[privacy] Logan balks on registered traveler plan

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () bsf-llc com>]

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/04/25/logan_balks_on_registered
_traveler_plan?mode=PF
 

Logan balks on registered traveler plan


Time savings may be less than hoped


By Bruce Mohl, Globe Staff  |  April 25, 2006

A number of airports, including Boston's Logan International, are balking at
participating in a federal program designed to speed registered travelers
through security checkpoints.

Three months ago officials at Logan were talking enthusiastically about
setting up dedicated security checkpoints this summer for passengers who
voluntarily undergo a background check and pay an annual fee. But now an
airport spokesman says Logan is undecided whether it will push ahead.

''We're still evaluating all aspects of the program. We should have an
answer shortly which way we're going to go," said Phil Orlandella, the
spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which manages Logan.
Orlandella declined further comment.

Logan's hesitancy comes as other airports across the country are saying they
doubt the registered traveler program would actually save travelers much
time.

''It would be investing resources in a problem we don't have," said Michael
Conway, a spokesman for Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, which has
no plans to go ahead with the program. Conway said waits at security
checkpoint lines are rarely longer than 13 to 14 minutes now.

A spokesman for San Francisco International Airport said the airport doesn't
intend to participate in the program because wait times there average just
five minutes. He said the city's attorney has also advised the airport that
it could be held liable for any incident involving the registered traveler
checkpoint.

Ann Davis, a spokeswoman for the US Transportation Security Administration,
which oversees airport security checkpoints, said wait times at Logan have
also been short, rarely exceeding seven minutes.

Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst with
<http://studio.financialcontent.com/Engine?Account=bostonglobe&PageName=QUOT
E&Ticker=FORR> Forrester Research, a Cambridge research firm, said airports
are starting to balk at the registered traveler program because the federal
government has watered it down so much there's little benefit left for
either travelers or airports.

Under the original concept, travelers would submit to a background check,
provide iris scans and fingerprint information, and pay an annual fee that
would fund the service. In return, they would gain access to their own
dedicated security lanes at airports that offer the registered travel
program, bypass random secondary screenings unless they set off the metal
detector, and possibly receive other benefits, such as not having to take
off their shoes and coats while going through checkpoints.

The goal was to offer frequent fliers faster passage through security in
return for a system that would let TSA concentrate its screening resources
on those travelers more likely to be terrorists.

But the TSA said last week that registered travelers would be subject to the
same random secondary screenings as regular travelers. The agency has yet to
spell out what, if any, additional benefits might be afforded registered
travelers.

''Why do you need to pay $80 a year for that kind of abuse? What's the
benefit here?" asked Harteveldt. The $80 yearly fee is what participants in
a registered traveler pilot program at Orlando International Airport pay.

Harteveldt said airports are also concerned about the cost of registered
traveler programs. Airports would be on the hook financially for the cost of
designated security lanes. The airports presumably would recover those costs
from the companies operating the registered traveler programs, but
Harteveldt said airport officials are worried that travelers who spend less
time waiting at the airport may spend less money on airport goods and
services.

''Airports are saying, 'This could actually cost us money,' " Harteveldt
said.

The big draw of a registered traveler program for frequent fliers is the
prospect of short, predictable wait times at security checkpoints at
airports around the country. But Harteveldt said that if airports in
Detroit, San Francisco, and Boston don't participate in the program, ''it
ain't gonna happen."

The TSA last week said it is moving ahead with a pilot program and hopes to
have 10 to 20 airports signed up by the end of this year. The TSA said it
would set the size of the annual fee registered travelers would be charged,
at least during the pilot project.

Verified Identity Pass of New York, which operates the Orlando registered
traveler program, has already been retained by airports in San Jose, Calif.,
Indianapolis, and Cincinnati to run programs there. Steven Brill, the
company's chief executive, has said he expects to launch service at eight
more airports this summer and fall.

Bruce Mohl can be reached at  <mailto:mohl () globe com> mohl () globe com.
<http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/File-Based_Image_Resource/dingbat_story_
end_icon.gif>

_______________________________________________
privacy mailing list
privacy () whitestar linuxbox org
http://www.whitestar.linuxbox.org/mailman/listinfo/privacy