An E-ZPass for airports?
Michael Heiss's carry-on luggage is often stuffed with tangled wires and bits of remote controls, but not to worry. He's a Los Angeles-based audio industry consultant. Since 9/11, though, the electronics have consistently won him extra scrutiny at airport security checkpoints. "They eventually let me through, but it's a 15-minute delay," grumbles Heiss, 54.
Frequent travelers like Heiss might soon see some relief. Starting in late June, the Transportation Security Administration will begin testing a program designed to speed preapproved passengers through security screening--though how much faster the process will go remains to be seen. The Registered Traveler initiative is primarily aimed at business fliers frustrated with security lines at airports, and to many, the idea sounds tantalizing. The summer travel season is expected to be the busiest since before 9/11, and that could mean massive security delays.
The Registered Traveler pilot program will last three months. Up to 10,000 volunteers will be needed to test how it would work at about five airports. The finer points--how people could sign up and which airports will be used--will not be announced until mid-June when the TSA awards a contract to run the project. But the basics are apparent: Applicants would undergo background checks and submit biometric data--like fingerprints and iris scans--to be checked against terrorist databases. Those who pass might get encrypted credentials to swipe through readers at airport kiosks for identification purposes.
Perks. The idea is to "tailor the airport experience" for Registered Travelers, perhaps even starting with special parking lots, says C. Stewart Verdery Jr. of the Homeland Security Department's border and transportation security directorate. But some ideas, like offering access to airport lounges, are controversial. "The benefit is supposed to be to get through security, not get access to other airline perks," says Doug Wills of the Air Transport Association.
And there are other concerns as well. Experts say business fliers won't sign on unless the program offers a faster, dedicated security line--and that might not be possible at every airport. And even with the preapproval process, security is an issue, says David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association. Enrollees would still go through magnetometers and their bags through X-ray machines, but unless they set off alarms, they could avoid secondary screening. Stempler says that could embolden terrorists to try to sneak into the program.
But there's no doubting the appeal of the Registered Traveler idea, given the prospect of widespread summer security delays. About 65 million people a month are expected to fly this summer, 12 percent more than last year. Headaches are already cropping up. In early May, security lines at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport snaked a half-mile out the doors. And the TSA is short 1,175 screeners from its congressionally mandated limit of 45,000. A couple of weeks ago, the agency unveiled its third major reallocation of screeners nationwide, and it plans to monitor 25 crowded airports this summer.
The Registered Traveler pilot program will run into the fall, but it will be even longer before the TSA decides whether to roll out a nationwide version. Heiss can't wait. "I am an aging liberal, and I am big on privacy," he says. "But would I submit to a retina scan and background check not to wait in line for three hours? You bet your boots I would." -Samantha Levine
This story appears in the June 7, 2004 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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