Pilot Program Targets Security Delays
By Margo McCall -- Tradeshow Week, 7/19/2004
Federal officials this summer are launching a pilot program intended to help frequent flyers avoid long security lines, a move that could eventually reduce delays like the hours-long backup that departing Intl. CES attendees experienced this year.
The Transportation Security Administration is testing its registered traveler pilot program in five cities. It was rolled out early this month at Minneapolis-St. Paul Intl. Airport in cooperation with Northwest Airlines, to be followed by United Airlines at Los Angeles Intl. Airport in late July. Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport will follow with Continental Airlines in early August, while Boston Logan Intl. Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington Natl. Airport will come on board in cooperation with American Airlines by late August.
Of these cities, only Los Angeles is among the 10 largest U.S. tradeshow destinations.
Since attendees trying to leave this year's Intl. CES experienced delays of three to five hours, the Consumer Electronics Assn. has been pushing for measures that will help prevent similar delays at the 2005 show. Backlogs in the TSA-operated security checkpoints were blamed for holding up thousands of Intl. CES' 130,000 attendees as they tried to depart from Las Vegas' McCarran Intl. Airport after the show closed.
In February, U.S. Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.) suggested during a House Aviation Subcommittee hearing that the TSA work with organizers of large events such as Intl. CES. The following month, the CEA met with TSA and congressional staff to identify ways to prevent future security-line delays.
"We think they need to be in contact with industries such as CEA that have these high-volume tradeshows to find a solution for when 130,000 people are trying to leave the airport at the same time," said CEA spokeswoman Leah Arnold.
According to the CEA, the TSA was aware of the post-show delays at McCarran. The addition of an in-line baggage checking system, six new gates and seven security checkpoint lanes at gates C and D should help the situation. As well, McCarran airport officials now have the authority to increase the number of TSA screening personnel in response to periods of heightened air traffic.
Randall Walker, director of aviation for Clark County, Nev., which operates McCarran, said the measures, in addition to procedural changes, have greatly sped up passenger processing. Under the same conditions as when the more than 72,000 Intl. CES attendees flooded McCarran during a five-hour period, the wait is now an estimated 40 minutes.
Walker added that he has been working with the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority to educate show managers on what can be done to ensure that their exhibitors and attendees quickly get through security lines. For instance, exhibitors should be advised not to hand out trinkets that could pose security problems — such as the key chains containing live bullets that held up security lines at a recent firearms show. Likewise, passengers that try to fly with several laptops at once tend to clog lines.
McCarran is also spending $1 million a year to hire "front-loaders" to prepare passengers for quick passage through the security lines. Since Las Vegas is the nation's busiest tradeshow city, Walker said McCarran experiences bigger passenger influxes than many other airports.
The registered traveler pilot program, meanwhile, is being applauded by the Natl. Business Travel Assn., which has been lobbying fiercely for a number of measures to improve business travel conditions in the post-Sept. 11 climate. Some 6 million of the United States' 45 million business travelers take 10 or more trips per year, according to NBTA figures.
"If they can come out of this test with something that will work with frequent travelers, it's going to be beneficial for business travelers and tradeshows," said Caleb Tiller, NBTA spokesman.
Program volunteers will be selected from airline frequent flyers that use one of the host airports at least once a week. In order to participate, each flyer must provide the TSA with his or her name, address, phone number and date of birth, and submit to fingerprinting and iris scanning.
So far, there's apparently no shortage of frequent flyers interested in avoiding long security lines. On the first day that Northwest Airlines opened up registration for the program, 1,000 of the airline's Platinum Elite customers showed up. "For 1,000 people to show up, some of them at 5 in the morning, that goes to show there's a lot of interest," said Thomas Becher, Northwest's director of media relations.
The TSA hopes to attract 2,000 participants for each of the 90-day test periods. The program will be operated slightly differently by each airline and at each airport. At Minneapolis-St. Paul, after undergoing a 5-minute registration process and background check, passengers received cards entitling them to go through a designated security line for the duration of the 90-day period.
Becher said passengers are interested in "anything to speed things up to save time." Knowing that they'll consistently be able to get through a line that's only a few minutes long has definite appeal, he said.
