After Thanksgiving, Christmas ranks as the highest volume of travel. I am one of the masses this weekend as I am flying across the country for a two-week break.

In the US, passing through TSA security can be a real pain.

Standard security sucks. You have to take your shoes off. You have to remove any electronics bigger than a phone from your carry-on bags. You have to have all your liquids in a clear bag and separate from your luggage.

Five years ago when I became a consultant I signed up for TSA Pre-Check. This is a program run by the US government that allows you to pass through expedited security. The program costs $85 and is good for five years. You have to attend an in-person interview and submit to a background check. Once you are approved, you receive a Known Traveler Number that you apply to your airline accounts to signify that you have TSA Pre-Check on your boarding pass. The Pre-Check line is shorter. You can leave your shoes on. You can leave everything in your carry-on bag. It’s worth it.

In November, my five years were up and it was time to renew Pre-Check. A friend of mine told me about another program called Global Entry. This program expedites the process when traveling outside the country. While I do not have plans to travel abroad anytime soon, the Global Entry program includes Pre-Check. It costs $100 for five years. This sounded like a great deal, so I signed up for Global Entry about a month before my expiration. 

Fast forward to the middle of November. My application to Global Entry was still pending review. I had not been granted an interview yet. I started to panic, so I went to the TSA website and paid $85 to renew TSA Pre-Check, even though I’m paying twice since I already paid $100 for Global Entry that includes Pre-Check. 

I had to travel for work the Monday after Thanksgiving. When I checked in on Sunday, I looked in horror at my boarding pass to see the absence of the Pre-Check symbol. I was faced with going through regular security during the biggest travel weekend of the year.

The Monday after Thanksgiving is not a day you want to be at the airport. Anyone who did not fly out Sunday is almost guaranteed to be flying out Monday. You know it’s bad when you see a screen that reads “35 Minute Wait” at the security gate. 

Without Pre-Check, I was in line with the unwashed masses. In addition to more people, you get first-time travelers and people who only travel a couple of times a year. These people do not know the rules, and it slows an already slow process further. 

I reached the x-ray machine and it was game time. I grabbed a couple plastic tubs that are used to keep your belongings together. I took my shoes off and put them in one tub. I carry two laptops, so I pulled both of those out. The two laptops cannot occupy the same bin because they would overlap each other. So one laptop in one bin and the second laptop in another bin. Then I needed another bin for my plastic bag of toiletries. 

Aside--Why do we call them toiletries? Absolutely nothing in the bag has anything to do with a toilet. In fact, some are related to shower and most are related to a sink. If anything, they should be called sinktries. 

Oh and I had to take my jacket off, and I put it in a bin for good measure. For those keeping score at home, five bins. What can I say, I’m out of practice. 

I made it through the metal detector and started collecting my items when I realized my laptop bag was pulled for additional screening. A TSA agent took the bag to a separate station and reviewed the x-ray of the bag to determine what needs further review. It turns out my iPad mini needed to be removed as well. All electronics larger than a phone must be removed. My bad. The last time I had to do this, the rule was laptops had to be removed but iPads were exempt. The iPad mini was passed back through the x-ray machine separate from the laptop bag. Finally, I made it through security.

I faced the same general screening procedure on the return home, but thankfully I left on Thursday and the volume of people was markedly reduced. This time I consolidated my belongings to four bins.

I traveled two weeks later, and miraculously, my TSA Pre-Check was renewed. I saw the symbol on the boarding pass and was the happiest ever. 

A luxury becomes a necessity.

It’s now Christmas Eve, and I still have not heard anything about my Global Entry application. Someone told me that the government shutdown that occurred over a year ago created a backlog of applications that are still being processed.