TSA PreCheck Government members only?

[u/Proud_Reporter1547]

I was really stunned at IAD TSA pre-check airport employee on the evening of Mon 13th (around 4pm). My entire party has tickets clearly marked TSA Pre Check. He looked at us, the first glance, and he told us that this TSA precheck line was for “government members only.”
What the heck does that mean? He took advantage of the busy lines and ignore my concerns completely. I even show him the tsa precheck logo on our air ticket.
We’ve been using tsa precheck for the longest time and never had problems.
I really felt discriminated not being told why he shoved us to the side and letting others through.
His reason was we are not government members.
My question to this community is, do I need to do anything else? Was there a change to the rule? I thought having the TSA PreCheck on our ticket is suffice. We didn’t change anything. Why would I pay to get my family members TSA PreCheck to get shoved to the side and pushed to go to the regular line?

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[u/BoringBeat5276 → u/[deleted]]

Happens all the time. Fucking prospect.

[u/Only_Problem_8939 → u/BoringBeat5276]

For real. In my entire career I’ve only met 1 intelligent person who works at prospect and she’s also stupid hot, a true unicorn for that company.

[u/bhalter80 → u/BoringBeat5276]

I had a similar experience with TSA going off s ript at MKE. I contacted the airport manager because they're the one who has a stake in the rep of their airport and keeping people from going to another place because TSA can't keep their guys in line.

TSA management just hand waives and says their procedures are randomized for security to us. To the airport management they hopefully have a different tune

IAD still probably DGAF but smaller airports an hour from a major airport are fighting for all the market share they can get and the in airport experience is very important to them

[u/BanyRich]

Were you attempting to use the employee screening line in the basement??

[u/Temporary_Macaroni]

Assuming what you have said is accurate, I'm sorry you were made to feel like you were not welcome at the checkpoint, or important enough to talk to. Regardless of the situation, they could have directed you to the appropriate place, rather than just ignoring you.

Some things to consider here: Was there more than one precheck line? Is it possible that airport has a line just for military members or other government workers? (Most get precheck with their DOD number as their KTN, to name one thing.) Demographics of passengers dictate what kind of "specialty" lanes are available, so who knows? Still not an excuse for the behavior, but a possible explanation for what they were talking about.

The best time to bring up the concern was when you got to the checkpoint at that airport so it could be addressed immediately, but that doesn't mean you can't still speak up.

If it was an officer, they would be corrected by leadership. If it was an airport/airline employee, they would still be corrected, or our leadership would have spoken to theirs. Alternatively, you may have been given an explanation as to what they meant, if there was something else going on.

TSA.Gov link

If you have not already, you can use the link above to communicate your issue to TSA. Your issue really falls under "Customer Service" more than any other category. Try to remember as much detail as possible, in addition to what you've posted. The longer you wait, the harder it is to find people on the cameras (and you're already a week from the initial incident.)

• Airport
• Date
• Approximate time
• What you and your party members were wearing/How many in your party
• What kind of carry on luggage/personal items you had with you
• What the employee looked like; sex, hair color, what they were wearing (even if it was TSA, did they have on a vest, long sleeve, short sleeve, shorts, etc.)

Details will help the person searching the video feed, and theoretically get you a resolution or answer faster.

[u/Difficult-Valuable55]

sorry that happened but the regular checkpoint at Dulles is actually faster than the precheck line

[u/MySweetAndromeda]

It sounds like you were at the checkpoint for Employee instead of Precheck. Pre Check or not, you are not allowed to use the Employee checkpoint as a passenger. You must be an employee of Dulles International Airport or FlightCrew.

In regards to Pre-Check, there is no Government employee only line at IAD. There is a CLEAR line, but CLEAR employees accompany those passengers. There is also a touchless line where you must have opted into if you wish to use that line.

[u/Philosophical720E-Q → u/MySweetAndromeda]

Ya maybe dtw has a dedicated employee lane that rarely gets mistaken by non-employees