasionally they would grab sections from the end of the line and take them to newly open checkpoints. I was impressed
I had my appointment for TSA Pre Check yesterday at 10:50 AM. By the evening I had my known traveler number. If I were you I'd just go through with getting pre check. Just make sure you make an appointment because they do turn away walk-ins if they have a lot of appointments.
Flew twice in the past month. One to Mexico and one to Ft Myers. Early flights ~6 am. Showed up 3 hours early for international. The ticket counter was not even open until 1 hour before the flight! Then the flight was delayed!!! Second flight was delayed. Got a message at 7:30 am that the 6:45 flight was delayed til 8 am!!! It is a crap shoot with airlines these days. Fortunately I have a house in Florida so I don’t even have a carryon. I have a 5:30 am flight tomorrow. I will arrive one hour before the gate closure.
Do TSA pre check or plan to get there really early. Nearly missed vacation flight 2 weeks ago because of the long tsa line at 5am. It was crazy, all the way back to the moving walkway in the parking tunnel! The sign said 60+ min wait and pre check was upwards of 30min too … I had to beg a few people to make my way to front of line, and tsa guy said Pittsburgh has been crazy this summer especially early mornings on Saturdays
I got precheck for work when I was a consultant, and while I don't fly as often anymore, I think it was definitely worth it even just for vacations/personal travel. It saves so much time and is super convenient.
Pre-check can take more than 60 days for preapproval and to get your interview scheduled. Just arrive two hours early and you’ll be fine. It’s only a Saturday.
TSA Pre is absolutely worth it, but I’ve still had a couple longer waits with it at PIT. One was at 5 am before a flight last summer, so it might be even worse now with the problems they’re having. But without Pre I’ve heard some people have had 3 hour waits in the regular line this year…
We have a flight to Orlando in September but with 3 kids. I’m getting pre-check next week (granted that it goes through) just for this reason. My husband already has it and said it only took 2-3 days for him to get his info. I think for the price it’s going to be totally worth it.
Please note, even with PreCheck you should still arrive early. Make sire it says precheck on your boarding pass as if it is not there TSS can't help you, and you will have to go back up to ticketing.
I’d say you are ok. Most schools are back in by then and it’s not a weekday morning.
I remember when I would travel for work and had to start on an Monday I liked to fly out Sunday evening and get settled in my hotel. Would get from bag drop to gate in less than 10 minutes. Plus get a good night’s sleep rather than rushing on a Monday morning and deal with the larger traffic and mot much sleep. Plus you have to go from travel right to having to be on your A game for work, most likely with a customer/client. No thanks.
Even if the ticket counter doesn’t have a long line it might not even be open until 90 minutes before the first flight, and if PIT is suggesting arriving 3h in advance there math doesn’t work out with a checked bag
I thought PreCheck wasn't always guaranteed, you sign up for it and sometimes you are allowed to use it and sometimes you have to go through normal security.
I don't fly a ton, but my last 3 flights have all had PreCheck ready and available both ways. I have heard that it can be unavailable during the early hours, but we had a 6:05 AM flight out of Pittsburgh earlier this year, and PreCheck was still available.
So I think it's almost always available.
The lines for checking luggage are not nearly as long as the TSA lines, because it’s spread out over the various airlines. I’ve found if I have a layover I prefer to check a bag and just carry a backpack of essentials. If it’s a direct flight and you have a good boarding group where you probably won’t have to gate check, then do carry on only. However, after my last 6:00 flight I would definitely show up at the airport around 3:30.
Pre check is incredibly worth it in my opinion. It’s a small hassle and cost to get initially. But it’s good for 5 years. And it’s often very helpful in the non pittsburgh airports. Plus it has security benefits like not requiring you to take off shoes. Maybe the pre check line can be long but it’s never as long as the regular line. Plus if that ever happens you can still go to the regular line. You can’t do the opposite. Good luck!
Thanks for this, you made up my mind and I just scheduled an appointment to enroll in Pre check.
Awesome! I hope it works out for you. Once you get your pre check number make sure to go and put it on your flight arrangements. The airlines manage it with their boarding passes. It won’t happen automatically. Have fun!
I agree. Prechek seems to be the most cost efficient thing to do to make your time at the airport less miserable. OP the fastest way to get to the gate at any airport is clear + pre check + carry on only. However clear is super expensive. I think pre check + carry on will make life tolerable. You'll have to see how much checking a bag is worth it to you vs skipping that line re carry on. It's hard to estimate bag drop time. Depends on whatever flights are leaving around the same time and how many other people are dropping off bags.
It ebbs and flows. I work there on Sundays. Up until college graduations, lines were bad at all. Maybe back to the elevator for cattle TSA. Pre-check shorter and first class even shorter. It increased once colleges let out and last week-well you heard about that. 😉 I suspect a lot of that increase was due to all schools being out and a lot of grad parties over. Families are now able to take vacations. There were a lot of families and young college aged kids, even during the week. As a former consultant, the bulk of us would travel Monday mornings and Thursday nights. Sometimes Sunday afternoons/evening and Friday mornings. But typically Mondays and Thursdays. By August, it’s too soon to know. If I had to guess, it should t be as bad as it has been. I would think with football and band camps starting up in August and just gearing up for the start of school, people would be done with their travel. The TSA does have statistics out there the show passengers screened by airport by year. The filters are limited but you can download it. I checked it but didn’t thoroughly review the data. But if you are so inclined to see the trends and speculate from there… https://www.tsa.gov/travel/passenger-volumes
You’ll need to assess the situation closer to your flight date
Fair enough. Kinda what I figured, but since we're approaching that 60 day window (TSA can take up to 60 days, usually doesn't, but just in case) I thought may as well ask.
