TSA Gives Thumbs Up to Registered Travel

By Margo McCall -- Tradeshow Week, 5/8/2006

Airline travel hassles have made getting to tradeshows a little more time-consuming for attendees and exhibitors in recent years. However, a U.S. Transportation Security Administration program is trying to make it quicker for travelers to get through security — at least for those willing to give the government biometric information and pay an annual fee.

Building on the positive response to tests of the registered traveler program at six U.S. airports, the TSA is now interested in expanding its pilot program to 10 or 20 U.S. airports by the middle of this year. The programs must be usable at all airports, protect personal information, be approved by the TSA and paid for by the public sector.

"The earlier program demonstrated that there was an interest. There was a really good turnout of passengers," said agency spokeswoman Jennifer Peppin.

The program allowed frequent travelers who had submitted iris scans and fingerprints to use designated lines to speed their passage through the security process.

Minneapolis-St. Paul Intl. Airport, in cooperation with Northwest Airlines, was the first to try registering travelers in spring 2004, followed by United Airlines at Los Angeles Intl. Airport, Continental Airlines at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, and American Airlines at Boston Logan Intl. Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington Natl. Airport.

Orlando Intl. Airport launched a more ambitious program last July, involving all airlines serving the tradeshow and tourism hub and registering more than 20,000 travelers. Called Clear, the program was set up with assistance from Verified Identity Pass, a company that has plans to launch the program at the Indianapolis Intl. Airport and Mineta San Jose (Calif.) Intl. Airport.

For a $79.95 annual fee, Clear lets travelers swipe a card embedded with their biometric information, and pass through a security line that features expedited processing. Verified Identity Pass does not track travelers' movements or sell information to third parties.

"The actual process of verifying takes four to five seconds," said Orlando airport spokeswoman Carolyn Fennell. "It's kind of like a toll road. If you have a transponder in your car, you go straight through and you're billed at the end of the month."

Although Fennell declined to speculate on how much time could be cut, she said, "Clearly the process of going through security is a much shorter period."

American Airlines spokesman Tim Wagner said his company believes such a program would help frequent travelers, but added that airlines can't be expected to pay for it.

Based on the earlier program's results, Peppin said TSA is suggesting that prints of all 10 fingers, rather than iris scans, be used as the biometric identifier.

"This is a market-driven program. If there's interest, we want it to happen. What we're working toward is getting public input on what a national program will look like," she said.

Expansion of the program has the support of the Natl. Business Travel Assn., whose executive director, Bill Connors, participated at Reagan Natl.