Originally Posted by NJ Quilter

Interesting. DH and I recently flew to FL on a local, low-budget airline. He ended up purchasing the tickets at the airport (several weeks in advance of the trip) as he had questions and it was actually cheaper than purchasing online. At any rate, somehow we were granted 'pre-check' status for both flights (to/from). There was no fingerprinting involved at all. No fees. The only 'advantage' of the pre-check status was a separate, shorter line to the security area and we didn't have to remove our shoes or take the laptops out of the bags. Otherwise, no significant advantage.

We are not frequent flyers by any stretch of the imagination. We did run into a friend while at the airport waiting to board. He is a frequent flyer but says he does not pay the additional fee for the pre-check as it seems to be granted to folks on a random basis...sometimes he get's 'pre-check' status; other times not. Biggest advantage I can see is not having to remove your shoes. Particularly this time since I was traveling in flip flops and not looking forward to walking the airport floors barefoot!