TSA will test a Pre-Check vetted-traveler center at Philadelphia International Airport

The Transportation Security Administration has announced that it will open a temporary enrollment office at Philadelphia International Airport where travelers can sign up and pay $85 for expedited security screening as part of TSA's Pre-Check program.

The center, in Terminal B's baggage-claim area outside security, will be open between 8 a.m. and noon and 1 and 5 p .m. Tuesday, April 18, through Friday, April 28. Walk-ins are welcome, or travelers can sign up for appointments online at tsa.gov. If there is demand, the agency will take steps to make the Philadelphia airport location permanent, TSA spokesman Michael England said.

TSA now has two permanent Pre-Check enrollment centers in Philadelphia, at 3460 N. Delaware Ave., Suite 100, and at 1015 Chestnut St., Suite 307.

The Pre-Check vetted-traveler program requires an interview and a background check. Passengers deemed low-risk can go through security lines more quickly because they do not have to remove shoes and light jackets or take laptops and liquids from carry-on bags.

Successful applicants receive a "known traveler number" valid for five years that can be provided when booking flights on 30 participating airlines.

There are more than 400 Pre-Check enrollment centers at airport and non-airport locations. More than 14 million U.S. fliers have signed up.

At Philadelphia International, Terminals A-East, B, C, and D-E have expedited Pre-Check lanes.  Terminals A-West and F do not, but enrolled passengers are supposed to be able to show boarding passes with the "Pre-Check" stamps to TSA checkers and be directed to the front of regular security lanes without waiting, England said.   "That is what is supposed to happen."