If you are flying Aer Lingus you will NOT be able to access TSA Pre-Check under any circumstances. They will enter your TSA KTN on your reservation after being on hold for over 30 minutes. But, it means nothing. They do not enter your KTN on Boarding Passes. "Fortunately," my wife and I have considerable health issues and will likely get whisked through TSA BS because of wheelchairs and the like.
FYI Lufthansa same situation.
Posted by
Chicago
1943 posts
Just going to point out that TSA is a US program. Many European airlines don't participate in this.if you want TSA pre-check-best to fly US airlines like Delta.
Posted by
OP
Hatfield, PA, USA
86 posts
the word "many" is a bit excessive. Check the lists.
Posted by
Chicago
2676 posts
My sister sometimes gets a wheelchair when traveling. She does not have TSA pre-check, but it has always been our experience that the wheelchair attendant will take us to the front of the line or a designated special needs line for both security and passport control. This has been the case in both US and European airports.
Posted by
Freedonia
15018 posts
Here is a list of airlines that participate in TSA Pre...
https://www.tsa.gov/precheck/participating-airlines
Lufthansa does participate.
Posted by
Paris
9584 posts
And Air France !
Posted by
Chicago
763 posts
and Cathay Pacific, but I have had to specifically enter the Known Traveler Number on the airline ticket booking at purchase. I've done this with multiple foreign airlines on-line, no waiting on hold to have it added - although I don't doubt the OP's experience.
Even pulling the KTN from a FF membership as US airlines are supposed to doesn't always work. AA used to miss my KTN about 50% of the time pre-Covid, they seem better recently.
Posted by
Houston, Texas
911 posts
With Turkish Airlines you need to bring your GE or TSA Pre-check number to the counter and get them to add it in to your record and printed on your boarding pass. Don't ask me why, just how it works.
Posted by
OP
Hatfield, PA, USA
86 posts
Flying Delta was a good suggestion except we tried to use our AMEX Delta miles this time- about 260k miles for September. We cancelled 2 flights during Covid because of the quarantine restricts (when no one was traveling. Each time 140k in the middle of summer ! We went with Aer Lingus, cheapest (no miles) and saved our Delta miles for next year somewhere.
Posted by
Sweden
6401 posts
Many European airlines don't participate in this.
According to the list linked in the thread it seems like most major European airlines participate.
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11180 posts
A bit odd that of the IAG corp. cousins, only BA participates while Aier Lingus and Iberia do not.
Posted by
Hudson Valley
2267 posts
Pro-Tip!
If you enter the US on an airline without PreCheck and have a connecting flight, the original boarding passes won’t be flagged for PreCheck. You can stop at the service desk at ‘bag drop’ after customs to get a properly coded boarding pass.
Side note: the only commonality of the IGA carriers is the hot mess that is their IT.
Posted by
California USA
3955 posts
That is a very long list of domestic and international airlines that DO participate in TSA-Pre. We too were surprised by not being able to use our TSA-Pre this summer when flying Aer Lingus from SFO. It doesn’t happen very often.