TravelingForMiles.com may receive commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on TravelingForMiles.com are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. TravelingForMiles.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers.
Some links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission which helps contribute to the running of the site – I’m very grateful to anyone who uses these links but their use is entirely optional. The compensation does not impact how and where products appear on this site and does not impact reviews that are published. For more details please see the advertising disclosure found at the bottom of every page.
I fly in and out of LA quite a bit but most of my recent flying has been centered around Terminal 4 so I haven’t flown out of airport’s “international terminal” for a few months. That’s the only explanation I have for how I’ve managed to miss the news that the Tom Bradley Terminal now offers a TSA PreCheck facility.
This is huge news! [HT: TPG]
TSA Pre-check is the expedited security screening program that allows low-risk passengers of certain airlines (full airline list is on the TSA website) to pass through TSA lines a lot quicker than otherwise possible – you don’t have to remove shoes, belts or light jackets and your laptop and liquids can stay in your carry on.
While TSA PreCheck lines have undoubtably got longer in recent years they’re still often a lot shorter than the regular lines on offer….and at the Tom Bradley terminal the regular lines can be horrendous.
Even when I’m flying out of LAX T4 I usually cross over to the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT) to make the most of the Qantas First Class lounge and, as I pass between terminals, I usually get a good view of what the TSA lines at TBIT look like and I generally have the same thought “boy I’m glad I’m not flying out of here”.
TBIT is the terminal from which the likes of British Airways and Cathay Pacific and a host other international carriers depart so this news should bring respite to quite a few travelers departing out of LAX.
Cross-matching the list of TSA PreCheck approved airlines and the list of airlines departing LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal shows that passengers of the following airlines will benefit from the new TSA PreCheck facility:
- Etihad Airways
- Lufthansa
- Emirates
- Korean Air
- All Nippon Airways
- Cathay Pacific Airways
- Air France
- KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
- Philippine Airlines
- British Airways
- Scandinavian Airlines
Membership of the TSA PreCheck program costs $85 for 5 years and comes included with Global Entry membership or, if you don’t have that, you can get if free though one of the many premium credit cards which offer it as one of the card benefits (Platinum Card from Amex, Chase Sapphire Reserve etc…) – If you purchase your TSA PreCheck membership with one of these cards the cost will be refunded to your card within a few days.
Bottom Line
This is very good news for passengers traveling out of LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal as TSA PreCheck will be a godsend during peak periods – I can imagine it saving passengers upwards of 30 minutes on some days.
As good as this news is it’s slightly embarrassing that, as an LA-based flyer, I had no idea that PreCheck had arrived at TBIT so I’d love to know when it was first introduced – does anyone out there have any idea?
TSA Pre has been there for a long time, I am tempted to say for years. I’ve been using it on Lufthansa on my way to Germany about every six weeks. It was, however, a Pre-Check “light”: keep your shoes on but remove laptop, fluids and jacket. Maybe that has changed now.