"LAX may offer security shortcut for frequent fliers"

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

LAX may offer security shortcut for frequent fliers 
The Registered Traveler program would allow people who pass background
checks to avoid security lines.
By Doug Irving 
The Torrance (CA) Daily Breeze


Los Angeles International Airport would offer some travelers a fast pass
through security under a long-awaited program it hopes to launch by the end
of the year.

The program, known as Registered Traveler, would create express lanes
through airport security for card-carrying travelers who have passed special
background checks. The federal Transportation Security Administration plans
to establish the program on a trial basis in as many as 20 airports in the
coming months.

LAX would be an important proving ground for Registered Traveler because it
screens more passengers on any given day than any airport in the country.
Airport managers expect the program to shorten security lines for everyone;
but others, from travel executives to the American Civil Liberties Union,
have raised concern.

The TSA has not yet announced the first round of airports that will begin
registering travelers this year. But LAX, which hosted a limited tryout of
the program in 2004, fully expects to be on the list.

"It was a great time-saver," said Roy Lyons, who participated in the LAX
trial program. He flies through the airport dozens of times each year for
his insurance job.

"I thought it was a great deal," he added. "I'd do it again in a flash."

The TSA has been working on a trusted-passenger program since shortly after
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. It believes such a program will single out
travelers who pose no threat and allow its screeners to focus more attention
on those who might.

To qualify, a traveler will have to submit background information and
undergo a security check. Private companies, not the federal government,
will collect the information and issue identification cards marked with
fingerprints or iris scans.

Registered travelers will still have to walk through metal detectors on
their way to the gate, and security screeners will still check their
luggage. But they'll be able to use a special checkpoint lane, and TSA
officials have promised other, not yet defined, screening benefits.

The federal security agency will oversee the program, and plans to announce
more details next month about how it will work and how much it will cost.

An ongoing pilot program at Orlando (Fla.) International Airport has
enrolled more than 20,000 registered travelers at $80 a year each.

Los Angeles officials believe LAX could register 10 times that many
travelers.

The program, they say, will allow frequent fliers to avoid waiting in long
lines behind less-experienced travelers struggling with their belt buckles
and griping about removing their shoes.

And, by giving registered travelers an express lane, those stuck in the
other lanes will have that many fewer people in line with them.

"It's all about customer service," said Michael DiGirolamo, deputy executive
director of airport operations for Los Angeles World Airports. "We just
figured this is a win-win."

But the Registered Traveler program has not been without controversy, and
now faces criticism from within the travel industry.

The Association of Corporate Travel Executives warned this month that
businesses may pressure their employees to join the program -- and
reconsider those who fail the background check. 

The group questioned whether the TSA has established an adequate appeals
process for applicants rejected by mistake.

Other critics -- including the Air Transport Association -- have questioned
whether the program offers enough benefits to make it worthwhile.

The American Civil Liberties Union has warned that Registered Traveler will
threaten personal privacies and may attract sleeper-cell terrorists looking
for a shortcut through security.

The head of the TSA, Kip Hawley, testified in February that agency officials
"are fully aware and expect that terrorists may seek to exploit Registered
Traveler program benefits."

The agency, he added, is working "to design a program to thwart those
efforts."

The TSA plans to establish the Registered Traveler program in 10 to 20
airports by the end of the year, then expand it nationwide in 2007.

It will pick that first group of airports based in part on their current
security situation, spokesman Nico Melendez said.

"We believe we're going to be one of those airports," DiGirolamo told
airport commissioners this month.

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