The worst thing You cAN see in the Seattle–Tacoma International Airport garage is not be gross or scary—at least not in the traditional way. It's the end of the line for security.

This happened in September 2022, when the queue for the full-body scan reached beyond the check-in kiosks and across a skybridge, in an overflow system designed by the airport. Even when things don't get that bad, wait times at Sea-Tac can exceed an hour. But in the age of costly TSA Precheck and Clear programs, one skip-the-line option is totally free—and developed locally.

First piloted at Sea-Tac in 2021, the SEA Spot Saver system offers free reservations for a TSA screening window. Unlike with TSA Precheck or Clear, these time slots don't require any form of identification verification or advance registration—just a name and a flight number. Users flash a QR code to enter the SEA Spot Saver line, one rarely longer than a few dozen people, and skip the agonizing wait.

Two different companies partnered with the airport to test the technology in 2021, and similar programs have since popped up worldwide, at Newark and New York's JFK, even in Rome and Frankfurt. Crucially, the systems give security line management an advance idea of when to expect passengers to be moving through, information they surprisingly don't have on hand.

Of course airports know how many flights are on the books on a given day; TSA and the airlines partner to create a two-week forecast so airport personnel can plan their staffing, says Port of Seattle spokesperson Perry Cooper. But that doesn't mean they know exactly when the crunch will come. 

"If you have a flight at 9am, you've got 130 people," says Cooper. "How many are showing up at 8:15, and how many are showing up two hours ahead at 7?" (You know who you are, last-minute people.) The 15-minute window afforded by Spot Saver makes a difference—and, notably, the system won't offer a window within 45 minutes of takeoff.

While pay-for-use programs like TSA Precheck and Clear are usually even faster—remember, Spot Saver still sends fliers through the full shoes-off, hands-up general screening—this free option requires no advance registration and can be booked in the cab ride to the airport, as long as there are still slots available (for best selection, the windows open five days before the flight).

"We are one of the smallest terminals for an airport serving over 40 million passengers a year," says Cooper, and 2023 has already proven to be only a hair slower than 2019's pre-pandemic numbers. Sea-Tac hit its busiest day ever on July 24 of this year when more than 73,000 folks went through security, an estimated 198,000 people total passing through the airport. Also notable: July 24 was a Monday, a day that has snuck up to become the busiest for Seattle departures.

Obviously, Spot Saver is only a timesaver when only a few people are using it, hence the limited slots. Currently the system serves about 30,000 users per week and Cooper recommends travelers enter the terminal two hours before a domestic flight, three hours for international. "Maybe the future is everyone gets a plane ticket and a [security] space," he theorizes, with screening windows issued right along with window or aisle selections. Until then, Spot Saver at least keeps fliers out of the parking garage.