Despite confusion, TSA PreCheck remains open at Atlanta airport, others
The Trump administration’s back-and-forth Sunday over whether to stop offering fast-tracked airport security screening caused confusion for passengers but few delays in Atlanta.
After abruptly announcing late Saturday that the Transportation Security Administration would close its expedited PreCheck lines, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reversed course Sunday and said the program would continue after all.
An agency spokesperson said there was “no change for the traveling public” nationwide Sunday, though TSA might make changes on a “case by case basis” if the partial government causes staffing issues.
At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, security lines moved smoothly Sunday afternoon, and most passengers with PreCheck hustled confidently toward the expedited checkpoints.
But in the corridor where the standard screening and PreCheck lines diverge, a few passengers were left briefly confused.
Some travelers who saw the initial announcement stopped to ask an airport employee if they had to go to the regular checkpoint. One woman wondered aloud if the PreCheck checkpoint was closed — but sprinted past without waiting for an answer.
“Is TSA PreCheck open?” Scott Rose of Atlanta stopped to ask an airport employee.
He got good news: It was, and the line was short to boot. Not that he was concerned, he said. Things were relatively smooth in the regular screening line too.
“It doesn’t look like it’s too bad today, so I could have gone either way,” Rose said.
The confusion comes as the partial shutdown enters its second week. Funding for DHS lapsed Feb. 14 while congressional Democrats have pushed to rein in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one of DHS’s subsets.
ICE and Border Patrol officers in January fatally shot two U.S. citizens protesting the agency in Minneapolis. Democrats have said they want to require ICE officers to wear identification, get warrants before searching homes and not wear face coverings.
DHS initially said it would close all PreCheck lanes starting at 6 a.m. Sunday. It said its expedited customs program, Global Entry, would shut down too. Both programs are designed to move passengers who pay extra and agree to a background check through security and processing lines more quickly.
But travelers across the country, including in Atlanta, posted on social media early Sunday morning that they were surprised PreCheck lanes seemed to still be operating.
By Sunday afternoon, DHS had changed its original statement, deleting its late Saturday threat to PreCheck operations from its website entirely.
But the agency did make changes to other operations: The Global Entry program is paused in Atlanta, an airport spokesperson confirmed. And TSA is no longer offering courtesy escorts for VIP travelers like members of Congress.
Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution query about Global Entry.
That expedited international arrival and border crossing program for registered citizens and permanent residents features usage of an automated facial recognition kiosk instead of extended vetting by a CBP officer.
A partial government shutdown has left essential employees at DHS, including TSA officers, working without pay since last weekend. Officers will receive their first incomplete paycheck March 4.
The DHS shutdown came 12 weeks after a 43-day funding lapse in the fall. During that shutdown, DHS did not suspend PreCheck or Global Entry.
About the Authors
As a business reporter, Emma Hurt leads coverage of the Atlanta airport, Delta Air Lines, UPS, Norfolk Southern and other travel and logistics companies. Prior to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution she worked as an editor and Atlanta reporter for Axios, a politics reporter for WABE News and a business reporter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
