My husband and I are flying AA to Miami, then Cayman Airways to Cayman Brac. We have the Global Entry and TSA pre check which will help us from St. Louis to Miami. Since we are changing airlines in Miami, I imagine that we would need to claim our bags in Miami and re-enter through security. I do not see anywhere on the Cayman Airways website where I can enter a known traveler number. Of all the airports which I have traveled, it seems that Miami security lines are the worst. Any scubaboarders who have tried using the tsa precheck while flying Cayman Airways? Thanks in advance for any tips.
You will be able to use TSA pre-check in Miami regardless of the airlines you are traveling with.
However, you should contact Cayman Airways and have them manually enter your number so that it appears on your boarding pass.
It is my understanding that Cayman Air does not support TSA precheck. On the way back, Global Entry works just fine.
That is my understanding as well, the airline needs to support TSA Precheck in order for you to use it. Some of the smaller foreign airliners without domestic partners might not support it.
My understanding is that you can only use it if you have the tsa-pre on your boarding pass. If Cayman Air is not a partner, they will not print it on your pass and you cannot use it even if you have a tsa-pre card/ktn.
My experience has been if it does not say precheck on your boarding pass you are out of luck.
Thanks everybody for taking the time to reply. My husband called Cayman Airways, and they are not partnered with TSA or other airlines. Fortunately we have a long layover in Miami. I was just hoping to avoid the lengthy lines.
I've always had to recheck my bags after going through customs. Some are easy like with the major carriers, others require actually going through the hoops of working with an agent to get new tags.
We didn't go through customs on departure. We just had to roll our bags from AA to Fiji Air. Then we had to wait for hours for Fiji airlines to finally open so we could give them our bags. Again, this was leaving the US. You have to go through customs anytime you enter another country if you deplane.
They started charging for Mobile Pass...asshats! I've had Global Entry since day one and works well...Clear is newish, but also charges an annual fee...how many fee options can one purchase? Wish they just offered one SUPERDUPER entry/exit option.
See the list of participating airlines
TSA Pre✓® Participating Airlines
The list does change. For example Swiss and Icelandair were added since we obtained our TSA precheck KTNs.
Mobile Passport is cool but it doesn't include TSA Pre. I have Nexus which is like Global Entry but for US and Canada and half the price.
Not all airlines support TSA Precheck. For instance Frontier Airlines, which is one of many reasons I'll never fly them again. They even had a spot for a Trusted Traveler Number on the reservation screen. When my wife and I got to the airport and printed our boarding passes, no TSA Pre. We asked the agent at Frontier to reprint the passes so we could get TSA Pre. The answer was, "Our airlines doesn't participate in the program".
The other fee for expedited service program we like is Clear. A bit spendy but if you travel a lot, like we used to, it saves a lot of standing around. My wife has a total knee replacement and limited patience so we pay the money. I must say that Clear is a PIA in Miami whether you have TSA Precheck or not. Only two lines and they are hard to find in a large airport.
The last time we went to Grand Cayman and Little Cayman a few years ago, we had a terribly complicated trip home to Chicago - even though we had booked our flights very early and it was still the best we could do. It took 5 airports (LCM, CBM, GCM, MIA, and ORD) and 12 hours to go just 1600 miles by air.
But things have gotten better with the new airport, and our travel experiences to/from GC and CB last year were improved and so I have high hopes for our upcoming vacation to GC and LC.
The new GCM airport construction is completed, they now have automated baggage check-in systems, and it is supposed to be a little easier to travel to/from the Sister Islands. My understanding is that you no longer have to go outside and drag your luggage across the airport - you get to stay inside and drag your luggage around.
Also, UA is again offering some direct flights from GCM to ORD and we are booked on one of them.
But after that awful trip home from LC a few years ago, I sent a note to Customer Service at the GCM Owen Roberts airport. I suggested that they try to make things easier for travelers by implementing a pre-clearance system like TSA precheck or global entry, or consider making arrangements with the US to accept TSA pre-check status.
I also suggested giving US citizens the opportunity to go through US Customs and Immigration before they leave GC as is currently available in Nassau.
I got the polite but negative note below from the GCM Customer Service Manager and she basically said "that's not likely to happen."
Dear ______________,
We appreciate your sentiments.
The Cayman Islands Airports Authority has reviewed the processes needed to implement such procedures at the Owen Roberts International Airport and our findings is the limited physical footprint. These limited quantities, at this time, is an unsustainable amount of traffic to support the facilities, expenses and human capital needed to run a preclearance operation. However, should the Islands incur the footprint volume needed to consider such services we would first have to have the support of our regulatory body, the United Kingdom (UK). If it was then authorized from the UKs end the next step would then lie in the hands of the United States Government for TSA to decide if they support the Cayman Islands in being destination to hold the TSA preclearance status.
Even though we are not there yet, we do hope that these processes needed in order to visit our Islands will not hinder your decision in continuing to make us your destination of choice. We appreciate having you here and look forward to welcoming you again.
With warm regards,
Melissa ________________
Customer & Commercial Service Manager
Cayman Islands Airports Authority
298 Owen Roberts Drive | P.O. Box 10098 |Grand Cayman KY1-1001|CAYMAN ISLANDS
Direct: +1.1.345.244.5810 |
Main:+1.345.943.7070 |
Facsimile:+1.345.943.7071
www.caymanairports.com
Our Vision: “To bring excellence to all levels of your airport experience”
Owen Roberts International Airport | Charles Kirkconnell International Airport
