I took a brief trip to Seattle this past week, and I admit to being a little concerned at how hectic the return trip home might be on Thursday, Dec. 19. Travel volume builds steadily the closer we get to Christmas, and SeaTac can get pretty congested. I printed up my boarding pass the night before my flight (wrestling with my sister’s balky printer), got my rental car turned in plenty early, found lots of open stations and no wait to drop off my checked bag (yes, I checked a bag) and headed to security.

I was confronted with a long, snaking line; “Hmmm, at least 20 minutes,” I thought, but I had plenty of time and more than an hour ’til boarding. I approached the TSA agent at the entrance to the queue with my boarding pass and I.D. in hand. She gave the pass a quick glance and told me I should go to the PreCheck line, waving me off to one side. Dumbfounded, I shifted out of the way of those behind me and tried to figure out what she could possibly mean. I hadn’t applied for the PreCheck Program (being an occasional flyer, I haven’t felt the urgency to do so); surely there must be some mistake? I took a closer look at my boarding pass, and sure enough, right at the top next to the Alaska Airlines logo were the magic words “TSA PreCheck.”

While part of my brain still argued that that couldn’t be right, the other part was screaming, “Hey, Genius, there’s no wait in the PreCheck line. Get your fanny over there!” My superior intellect obeyed, and I enjoyed keeping my shoes on my feet, my laptop in my bag and zipping right on through security in record time.

A little checking when I got home leads me to believe that, although one can apply directly to the TSA to opt into this program, members of certain airlines’ frequent-flyer programs may be “nominated” or identified by those airlines to be cleared to skip all of the usual security line hassles. I can only assume that was my “in,” as Alaska is one of those participating airlines, and apparently my stellar passenger record led it to vouch for my qualification and place that “TSA PreCheck” banner on my boarding pass.

I realized that this handy slip of paper would allow me extra time during my layover in Portland to do some last-minute shopping on the other side of security — an added bonus. Unfortunately, mechanical issues with my Seattle-to-Portland flight left me with no time to shop once I got to PDX, but I’m still basking in the glow of my TSA PreCheck experience.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor