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Welcome to a weekly feature on the Renés Points blog. Each week this series covers in a “rookie” way either a Delta or travel related theme and attempts to break down to a basic level each topic. You can read up on all the previous posts HERE. Now on to this week’s feature.
Unless you like slow lines, the nude-O-scopes, taking your shoes off and laptop out, then you should LOVE TSA Pre✓™. I think I was in the very first groups as I got my GOES as quick as I could get my interview (it took months back then). I expect 3 beeps when my boarding pass is scanned and am most displeased to only get one (just about never happens). But how do I ensure this and what do you need to know.
First, how to get it. You can get it as a Delta elite. If you have it this way you need to make sure of a few things and if they are “off” it is time to make some changes (even if they are a pain to do)! Since you don’t have an official Trusted / Known Traveler number as you would if you were in the program you have to hope you get picked. Is that all there is to it? No. Some readers complain they NEVER get the 3 beeps and they are a Delta elite. I can tell you one reason this could be happening. Your name!
For the rest of us, Delta makes it sorta hard to find just where to enter your Trusted / Known Traveler number info on Delta.com. I have a post about it with helpful red arrows HERE.
Why is this helpful for those elites who do not have a Trusted / Known Traveler number? I want you to dig out your:
- Skymiles card (i.e. info at “My Delta” at Delta.com)
- Your drivers license
- Your passport
- Any other official government IDs
Now I want you to look at this pile of “cards”. I mean not just peek, but scrutinize them. Like a detective would a crime scene. Is there ANYTHING different? I mean a letter, a dot, a space, a jr., a middle name over just middle initial. ANYTHING different at all? This could be one of your problems.
What you and we should all do is make sure, most importantly, our passport and our Skymiles info is 100% the same down to the letter. Then, if you really want to be safe, all those other cards and ID’s also should be just the same to match the rest. Could this take some time and work to e-mail and scan and fax to all these places (and maybe some cost too) to make them all the same? You bet, but it is a one time change and you are done. Well worth it to me!
While we are talking about this, if you ever fly other airlines, you had better make sure your name then also matches all your ID’s in their frequent flyer accounts as well and you have entered your Trusted / Known Traveler number there and checked it before and during online check-in as well.
Now for Delta travelers I have some GOOD NEWS! Delta has updated their Fly Delta APP in July2014. They have now, unlike Delta.com, made it very simple to update and enter all your info from your mobile device! Check this out. Start up the APP.
Then just click on “My Delta” and then “My Profile”
You are now where you need to be to check all data including your name, address as well as your Trusted / Known Traveler number!
So at long last Delta has made this very simple for us to check and use; now it is up to us to make sure all our info is exactly the same on all our stuff! – René
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Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer.
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Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
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I don’t fly a huge amount, but I am a gifted gold and I pretty much always get the three beeps. Best sound in the world! I’m also the only person with my name so that cuts down on any terrorist confusion, i’m sure.
Don’t like new BA format at all. The order of the blogs changes minute by minute, I can’t open the blog in a new tab and new blogs are mixed in with the existing blogs. My solution is to bookmark the blogs I like, but then I will miss any new ones. In summary, it makes the blogs harder to find – not what you wanted.
Precheck is great when it works. At DCA on Sunday was “randomly” taking over 50% of the regular line andd adding them to the precheck line. The confusion was crazy. People had no clue what to do.
When it is those who have been approved all I can say is ZOOM1 Even at the remote airports that have expedited it seems to work well.
Rene, Here’s something you probably know but I stumbled across it. When my wife and I flew ATL – SLC, my pass had TSA Pre, her’s didn’t. So I just went with her to avoid being separated. On the way home, her pass had TSA Pre, mine didn’t. So we were going through the regular line. When the guy told her she could use the faster line, she said we did not want us to split up. He told her since I was with her, I could go through the Pre line with her. So I did. They had to do one extra swipe on me, but it was quicker.
I was able to call and get my middle initial changed to my middle name no problem. No faxing needed, just called the customer service number and answered a couple of questions on my profile and they did the change while I was on the phone. Hopefully I can start getting the three beeps now!