WASHINGTON – Starting Tuesday, certain qualified passengers will be able to expedite their security clearance at airports in four cities, in a new program being tested by the Transportation Security Administration.
Those lucky travelers may not need to remove their shoes, bags of liquids, laptop, belts, or jackets when going through security in Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas/Fort Worth and Miami.
People who volunteer for advanced pre-screening will be eligible for quicker questioning if they are already a frequent flyer with American Airlines or Delta Airlines, or if they are part of one of the Customs and Border Protection’s Trusted Travelers selected programs (SENTRI, NEXUS and Global Entry).
Citizens who in enroll in NEXUS, for example, provide additional information about their travel habits and personal history to be able to cross at the Canadian-United States border in a shorter customs line.
But to participate in the TSA’s pilot, eligible people must be traveling domestically from Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas/Fort Worth or Miami, and they must opt-in.
When booking their reservation, people enrolled in the Trusted Travelers programs first enter their identification information. If TSA accepts that a passenger is eligible, information is embedded into the barcode of their boarding pass.
When these passengers approach the security checkpoints, they’ll be sent to a lane with expedited screening. However, the TSA announcement clearly pointed out that agents will continue to conduct random security screenings no matter what lane passengers are in.
The new program will enable the agency to concentrate more on questionable and higher-risk travelers, the TSA said.
“By learning more about travelers through information they voluntarily provide, and combining that information with our other layers of security, we can focus more resources on higher-risk and unknown passengers,” said TSA Administrator John S. Pistole in a press release.
TSA had come under fire for what some critics believe are invasive screening procedures, including pat-downs of young children and profiling.
If these pilot programs are successful, TSA will look into expanding to other airports, airlines and travels, said TSA spokeswoman Lauren Gaches. Timing of potential extensions is unknown.
“The majority of passengers should not expect to see anything different at security checkpoints,” Gaches said.
In 2010, 98.97% of passengers experienced wait times less than 20 minutes, according to Gaches.
Additionally, TSA has introduced new screening protocols for children under 12 years old. Children no longer need to remove their shoes, and other changes will “further reduce – though not eliminate – the need for a physical pat-down for children that would otherwise have been conducted to resolve alarms,” she said.
While adult passengers must present state or federal-issued identification, children do not. Therefore, TSA agents will determine the age of a child by doing their best to guess.
Parallel to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s remarks about a time in the future when adults won’t have to take of their shoes either, TSA is requesting industry proposals for new shoe-scanning technologies to meet that goal.
TSA also announced it will purchase new technologies to make it easier to verify passenger identifications. This technology will be incorporated into the current four-city pilot in the near future, according to a press release.