Why TSA Precheck is the Only Way to Fly Out of Sacramento

The red rabbit at the new terminal at Sacramento International Airport.

Honestly, I was not really sure how TSA Precheck happened to apply to me out of the clear blue for I surely was not about to question my good fortune. You don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, my mother used to say. Until the day the thought hit that I should probably bring it up because not only did it NOT happen on that particular trip, but what if the system was flawed, and airlines were granting TSA Precheck boarding passes in error, perhaps to terrorists? You know how government things often work.

It was probably my civic duty to bring to the official’s attention the fact that I did not receive a TSA Precheck boarding pass and disclose that I had been granted those privileges for several years without applying for it. I suppose part of me was hoping they would say, “Oh, terribly sorry for the oversight, Ms. Weintraub; I can see you are a Sacramento Realtor, let us revise that boarding pass for you immediately.” But that scenario is locked away in the part of my brain where I store other unfulfilled wishes, accompanied by scenes of gratitude and humility, which I will display with immense conviction should those things ever be granted.

Instead, TSA officials said that sometimes airlines hand out TSA Precheck boarding passes at random. I don’t know about you, but THAT makes me feel better about flying with terrorists. What is the criteria, do you suppose? An innocent looking face? Friendly demeanor? Flip-flops? Because no terrorist would be caught dead trying to run in flip flops? No idea. But I do know that after experiencing travel with TSA Precheck, I no longer wanted to fly without it. They drew me in like a fly to honey and sucked my brain cells dry.

I was now addicted to the TSA process of not removing my shoes, not stripping half-naked, nor yanking my laptop out of my luggage, sending cords and plugs flying, and not waiting in long lines, just zipping through security like I was passing through the automatic doors of Neiman Marcus, which is sort of my definition of heaven. This was probably TSA’s sneaky little plan all along. To hand over nirvana and then yank out the needle, to leave us yearning.

Which is precisely why my husband and I went to IdentoGo in West Sacramento yesterday to go through the process of fingerprinting, verification, videotaping or whatever that camera was doing there, to obtain our official TSA Precheck travel identification number. It was a fairly simple and easy process. You can sign up online, make an appointment, bring your passport and go. $85 and it’s good for 5 years. It doesn’t work in other countries, and not all airlines use TSA Precheck, but it’s worth having it.

As long as everybody else in the universe doesn’t have it. Oh, why-oh-why did I write this blog?