The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is knocking down the price of a PreCheck membership during the month of May, for qualifying customers.
Starting Friday, customers who are 30 years old or younger can get a $20 price break, bringing the cost down to $56.75 or $65, depending on the provider. The discount comes with another caveat however: it is only good with first-time purchases of a five-year membership.
“With this special discount, we’re empowering the next generation of travelers to make TSA PreCheck a part of their journey,” TSA Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill said in a news release.
Travelers can enroll at any of the 1,300 TSA PreCheck locations across the country, which include retail stores as well as airports.
A PreCheck membership allows airline customers to keep their electronics and travel size liquids in their bags, and leave on their belts and light jackets.
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TSA has also launched a new type of PreCheck, Touchless ID, which allows travelers to pass through security with a face scan, instead of having to show a boarding pass or ID.
The discounted membership deal will start just days after the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that more than 1,000 TSA officers have left during a record shutdown that ended Thursday.
“Ahead of the FIFA World Cup and summer travel, this loss has SIGNIFICANTLY decreased TSA’s ability to meet passenger demand and left critical gaps in staffing, as each new recruit requires 4-6 MONTHS of training,” DHS said in a social media post
McNeill told a House Homeland Security Committee in late March that, even if the officers were replaced after the shutdown, they wouldn’t be ready to work travel checkpoints until “well after the World Cup has concluded.”
The World Cup kicks off in cities across North America on June 11.
