You’re probably familiar with the mental checklist that goes through your head before you walk out the door to catch a flight: ID in your wallet. The essentials packed. Loaded electronics.
But as safety lines swell throughout the country In the midst of a partial government shutdown, the most important pre-travel task of all may be one that barely crosses your mind: making sure your Known traveler number It is attached to your flight reservation.
In recent days, hours-long lines have snaked through some of the country’s busiest hubs, as weeks of unpaid work have prompted calls to the Transportation Security Administration. The delays have caused passengers to miss flights and have surely gotten many spring break trips off on the wrong foot.
But regardless, TSA PreCheck is still a huge time saver for travelers, as long as it’s marked on your boarding pass.
Take Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport (HOU), for example. This airport was the epicenter of this week’s TSA delays, and at one point on Monday, standard security lines exceeded three hours. But if you had access to PreCheck, you could get through in 10 minutes or less.
It has turned the expedited security program into a proverbial lifeline for travelers seeking to avoid the chaos of recent days, even after the Trump administration almost suspended the program last month.
But all too often, TSA PreCheck members download their boarding pass (or show up at the airport) only to realize that their boarding pass doesn’t actually say “TSA PreCheck.” Without that small note, they cannot access the airport’s accelerated lanes.
It is a common problem, but one that can be easily solved.
Your known traveler number: what you need to know
If you have an active TSA PreCheck or Global Entry membership, verify your boarding pass when you download it to your phone or when you print it at the airport. if it is It doesn’t say “TSA PreCheck”you must add your known traveler number to your reservation.
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This is different from your airline’s frequent flyer number or your flight confirmation code. It is a series of digits that the US Department of Homeland Security assigns to all members of its trusted traveler programs, such as TSA PreCheck and Global Entry.
For your boarding pass to display “TSA PreCheck,” you must add your KTN to your reservation or your airline profile.
How to find your known traveler number
You can find your KTN in a few places:
The federal government portal.
Try visiting the Department of Homeland Security website and log into your PreCheck or Global Entry account. Your KTN will appear on your profile.
Global Entry Card
If you have a Global Entry card, the number is also on it.
Your profile with another airline
No luck? If you fly frequently with another airline and know that you have used TSA PreCheck with that airline, check your profile with that airline. You may be able to find your KTN in your personal information; Please see the “safe traveler information” section.
Now add it to your reservation
To add your KTN to your next booking, go to the frequent flyer profile of the airline you’ll be flying with next. Paste that number into your personal information to that conveyor. Once you do that, TSA PreCheck should appear on all of your future boarding passes as long as your account is active.
You can also add your KTN to an individual reservation online or, if it’s last minute, through a kiosk at the airport.
TPG Tip: Find your KTN now and keep it somewhere safe but easy to access, in case you need to find it in a hectic time at the airport.
In a nutshell
On a day when standard security lanes operate smoothly, all of these steps may seem excessive to save a few minutes of time.
But with security lines tangled across the country and TSA PreCheck still operational (at least for now), having your KTN attached to your reservation and airline profile could be vital to getting to your gate on time this spring, especially since there’s little sign that the partial government shutdown will end anytime soon.
You can find the rest of our tips on how to navigate air travel this spring amid the shutdown. here.
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