TSA expands PreCheck to 35 airports for elite frequent flyers from 5 airlines

The Transportation and Security Administration announced this week that John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, became the 35th airport to get TSA PreCheck, which enables members to skip the regular security lanes and go through faster, expedited security screening. Launched in late 2011 at four airports, PreCheck is still merely a convenience for elite frequent flyers from just five airlines (and the military). Although the TSA says it wants to expand the number of airports and airlines, just five carriers are part of PreCheck: Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and US Airways. For now, at least, if you are an elite frequent flyer for Southwest, which carries more passengers than any U.S. airline, Spirit, Allegiant, JetBlue, Frontier, Hawaiian or Virgin America, to name a few, you won't be getting a PreCheck invitation. [UPDATED: Southwest Airlines spokesperson Brandy King says the airline is currently evaluating what it would take to implement PreCheck, and "looks forward to participating in the program in the future as it expands its operations to additional airlines."] There are othe