Last night, I dutifully checked in for today’s Southwest Airlines flight home. Of course, I checked in at 23 hours and 53 minutes before my flight so I was assigned boarding group number B20, but that’s OK with me. What wasn’t OK? My electronic boarding pass was missing something that looks like this.
Yes, I know one can be “randomized” out. Yes, I know it’s not guaranteed, even if you are a “known traveler.” But the truth is that I have missed one time in all the flights I’ve taken since signing up for Global Entry, and I’m convinced that had more to do with United’s creaky IT than any real “random” out.
The Story
When traveling on company business, our agent books our Southwest flights through some unknown system. Unlike every other airline on earth, when they book a Southwest flight, they cannot add a Rapid Rewards number. Doing so at the origination of the reservation, at least according to someone I spoke with at Southwest, would automatically pull in my KTN which is on file with Southwest. In the absence of normalcy, I always wind up adding my Rapid Rewards number via Southwest’s website when company travel books me. Then I either call Southwest to have my KTN added, or I’ve become accustomed to reaching out to their very nice Twitter team who takes care of it for me. This is what I did for this reservation, with the exception of booking it via the phone with company travel instead of the electronic system.
The scene shifts to last night’s check in. As the daunting realization that I no longer pack for not getting PreCheck dawned on me, I DM’d Southwests great Twitter team to verify that my KTN# was entered. The response was something to the effect of “you’re all set.” I took that as it’s in there and there’s nothing else we can do. But this morning, for whatever reason, I recalled my boarding pass via Southwest’s iPhone app. Low and behold, the PreCheck designator was there.
In truth, I have no idea whether this was a glitch or if Southwest’s Twitter folks actually corrected something that was going on with my KTN entry into my reservation. The bottom line is that it never hurts to recheck with an airline agent if you are a known traveler and don’t get PreCheck. It could be something as simple as an incorrectly entered KTN. Or maybe you really did get randomed out. But at least you know you tried.
-MJ, June 25, 2015
My girlfriend and I went to Cancun a couple of weeks ago and it didn’t show up on either of our boarding passes. This was my first international flight on Southwest so I was wondering if that had something to do with it. My girlfriend was traveling as my companion as well if that matters.
@Rob, I’ll have to look for it, but there is something of a known issue with PreCheck and international flights on Southwest. They use a different computer system for their international trips, and they have not been able to fix the lack of PreCheck with it.
We’ve found Mr. Jones’ KTN missing from his Southwest boarding pass multiple times although it is in his profile. (He files as my companion on companion pass.) I found that I have to reenter his KTN in every reservation.
But a quick call to Southwest has always “fixed” the situation, even when we haven’t discovered the missing Pre-Check until we are ready to leave for the airport. Customer service puts the number in the right place, and we refresh the boarding pass or re-print it at the airport.
Glad it worked out for you. While I love the ease of precheck, I understand there are others, such as you, for whom it’s an even bigger deal.
Actually you cannot be “randomed out” like that. If you are not selected that time, your boarding pass will still show PreCheck, but it will not beep three times at the screener and you will not be allowed PreCheck privileges (though you still skipped the regular lime and go into regular screening).
In fact you can check if you got it or not by scanning your own QR code.
So perhaps my suspicion of an IT fluke is correct.