TSA PreCheck closed at McCarran on one of the busiest travel days of the year

So glad I paid extra for it

 

The unarmed guardians of the skies…….safe travels …..

 

Paid extra??

 

I always thought LAS was an exception to the busiest travel day of the year. I flew in and out of LAS in and around Thanksgiving 3 straight years between 2016 and 2018 and the airport was quieter than a cemetery.

I shared a Lyft ride with a baggage handler one year and had a light conversation with him on the way to the Strip. He said it was so boring at work that day with almost no work to keep him busy. I told him I was flying out on Thanksgiving around 5pm and he said don’t bother going early thinking there will be crowds. He was right as I had the airport all to myself. I’m not surprised they closed some services down this week. I’m not exaggerating when I say there were more TSA agents than there were passengers. I realize that was actual Thanksgiving day but Ive flown the day before and day after as well with the same results, pre-Covid of course. Hope you don’t have any long lines anyways.

 

Yes… TSA PreCheck costs extra

 

McCarran is a zoo today. City has been crazy busy all week

 

To get it, yes! To use it, no.

 

I went through TSA this am, Wed. (SWA)
Only 1 scanner was open, and the other was unmanned and closed.
My wheelchair pusher said "Your TSA $ are working real hard here!"

And every time I go through, they can not "read" my CO license.
Was one of the first to have the TSA Star on the license.
Works fine NOT in TSA line. Go Figure,

 

Did they subcontract PreCheck out to CET?

 

My experience today

 

Last time I flew out of vegas (around Halloween time), they had no TSA precheck and you had to stand in regular line. They kinda made it seem like it was normal and I had meant to post and ask and forgot as I don’t normally fly in/out of vegas now. So maybe that is their new norm?

 

was closed the Saturday after SEMA when everyone was leaving leaving in masses, had to run the rope maze and once to the agent, he said to notify the guy at the bins your precheck, had to take my chromebook out but bypassed the body scanner for a metal detector and was on my way

 

The last six months I fly out of LAS, I have found the pre check line closed at the A/B gates and open at C/D, up the escalators by southwest area

 

for me, August was open at the C gates but not in November, the other gates I have no clue

 

Any reasoning behind why they were closed?

Saw several articles regarding busy travel and a packed parking garage at McCarren.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fox5vegas.com/news/mccarrans-t-3-economy-lot-and-t-1-parking-garage-closed-at-capacity/article_acb32382-4d2d-11ec-ad55-b778233144fb.amp.html

https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-las-vegas/holiday-travelers-filling-up-parking-areas-at-mccarran-2484988/amp/

And some holiday travel tips....
https://www.ktnv.com/news/las-vegas-airport-prepares-for-busy-thanksgiving-travel?_amp=true

 

This is also helpful for real time info:
https://mobile.twitter.com/lasairport

 

Flying in is usually relatively quieter, but flying out is a madhouse. Pretty much every local I know that wasn't resort staff who had to work was flying out of town to wherever they came from.

 

Hmmmm... since I got TSA pre earlier this year, it's been open every departure. B and C.

Hope its open this weekend

 

Also one of those leaving after SEMA on a Saturday. Got there just as TSA Pre lane was closed down. I got the impression from chatter amongst the agents that it was done so they could use the lanes and scanners normally used by TSA Pre passengers to process those without TSA Pre faster.

 

Hit pre-check security around 11 am Wed (11/24). Crowds were much lower than leaving on a Sun/Mon. I was a little disappointed...it would have been fun to use Clear to jump the pre-check line to feel special, but there was no reason to. Heck, non pre-check security was short at T3. And the gates weren't crowded. It was surprisingly not busy.