On Monday, officers introduced a brand new TSA PreCheck coverage that can ease the airport course of for households with older children: All kids below the age of 18 can now accompany a dad or mum or guardian by way of the quicker PreCheck line, freed from cost.

Beforehand, the company solely allowed kids 12 years outdated or youthful to accompany mother and father by way of the PreCheck line with out having a membership of their very own. Now with the addition of youngsters aged 13 to 17, households with older children are additionally granted a smoother course of within the airport safety line. (After all, the dad or mum or guardian accompanying the minors have to be a present member of PreCheck and have it designated on their boarding move.) 

Particularly for households touring with kids, having a PreCheck membership can save quite a lot of time within the terminal, because it means members and their children don’t have to take away liquids, laptops or different massive electronics from their luggage, and so they can carry on mild jackets and footwear, too. In April, 94 p.c of PreCheck passengers waited lower than 5 minutes on the safety checkpoint, according to the TSA. Memberships are $78 per grownup and final for 5 years, although many travel rewards credit cards provide assertion credit that cowl the payment.

If you’re a present PreCheck member, be certain that to enter your identified traveler quantity on each airline reservation for probably the most seamless expertise on the airport. It would look like an apparent step, but it surely’s one which many vacationers overlook, in keeping with the TSA, and it results in confusion and tension on the safety line—all utterly avoidable with correct planning. (If you happen to overlook to enter your identified traveler quantity when reserving, you possibly can have an airline agent add it to your boarding move on the terminal’s check-in counter.)

Permitting youngsters by way of TSA PreCheck with their mother and father is only one manner the company is making ready for the busy summer time season, throughout which a record-breaking variety of vacationers are anticipated at airports this 12 months. On the Friday earlier than Memorial Day Weekend alone, the TSA predicts that 2.6 million folks will likely be processed by way of U.S. airports. The company has added new X-ray machines that imply vacationers have to take away fewer objects from luggage and has added self-service, facial recognition scanners to the podiums in entrance of the checkpoints for quicker processing.

One other tactic to clean out operations? Hiring extra officers at checkpoints and providing improved compensation. “Our staffing ranges are higher, and that is largely resulting from higher pay for all TSA workers, which begins on July 1st,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske mentioned in an announcement. The pay improve means TSA officers will likely be compensated on the identical pay scale as different federal workers for the primary time. “As anticipated, this has already improved our recruiting and retention charges,” Pekoske mentioned. “For passengers, it will imply higher total staffing for all of TSA’s actions that help safe and environment friendly journey and an improved passenger expertise.”