TSA Pre-Check is one way frequent travelers reduce the stress of air travel. After paying a one-time fee of about $100, submitting fingerprints and a personal interview, the TSA does a background check. If the traveler meets the requirements, a “Known Traveler Number” or KTN is assigned.
From then on, the traveler should be permitted to use the usually less crowded TSA Pre-check security line at the 100 or so USA airports that offer the service.
But after having my own KTN for nearly two years, I’ve been befuddled at how often I don’t actually get the all-important TSA checkmark imprinted on my boarding passes. Ticket counter agents always responded to my complaints with one of the stock answers: it’s never a sure thing; they ration the number of pre-checks.
Sarah at American Airlines’ AAdvantage Customer Service is the person that got me on the trail of the real source of the problem. It’s my name! She recognized that I am “the third”, named after both my father and grandfather. My passport and driver’s license both include the Roman Numeral III suffix to my name. Sarah told me that if the ticket doesn’t exactly match the TSA name, the pre-check is denied.
She gave me the number for TSA and Ashley explained that TSA treats the suffix as a separate field and they do not consider it for validation purposes. She also explained that many airlines do not have a separate data field for the suffix and therefore add it to the end of the last name. So Bender III becomes Benderiii.
Guess what?
Benderiii doesn’t match the name on my TSA account and that’s a big part of my problem. Ashley then transferred me to the TSA Universal Enrollment department where I spoke with another Sarah. After verifying my identity, she further explained that on my passport and therefore TSA record, my middle name is spelled out. If the ticket uses middle initials instead of the full name, they also won’t assign the pre-check.
So the takeaways are: quit using the suffix and make sure the first, middle and last names on the ticket match what is on the passport, exactly.
TRACKING #1-494545