A TSA Precheck sign. Right: A TSA security terminal at an airport.
Seeing "PreCheck" on your boarding pass ahead of a flight is any traveler's dream, meaning you can speed through long lines at the TSA Security checkpoint.
But what happens if you're traveling with a partner, and only one receives PreCheck? Do you wait out the crowds and go through TSA with them, or do you use what the TSA Gods blessed you with and skip the wait?
A Redditor recently asked the AITA subreddit, r/AmITheA**hole, if they were a jerk for using their precheck privileges when their girlfriend doesn't get them, and many people are discussing whether said girlfriend is overreacting or not.
To set up the situation for you, u/MGoAzul shared that they and their girlfriend both qualify for TSA PreCheck through credit card programs. However, the Redditor was the only one to sign up for it.
"...she thinks the requirements are too annoying and confusing to deal with, so she refuses to go through the process (somewhat fair they can be cumbersome, but she’s a smart person and could figure it out)," the Redditor wrote in the post.
For clarification, signing up for PreCheck is a short process, which includes a 5-minute online application, a 10-minute in-person meeting, and fingerprinting for a background check, the TSA website states.
The Redditor said they once used PreCheck after their girlfriend insisted it was okay to go ahead without her. However, after a long wait through TSA alone, she ended up "pissed" and changed her mind.
"She said she couldn’t believe I actually abandoned her at security, and she only said yes because the question caught her off guard, and she was so taken aback by me asking," the Reddit user added.
After the situation, the Redditor said they no longer use their TSA PreCheck benefits and instead opt to stay with their girlfriend through the wait. She apparently even gets "upset" when TSA agents point out to the Redditor that they could use PreCheck, calling out that it is unfair because she wouldn't get to.
Furthermore, the post says an agent made the traveler go through PreCheck because the regular lines were so long, and that made their girlfriend upset as well.
"She likes to point out whenever we travel that one time I abandoned her at security and how she’ll never let me go through the fast line unless she gets to go through, too," the person wrote in the post, which has gained 1.8K interactions.
Most people are commenting that the person who posted is not the a**hole, but rather the girlfriend is for being "lazy" and not signing up even when she qualifies.
The Reddit thread about TSA precheck.r/AmItheAsshole
"If she doesn't like it, she can sign up for PreCheck. It's a form of weaponized incompetence....maybe weaponized laziness?" one person commented on the thread, receiving 4.4k votes.
Another person was in a similar situation with their husband not wanting to fill out the information to sign up. Nonetheless, they gave them an ultimatum, unlike the original poster.
"When my husband was pissing and moaning about getting the paperwork done, I said, 'Suit yourself,'" they wrote. "'Don’t fill it in and stand in the long line. Fill it in, and sit with me. Your choice.'"
However, there are people in situations who have dealt with it entirely differently than everyone else. One Redditor mentioned they don't receive PreCheck while their partner does and said they don't mind.
"My spouse travels more than me. He has pre-check. I don’t. I always tell him I’ll see him on the other side," the user commented. "I don’t see a problem with it. Why should he stand with me in that long-ass line?"
Before you get going, check out our Responsible Travel Guide so you can be informed, be safe, be smart, and most of all, be respectful on your adventure.