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Expedited TSA screenings open to Boston passengers

Passengers waited at a TSA security checkpoints at Logan Airport last year.John Tlumacki/Globe Staff

Boston-area airline passengers sick of long security lines — and taking off their shoes — can now apply directly for the expedited screening privileges that many travelers use at airports around the country.

The TSA will open three PreCheck application sites in Eastern Massachusetts.JOHN MOORE/GETTY IMAGES

The Transportation Security Administration is in the process of opening 300 application sites, including in Dorchester, Waltham, and Bourne, where travelers will verify their identity and provide fingerprints for a background check.

Travelers start the application process for the program, called PreCheck, online at tsa.gov before making an appointment to visit a center.

If approved as a PreCheck member, at a cost of $85 for five years, a passenger is eligible to go through select screening lanes and will no longer have to remove shoes, coats, and belts or take laptops and liquids out of carry-on luggage.

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To ensure that security measures remain unpredictable, however, the expedited screening is not guaranteed.

Previously, the PreCheck program was available to passengers only through airline frequent flier programs and Customs and Border Protection’s Global Entry program.

Nine major airlines at more than 100 airports, including Logan International Airport, have installed PreCheck lanes since the program started in 2011.

They are: Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways, and Virgin America.


Katie Johnston can be reached at kjohnston@globe.com.