IT Fail: Known Traveler Number Disappearing From United Reservations

Airlines are complicated beasts.  Hundreds of unique systems need to talk to each other to make sure everything functions properly.  Frequently, that’s not the case.  Road warriors are used to things going wrong.  Planes break, employees show up late, technology backfires.  Add weather to the mix and things get even crazier.  Those are all unpredictable parts of an airline operation.  The software side of the operation should be the more reliable part.

In multiple key areas recently, this has not been the case for United Airlines.  On top of their “Expert Mode” malfunctioning repeatedly over the past handful of months (more on that in a future post) United frequent travelers are reporting that their Known Traveler Number has disappearing from reservations.  That’s not what’s actually happening.  However, now that I’ve experienced this glitch a few times, I can explain what is happening.  I can also tell you how to fix it, but I can’t tell you how to prevent it from happening (looking at you, United).

United’s Website Not Populating Known Traveler Number

Let’s start with the basics.  A Known Traveler Number is assigned to you when you enroll in the Global Entry or TSA PreCheck program.  By entering that number into your airline reservation (for participating airlines), that information is communicated to TSA prior to your travel.  In virtually all cases when departing on a flight from a US airport, that Known Traveler Number is what gets you access to the TSA PreCheck lines at the airport.  These time-saving lines are still subject to “random” regular screening, but that rarely happens.

Much to my surprise, I showed up at my home airport (Washington-Dulles) recently and found out the hard way that I didn’t have PreCheck that morning.  It was my own fault for not checking my boarding pass when I checked in.  I generally do check, but it’s been quite some time since I didn’t get PreCheck for a flight, well over a year.

I was running a bit late that morning and the airport was packed.  When I got turned away by the PreCheck folks I decided to run over to the Global Services desk real quick to see if they could help.  The agent working the desk told me that “United doesn’t store your Known Traveler Number”.  I pushed back on that assertion since United has been storing the KTN for years (and years and years).  A second agent came over to assist and told me that they had started to see this issue pop up more frequently over the past few months.  The KTN would be stored in a passenger’s profile but wouldn’t end up on a reservation.

After some testing I’ve seen what’s happening and know how to fix it after it happens.

It appears to be happening even when the KTN shows correctly on the traveler selection screen in the United booking process:

After ticketing, I’ve found reservations that are missing the KTN.  Here’s how a reservation should look after ticketing when you scroll down to passenger details:

You can see the start of my KTN.  Just like it’s supposed to be.  However, as you can see on this next screenshot, it’s missing:

No KTN, no PreCheck.  But, we have some lovely parting gifts for you.

Edit Your Details To Add Your Known Traveler Number

In the picture above, you can see a link with the word “Edit” just below where the Known Traveler Number should be.  You can click it and add your KTN to a reservation when it’s missing.  So far, on a sample size of one, adding the KTN here after ticketing scored me PreCheck.  I have another flight this week with the same circumstances, so I’ll be able to test it again and report back if there’s a different outcome.

If you’ve already checked in and the KTN isn’t there, you can have a ticket agent add it to your record once you get to the airport.

The Final Two Pennies

Some folks will say this is a first-world problem.  I understand that perspective.  The frustration here is that United has reliably populated the Known Traveler Number on flights for years (over a decade for me at this point).  In addition, I’ve never had a flight on any other US airline where this has happened.  And, it’s now happened to me three times in less than two weeks.

Now that I’m aware of the problem, I’m checking all my flights prior to check-in.  However, thousands of travelers every day check-in for flights without verifying their Known Traveler Number is in their reservation.  The problem is that most passengers won’t figure this out until after they check in.

Software fixes can be troublesome, especially for airlines with antiquated systems.  But, antiquated systems aren’t an excuse for confusing and delaying loyal customers.

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