"For a Price, a Faster Way Through Local Airports"

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

For a Price, a Faster Way Through Local Airports 
By PATRICK McGEEHAN
The New York (NY) Times


Travelers using the metropolitan area's three major airports soon will be
seeing some fellow passengers on the planes whom they do not recognize from
the long slog through the security checkpoints.

With two new services aimed at speeding the trip to the gate, more travelers
will soon be able to zip through airport security without waiting in line,
and some will be able to avoid airport security measures by taking a
helicopter straight to a terminal. But they will pay a price for the
privilege.

Verified Identity Pass is about to offer an alternative to the dreaded
screening process at John F. Kennedy International Airport. For an annual
fee of $99.95, passengers traveling on British Airways will be able to
bypass the standard security wait at Kennedy's Terminal 7 before the end of
the year, said Steven Brill, chief executive of Verified Identity Pass.

Mr. Brill's company is starting a national expansion of Clear, a sort of
E-ZPass system for registered travelers, which it has been testing in
Orlando, Fla., since July 2005. The main airports in Indianapolis,
Cincinnati and San Jose, Calif., have also struck agreements to add one or
more of the company's Clear lanes in the next few weeks, Mr. Brill said.

British Airways is the only airline that has sought permission from the Port
Authority of New York and New Jersey to introduce the registered-traveler
program, said William DeCota, director of aviation for the Port Authority.

But Mr. DeCota said that the Port Authority was considering allowing the
program to be installed next year at the only two terminals it controls: the
central terminal at La Guardia Airport and Terminal B at Newark. He said the
Port Authority might soon start encouraging other airlines to make room for
Clear-registered travelers at all three of the local airports. 

Mr. DeCota said he became more comfortable with the idea after the federal
Transportation Security Administration decided recently that the registered
travelers would not require their own lane for screening but could share one
with other travelers. 

Customers who sign up for the Clear program and agree to pay the annual fee
- $28 of which goes to the T.S.A. - can check in at a kiosk, then proceed
directly through the final stage of screening. The kiosks identify travelers
within seconds by matching their fingerprints or scanning their irises.

Mr. Brill said that possibly later this month the kiosks at Terminal 7 will
also be able to scan the shoes of travelers so that they will not have to be
removed. 

But those promises have not persuaded officials of Continental, the dominant
carrier at Newark Liberty International Airport. 

"We don't support the registered-traveler program in its current form," said
Julie King, a spokeswoman for Continental in Houston. "We just don't feel it
provides significant benefits to the people who participate."

Continental already provides express lines through security for its best
customers; Mr. Brill said that "there are some airlines that do fear that
this will replace their first-class lines." But he said he believed that
Continental officials could still be convinced that the service saved
travelers significant time and trouble.

Separately yesterday, U.S. Helicopter Corporation announced that it would
expand its airport shuttle service to Newark on Dec. 18 through a
partnership with Continental. For a fare of $159 each way, passengers will
be able to check their luggage and clear federal security at the Downtown
Manhattan Heliport, then board a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter for an
eight-minute flight to the secure side of Continental's main terminal.

Jerry Murphy, the chief executive of U.S. Helicopter, said one quick ride
from the heliport near Wall Street to the tarmac in Newark should be enough
to convince a traveler of the luxury of flying to the airport. Once
passengers are on the ground, vans will shuttle them to Terminal C or
Terminal A, where they can walk to any gate without passing through another
security check, Mr. Murphy said.

The T.S.A. set up a checkpoint at the downtown heliport when U.S. Helicopter
began service between there and the American Airlines terminal at Kennedy
Airport in March, making it the first "federalized" heliport in the country.
The administration agreed to spend $560,000 to install the checkpoint and to
provide staffers to screen baggage and passengers there.

Ann Davis, a spokeswoman for the T.S.A. in Boston, said the administration
has been negotiating with U.S. Helicopter in recent weeks about setting up a
similar checkpoint at a heliport on the East River at 34th Street.

Mr. Murphy said he hoped to begin scheduled service between the 34th Street
Heliport and Kennedy Airport in January. He would not say whether his
company or the federal government would pay for the screening of those
passengers.

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