The Transportation Security Administration has announced that, from October 1, 2021, the charge for renewing one's TSA PreCheck status online would be reduced to $70, down from the previous cost of $85. Travelers planning to pay for a future PreCheck renewal will be delighted to hear this news. But do you find yourself curious about how to get a free TSA PreCheck? The even better news is that there are methods to get one without paying any money to use the TSA PreCheck service.
How to get TSA precheck status for free? The application cost might be covered by either points or miles earned via certain reward programs that travelers already have. You also can utilize a perk that comes with your credit card, which is often a better bargain, to have the application cost or renewal charge repaid.
Use Points or Miles
There are a few different loyalty programs that provide its members the opportunity to redeem their points to offset the cost of the TSA PreCheck application fee. Be aware that the value that you get from these redemption alternatives is often rather low; nevertheless, if you want to lower the amount of money you have to pay out of pocket and you don't have a credit card that meets the requirements, then these redemptions might make sense for you.
United MileagePlus
Flyers on United may redeem 11,000 of their MileagePlus miles to pay the cost of their TSA PreCheck membership. Using this method, we determine that economy redemptions have value base of 1.2 cents per United MileagePlus mile. Therefore, to pay the $85 initial application price or the $70 renewal charge, you are giving up about $132 worth of value.
Although there are more efficient ways to utilize your United miles, it is one of the most advantageous ways to redeem points and miles for a TSA PreCheck membership. Visit the United MileagePlus security fees website, where you may check in with your United MileagePlus account and redeem your miles with a redemption code.
Marriott Bonvoy
To get a voucher code for free TSA PreCheck, Marriott members are required to redeem 25,000 Bonvoy points. Bonvoy places a value of 0.7 cents on each point because of the versatility of using these points. Therefore, you would need to use points worth 175 points to pay the first application price of 85 points.
IHG Rewards
For members of IHG Rewards, the TSA PreCheck application price may be covered by redeeming 30,000 points. IHG Rewards points have a value of 0.7 cents each, which implies that to pay the $85 application price or the $70 renewal charge, you would need to use a total of $210 worth of points.
Get a Credit Card with A TSA Precheck Credit
The easiest way to acquire free access to TSA PreCheck is to have a qualified credit card for the program. If you use that card to pay the application price for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry, dozens of credit cards will refund you for the cost of the application. A brief description of a few of these cards is provided below.
Credit Cards With No Annual Fee
Despite not having an annual charge, two different credit cards will credit your bill for the cost of the TSA PreCheck renewal fee or application. However, these cards are rare.
Reimbursement of up to $100 is available to cardholders of the Arvest Visa Signature® Credit Card for either the Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application cost. Please consider that Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma residents are the only ones who may apply for the Arvest Visa Signature® Credit Card.
Customers in the United States with an HSBC Premier checking account are eligible for an HSBC Premier Credit Card with no annual fee. One of the benefits of having the card is: Up to an $85 credit sent to your bill once every five years to refund the cost of the TSA PreCheck application.
Credit Cards with Annual Fees That Are Lower Than One Hundred Dollars
In addition, several other travel credit cards give a credit toward the application price for either TSA PreCheck or Global Entry while having annual fees lower than $100. Even better, the annual charge for some of these cards is presently waived for the first year you have the card. Therefore, there will be no out-of-pocket cost associated with obtaining TSA PreCheck.