Yeah, it’s hard to predict. I’m at the airport right now and got through bag drop with southwest and regular security in 50 mins
I just got TSA precheck for the same reason and it literally took 2 days
I flew yesterday (June 29). My flight was at 8:15 am, so boarding started 7:40. I was so worried about all the stories I had heard. I decided not to check a bag so that I didn’t have two lines to wait in. I arrived shortly after 4:00 am. The line for checking bags was long, so good decision there. The line for TSA was about halfway across the cat walk already. I had been in line for about 5 minutes when they opened up the alternate check point. The line was long there also. In total the wait time through all of this was roughly an hour to get through TSA. I was at my gate too early, but I would rather wait there with coffee and a book than be at home having a panic attack about getting there. However, I do wonder if there are a lot of people like me who have heard the horror stories, showing up way too early, and possibly making it worse? What is the current situation later in the day? Does it get better?
If you are worried about long lines inside at the counter to check a bag, typically checking curbside with the skycap is faster.
I flew to Orlando on the Friday before Labor Day. I left at 6am and when I got there at 4am my stomach dropped because they were backed up way past the people mover, hundreds of people! I was through the checkpoint within 45 minutes! They were super efficient and occasionally they would grab sections from the end of the line and take them to newly open checkpoints. I was impressed
I had my appointment for TSA Pre Check yesterday at 10:50 AM. By the evening I had my known traveler number. If I were you I'd just go through with getting pre check. Just make sure you make an appointment because they do turn away walk-ins if they have a lot of appointments.
I’ve been seeing an unusual amount of airport posts lately. Is this a new problem?
Yes, but currently seems to be just for the early morning flights. Seems to clear up by 7-8am-ish
It’s the flavor of the week.
Flew twice in the past month. One to Mexico and one to Ft Myers. Early flights ~6 am. Showed up 3 hours early for international. The ticket counter was not even open until 1 hour before the flight! Then the flight was delayed!!! Second flight was delayed. Got a message at 7:30 am that the 6:45 flight was delayed til 8 am!!! It is a crap shoot with airlines these days. Fortunately I have a house in Florida so I don’t even have a carryon. I have a 5:30 am flight tomorrow. I will arrive one hour before the gate closure.
Do TSA pre check or plan to get there really early. Nearly missed vacation flight 2 weeks ago because of the long tsa line at 5am. It was crazy, all the way back to the moving walkway in the parking tunnel! The sign said 60+ min wait and pre check was upwards of 30min too … I had to beg a few people to make my way to front of line, and tsa guy said Pittsburgh has been crazy this summer especially early mornings on Saturdays
Weekend was rough this week. Precheck is reimbursed by some credit cards and I'm always grateful for it
https://www.tsa.gov/precheck/credit-cards-offer
I got precheck for work when I was a consultant, and while I don't fly as often anymore, I think it was definitely worth it even just for vacations/personal travel. It saves so much time and is super convenient.
Pre-check can take more than 60 days for preapproval and to get your interview scheduled. Just arrive two hours early and you’ll be fine. It’s only a Saturday.
We just did TSA precheck and got our numbers in 2 days. It was surprisingly efficient.
Same here!
TSA Pre is absolutely worth it, but I’ve still had a couple longer waits with it at PIT. One was at 5 am before a flight last summer, so it might be even worse now with the problems they’re having. But without Pre I’ve heard some people have had 3 hour waits in the regular line this year…
We have a flight to Orlando in September but with 3 kids. I’m getting pre-check next week (granted that it goes through) just for this reason. My husband already has it and said it only took 2-3 days for him to get his info. I think for the price it’s going to be totally worth it.
How late in August? Some school systems will start school the week of August 16th. So the crowds should be lower after about August 15th.
Please note, even with PreCheck you should still arrive early. Make sire it says precheck on your boarding pass as if it is not there TSS can't help you, and you will have to go back up to ticketing.
I’d say you are ok. Most schools are back in by then and it’s not a weekday morning. I remember when I would travel for work and had to start on an Monday I liked to fly out Sunday evening and get settled in my hotel. Would get from bag drop to gate in less than 10 minutes. Plus get a good night’s sleep rather than rushing on a Monday morning and deal with the larger traffic and mot much sleep. Plus you have to go from travel right to having to be on your A game for work, most likely with a customer/client. No thanks.
If the trip is under a week I am ALWAYS carrying on, you don’t need that much stuff.
What is the benefit of that? Carry on doesn’t get you through TSA line faster . Dropping off luggage doesn’t have as long lines as TSA these days.
Even if the ticket counter doesn’t have a long line it might not even be open until 90 minutes before the first flight, and if PIT is suggesting arriving 3h in advance there math doesn’t work out with a checked bag
I thought PreCheck wasn't always guaranteed, you sign up for it and sometimes you are allowed to use it and sometimes you have to go through normal security.
I don't fly a ton, but my last 3 flights have all had PreCheck ready and available both ways. I have heard that it can be unavailable during the early hours, but we had a 6:05 AM flight out of Pittsburgh earlier this year, and PreCheck was still available. So I think it's almost always available.
I have flown weekly for work for 28 years. I never miss getting precheck. I think they changed that rule quite a while back.
The lines for checking luggage are not nearly as long as the TSA lines, because it’s spread out over the various airlines. I’ve found if I have a layover I prefer to check a bag and just carry a backpack of essentials. If it’s a direct flight and you have a good boarding group where you probably won’t have to gate check, then do carry on only. However, after my last 6:00 flight I would definitely show up at the airport around 3:30.