I had another morning of cursing my sleep conscience: I dreamed I turned down a dinner date with a really great guy (“I’m married,” I said; “I don’t mind married,” he said, charming as all heck; “I really CAN’T,” I said), and I dreamed I turned down a dozen different foods I really wanted to eat. Why. Why have I not mastered lucid dreaming. I turned down a chance to eat brownies and not-forsake-all-others and EAT BROWNIES.
I am applying for TSA Pre-Check, which is that thing that lets you get through airport security faster and more easily and without all the instructions that make me frazzled and anxious. I kept starting the application process and then stopping it, because it said that it was CRUCIAL that your name be EXACTLY THE SAME on all the documents you brought to the interview to prove your identity. But my driver’s license shows just my two middle initials, and my passport has my middle names spelled out. Those are not matching, but not something I can easily fix. And I couldn’t find anything about it in the FAQ; and to get to the interview portion I have to drive 45 minutes away to a city I hate driving in, so it wasn’t something I wanted to take a chance on, either.
BUT ALSO, I have found while researching it for the baby name blog that at least for Social Security purposes, the U.S. government doesn’t consider middle names part of your legal name. (Suffixes such as Jr., III, etc., are also not part of the legal name. The post where I said so gets regular comments from pissed-off men who want to explain to me JUST HOW MUCH those suffixes ARE part of their names, and want to prove it to me with multiple not-at-all-proving-it examples. YAWN.)
(screenshot from SSA.gov)
So my hope was that this would be the same situation for the TSA Pre-Check thing, since that’s the government too, and I finally just proceeded with the application. Mid-application, I got to this line:
(screenshot from TSA.gov)
HOPE CONFIRMED. In case you too have been fretting about this.
Good to know! I had no idea about the middle name/initial stuff. I always sign just my first and last on things and it’s never been an issue. But my driver’s license has my given middle name, which I never use for anything else.
You will LOVE TSA Pre-check! I get it randomly when I fly and it’s always like winning the lottery.
I also have two middle names (original middle and maiden name). Somehow my maiden and married name got hyphenated on my driver’s license, which is all kinds of problems. Now I’m kinda motivated to change it in case I ever want to do…anything legal. I’m off for a new adventure/challenge/ordeal!
I love precheck, but I will warn you that it doesn’t entirely eliminate the guessing game about what you do or do not need to take out or take off. But the surprises are usually positive instead of negative, so you look over eager as opposed to getting growled at for forgetting to take something out.
For us, it substantially reduces the worry about how early to get to the airport and how horrible the lines will be. That’s a huge plus.
Good information as I get ready to apply for TSA clearance. On my last flight, I was randomly chosen for the full security probe (and I do not use that term lightly). This came on top of bidding my son farewell for the next too-many months, and I BURST into tears. The poor woman who was trying to do the check was as mortified as I was, and the whole time she was doing a check of nearly-gynecological lengths she was murmuring, “Awww, don’t be sad, it’s okay, it’s okay.” I was embarrassed on a dozen levels.
I’m glad for this but so many times I’ve been told they have to match. Good thing it’s in writing because I have a feeling that this one will cause trouble for some poor soul late for his/her plane.
The things that don’t have to match are the forms of the middle names (that is, initials vs. spelled-out) on the identifying documents you use to qualify for TSA Pre-Check, when you go for that interview. I don’t know if they have to match when you’re actually going through security, but I will probably find out soon!
I had gestational diabetes during my second pregnancy and I was pretty good about following the prescribed diet, but my dream self had no self-control. In one I spread softened Cherry Garcia ice cream over an entire pan of brownies and then ate it.
I read this comment about ten times, swallowing hard. That sounds AMAZING. I must try it for real.
Yes, that sounded like a “do this for real” recipe to me, too, for the record!
Whenever I was on a diet (in my younger, dumber years) I would regularly have dreams where I ate all night, and I would be terrified when I woke up that it would show in my weigh-ins.
