My wife and I recently signed up for the Global Entry program, which is designed to speed up coming home from abroad. The program also includes access to the TSA Pre-check lanes at airport security. And that means, when available, no removing shoes and belts, laptops and liquids stay in the carry-on and light jackets stay on.
Last week, leaving Newark, it was on my boarding pass but not my wife's, since she had just been approved the day before. So, I carried all our stuff, minus the yogurt that turned out to be considered a liquid, and beat her through by 20 minutes.
Just now, at Tucson, we both had Pre-check, but there weren't enough passengers in the terminal to set up separate lanes. Instead, we were given passes to hand in at the scanner; it gave us all the benefits above except that the laptops had to come out.
Still, less frazzled, less irritated, and feeling a little guilty at the privilege.
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