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TSA Pre-Check is not always open at Spokane Airport, here's why

It says it right on the TSA Pre-check website, in February of 2018, 93 percent of TSA Pre-Check passengers waited less than five minutes.

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Wait times to get through security at the Spokane Airport have been noticeably longer lately.

It is sparking some frustration, especially among passengers who have paid for TSA Pre-Check. Pre-check is supposed to speed up the process but the pre-check line at the Spokane Airport is not always open.

It says it right on the TSA Pre-check website, in February of 2018, 93 percent of TSA Pre-Check passengers waited less than five minutes. Expedited screening is why most people sign up for pre-check. When you sign up, you pay the fee, go through a background check, go to a place to get fingerprinted and get your photo taken. Once you have gone through that process, you expect to be able to use it when you fly. At the Spokane Airport, there is not always a pre-check line open.

"We're going to open the TSA Pre-check line based on the projected number of pre-check passengers for that day," said TSA Spokesperson Mike England.

Carin sent KREM 2 an email saying, "Can you please report on how TSA Pre-check is closed indefinitely at GEG and as a result security time is worse than big cities even LAX. We paid for this service and they are not providing it! Companies are usually shut down for that!"

"No, no, the pre-check lane is not closed indefinitely, like I said, we open and close pre-check lanes based off of the projected number of pre-check passengers," England said.

In a nutshell, the Spokane Airport is not big enough to keep a pre-check line open at all times.

"So, if we were to do that, that would be one fewer lane for the standard passengers and that would cause a significant backup in the standard lane," England explained.

The main terminal does have a pre-check line that opens and closes, but if you fly in and out of the Alaska terminal, you may have noticed there is never a dedicated pre-check line open. Instead, pre-check passengers are given a card that allows them to keep their shoes and light jacket on but they still have to pull out electronics and liquids and go through screening with passengers who do not have pre-check.

TSA officials said it would take a significant investment of time and money to have a pre-check line open at all times. They could not say they would do that for sure but said it is something they would be willing to discuss. The number of people flying in and out of Spokane continues to increase, which is part of why we are seeing longer wait times through security.

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