If you are at all concerned about the process of the interview, fear not. I did this two weeks ago. Appointment scheduled for 9:50 am. I walked in at 9:52 (it was at an airport). The woman in the reception area asked for my passport and wrote down my name on a log and motioned me into the adjacent room. There a woman asked for my license and passport. She scanned both. Then i had to look at a screen and confirm that the information was correct. (Exact same format as when you completed the application online.) Then she scanned my fingers. Had to do one hand twice due to my wonky finger placement, but she was completely pleasant about it. Then she ask for my $80 payment. And sent me on my way. I was out by 9:59 am. She said I should get a letter within two weeks in the mail. I received an email with a link to find my number on a Monday. I was quite shocked since I had my appointment on the previous Wednesday. That’s some speedy approval process!
I have a trip coming up in June so I called the airline to add my number to the ticket. No problem.
Also, kids under the age of 13 can go with you through the pre check line. I feel like $80 for 5 years for 4 people (me plus three under 8) is an excellent deal!
Yes, the actual appointment was SO FAST for us as well. (I have one kid who is currently 14, and we got him the pre-check as well. My DD is still 12, but we will get it for her when she’s 13.) Ours was not at the airport but at some kind of separate office. I was shocked, really, how easy it was. Totally worth it!
I have Global Entry, but not sure if it’s the same process. Anyways, I accidentally put my middle initial on the application, but my passport has my middle name spelled out. During the interview, the customs officer was not pleased that I made this mistake, but he fixed it in the computer for me. I had to wait a few weeks for my updated application to be processed, but I did NOT have to go back for a second interview. Hope this helps!
Before I last renewed my driver’s license, my state declared that we both (a) had to have our full legal name on our driver’s license and (b) could only list 3 names on our driver’s license. In my case as in many others’ (particularly, I’d guess, women’s), that … is impossible. I ended up leaving off my middle name so I could include my maiden name, which still appears on some financial documents for accounts I’ve never bothered to change, as well as for accounts at my work (where I use my maiden name).
I get that we are not supposed to use fake names but … it would be helpful if the systems allowed for ordinary variations and recognized common practices such as women who use our maiden names in some places (or have simply not bothered to update) but not others.
I also have Global Entry, and I just came here to say that it might be worth it to you, if you think there is even a small chance you will travel to another country in the next five years, to spend an extra $20 per person to do that process instead of TSA PreCheck. It is essentially the same process as I understand it (apply, pay, go to interview), and receive a Known Traveler Number. You are not technically guaranteed TSA PreCheck, but I have received it every time I fly domestically or internationally since I completed it (unless the airline I’m flying doesn’t participate in my departure airport, which is extremely rare)—and the expedited line for Customs when returning to the US after a very long flight has been worth every penny. Just a thought!
That is so nice to know. I always assumed that full middle name was required for your ‘legal name’. It is just now occurring to me, that they must want to be careful of the “Mike Smith” type folks who never ever go by “Michael” but that IS their legal name, hence, they should use “Michael Smith” when they sign documents or buy airline tickets, not “Mike”.
We found out that if the person who buys the ticket has TSA PreCheck (aka my husband who flies at least once a month for work), the 90% of the time, the airlines assign TSA PreCheck to all of the tickets purchased at that time.
I love when you do these posts. My husband travels a ton for business so he has a NEXUS card, and often when he`s traveling with us peons we benefit – they just pull the whole family out of line and usher us through. I hate air travel so much. I`m inches away from being the kind of person who will only visit places I can drive to.
Thanks much for this info. Could not find it elsewhere and was wondering whether I would run into a problem with the TSA Pre-check application. Very helpful!
Your first paragraph is ludicrous, annoying, unfunny, and unnecessary. Geesh, girlfriend, Get to the point.
This was so helpful! I was agonizing over the same question as to whether my middle initial on one document and my middle name spelled out on the other were considered an “exact match”. Thank you!
Your two comments together make such an interesting pair. What HAPPENED, I wonder? Did you read the first paragraph and shoot off the mean comment, and then read the rest of the post and write the nice one? Did you only intend to leave one of them?—if so, WHICH: the nasty insulting one, or the friendly grateful one?
Also, I am sorry you were apparently forced in some way to read *checks notes* four (4) entire sentences you felt were unnecessary and not to the point, on my chatty personal blog where I do not in any way promise to be “necessary” or to get directly to the point (and in fact I’d say that’s the opposite of my goal), before you got to the absolutely free-of-charge information that was exactly what you were looking for. Your suffering while reading that paragraph must have been CONSIDERABLE (FAR greater than the agonizing the post relieved) for you to have thought it appropriate (and necessary) to leave such an unkind comment.