Airport Relief Is Nearing for Frequent Flyers
Airline security has been part of the federal government’s war against terrorism since the 2001 attacks.
For frequent flyers tired of padding through airports barefoot, belts and jewelry in hand, relief may be in sight.
The Transportation Security Admin-
istration just launched a pilot program that would create a registered travelers list. The program is voluntary.
Once qualified for the program, travelers would be able to pass through a special express security checkpoint at airports using a Transportation Security Administration-provided access card. These travelers wouldn’t be selected for additional screening,unless they set off the alarm when walking through the metal detector.
According to agency spokesman Nico Melendez, 10,000 frequent travelers are taking part in the pilot program to be conducted in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Los Angeles, Houston, Boston and Washington, D.C.
Travelers were selected from airlines’ frequent flyer programs. To be selected, they had to fly from the participating airports at least once weekly; they also had to provide a minimal amount of identity information and either a fingerprint or an iris scan.
Melendez said the pilot program will end in December and be evaluated for wider use.
“The goal is to improve security and customer service,” Melendez said.
Earlier this month, the Transportation Security Administration unveiled Secure Flight,a method of prescreening passengers against terrorist watch lists.
This time the federal government is planning to check names instead of leaving that to the airlines.
“The move will help eliminate most of the false alerts caused by the current, outdated systems,” the agency said in a press release.
The announcement also said Secure Flight won’t be used for other law enforcement activities and that passengers will have a way to correct wrong information.
Secure Flight’s pilot program is set to launch before year’s end. The pilot also will evaluate whether commercially available passenger data should be used to identify passengers,an element of a previous system that was widely criticized and scrapped.
,Sandi Cain
