TSA Precheck and minor children

This is no help to you, but just chiming in with my recent experience. Summer 2023, I took my daughter (then 14) and niece (then 12) to Italy. My daughter and I have global entry/pre-check. My niece was given pre-check boarding then. We now just flew to Florida, out of the same airport (ORD). For some reason, pre-check only showed on my boarding pass and not my daughters (now 15). My niece is now 13, so I didn’t expect it to be on hers, because she does not have it; it did not show up. We got the security lines at O’Hare, and the guy brought us to the precheck lines because he said everybody was already in the system as pre-check. I have no idea what will happen on our way home. Right now we are flying Frontier, and I refuse to pay the $100 to get the assistance of an agent at check-in.

There is no guarantee that the 15-year-old will automatically get TSA pre-check on their boarding pass just because you have it. Just enroll the 15-year-old in TSA precheck now if you want a guarantee that TSA pre-check will be on the boarding pass. If you do not have the KTN before you make the reservation, you can add it to the reservation ahead of time of at the airport when you print your boarding passes.

When traveling with others on the same reservation, on Delta, I have had good luck getting them included in my Precheck. This included my wife for a while, until she got her Precheck, and recently My wife with her Mother getting precheck.

Basically, it comes down to the younger child will go through precheck with you, as the adult, regardless of what their ticket says. The older likely will have Precheck on their boarding pass, but it is not a guarantee that they will.

For what it matters, there is no guarantee that you will have Precheck on your boarding pass, they randomly make you go through a full screening from time to time.

An addition: You did not ask, maybe are already prepared, but you just can not take your minor Grandkids out of the country as you please. You will need some type of notarized letter from both parents granting permission to do so, with trip details (where, when) and if only one parent is around, proof that they have sole and complete guardianship of the children. I would also have some type of authorization to make Medical care decisions for the duration of the trip.

An addition: You did not ask, maybe are already prepared, but you just can not take your minor Grandkids out of the country as you please. You will need some type of notarized letter from both parents granting permission to do so, with trip details (where, when) and if only one parent is around, proof that they have sole and complete guardianship of the children. I would also have some type of authorization to make Medical care decisions for the duration of the trip.

Paul, first, thanks for the info and your experience. I am aware that going through TSA PreCheck is not guaranteed for anyone, even me, but I think there's only been one time that it hasn't appeared on my boarding pass since it first came out. I don't really want to pay $100 for a one time thing, so I guess I'll take my chances.

Also, I am very aware of the need for bringing along an authorization letter. I am a retired family law attorney, so I actually drafted quite a few of these for my clients. 😊 But thank you for taking the time to mention it.

No problem, many are amazed that the title of Grandpa and Grandma does not carry much legal weight worldwide.

Ha ha, tell me about it!