My husband has been approved for it on some flights and I have been approved for it on some flights, so I believe it is totally random at this point.

… but we were never approved on the same flights.

"Actually Gail, I think it does depend on your shoes:
Wearing slip-ons I was selected for the random PreCheck lane.
Coming back with lace-up shoes, I was not."

Ummm. Many of us here are finding "precheck" printed right on our boarding passes that we print at home the night before we even go to the airport. Are you suggesting TSA has a spy in our homes who has checked to see what shoes we will set out to wear tomorrow to the airport?

Yes, Neo - never forget Metallica's admonition to sleep with one eye open:

<i>Hush little baby, don't say a word
And never mind that noise you heard
It's just the [TSA] under your bed,
In your closet, in your head</i>

But seriously, I check in on line but get my boarding pass at the airport.
I never looked for the "pre-check" notation so was surprised to be summoned to that line.

TSA is only 1 letter away from NSA - of course they spy on what shoes we plan to wear.

What paranoia! TSA does not spy on what shoes you plan to wear. What they do is plant the image of what shoes you *should* wear in your mind while you are sleeping, thus saving the time and trouble of having to spy on you. They also put subliminal images on your boarding pass (embedded in the QR codes) but that's another story.

So stop being so paranoid and just relax.... relax.... relaxxxxx....

I like to play mind games with the TSA regarding my shoes and change them enroute to the airport.

They knew you would do that, Gail.

If you really want to throw them, wear one soft shoe and one hard shoe!

OMG I cannot believe how many people keep trying to say that they give you a security clearence based on your shoes. Its comical. Do you guys even know what TSA pre check is in regards to? It has nothing to do about how little clothing you have on, it is implying you are a low security risk suck as no prior felony convictions listed on the disqualifying felony TSA requirements list, whether you are a U.S. citizen, etc. They are simply giving travelers that are not a security threat like the lunatics from 911 a "pass" on having to go through the more intensive security search. If you guys would read the multiple replies or have any common sense you would realize that not everyone is at the airport when they get their pre ✔ on tbeir boarding passes......which can only mean what?.... That the airport has no clue what shoes you plan on wearing nor do they care. So you think if you come through the airport looking like a terrorist but you have flops on they are going to pre check you? Um no, flip flops is hardley a factor in low threat security, and definetly not a deciding factor. Like multiple of the smart folks on here have mentioned they simply let you get it based on travel history and so many people pass through the requirements in order to get a free preview. The only way to actually get pre check every single time is to apply, which I just did which I will have to go to the TSA office, pay $85, and the application didn't ask me what shoes I wore since they dont make you remove your shoes, they don't care. If that was the case I should be on the free pre check list everytime but I'm not and I travel 10 times a year, its very random and not all airlines participate.

" The only way to actually get pre check every single time is to apply, which I just did which I will have to go to the TSA office, pay $85,"

Talk about not understanding the system! Maybe this is being picky, but you will still not be guaranteed Precheck "every single time". And another way to do what you're doing is to get Glibal Entry which includes Precheck. There are still random "overrides", hover, in either case. As I mentioned above on our recent departure out of PHL for Spain, Peter did not get Precheck on his boarding pass despite having Global Entry. A friend has had his randomly blocked twice on perhaps his last 10 flights. It happens. The airline said there is nothing they can do when that happens -- it's randomly done by TSA. Ironically today both our boarding passes from Barcelona are marked Precheck -- kind of funny since that doesn't exist in Barcelona.

Latasha - the shoe thing is a joke. I think everyone here is well aware that the only way TSA would be aware of shoe choice prior to the airport is if one lives with a TSA agent.

Welcome to Fodors Latashak2000, but curious what you googled to find this old thread?

>>Do you guys even know what TSA pre check is in regards to?<<

Uh -- yes. Many of us fly many times a year. Can you tell when someone is joking?

I've been approved for pre-check both on my boarding pass and also in line. It seems random.

I've also had a code printed on my boarding pass that has meant an extra check - also seemed random. And annoying!

Janisj, I think this thread surfacing is due to the new Search method. I just entered "TSA PreCheck" and this one came up first, by relevance of course, not by date. So we can probably expect to see more, older threads resurrected?

nyse: My point was Latashak2000 joined Fodors last night specifically to top the thread so he must have been looking for something to pounce on . . .