TSA Tests Expedited Security Checks In BostonTSA Tests Expedited Security Checks In Boston

The Transportation Security Administration's Registered Traveler pilot program landed Monday at Boston's Logan International Airport, where the agency is working with American Airlines to sign up 2,000 of the company's frequent fliers. In return for providing TSA and its contractor, EDS, with personal information, including name, address, phone number, date of birth, and place of birth, plus fingerprint and iris scans, registered frequent fliers would get shorter lines and fewer hassles when flying American Airlines.

Each registered traveler signing up for the 90-day test program is issued a smart card designed by France's Axalto Holding N.V. Each smart card contains a microprocessor that adheres to the Government Smart Card Interoperability Specification Version 2.1 and stores the user's personal and biometric data.

Background checks are performed within eight working days. Then travelers can use their smart cards at self-service kiosks located at participating airline's security checkpoints. Once the card has been inserted, the kiosk will perform either an iris or fingerprint scan to verify the traveler's identity. After that, the traveler goes to a regular security-detection line designated for use only by registered travelers. For the pilot program, the smart cards can be used only with the airline where the frequent flier signed up.

The goal is to safely expedite the airport-passenger-screening process using information that passengers volunteer. All passenger data is stored locally on removable hard drives that are secured nightly in TSA vaults.

TSA checks personal data provided during the registered-traveler application process against federal law-enforcement databases, a TSA spokeswoman says. EDS employees collect the biometric data, which only EDS and TSA employees can access. The program's primary benefit is to minimize a traveler's chance of having to go through secondary screening on his or her way to the gate. "This will also ease congestion at checkpoints," the spokeswoman says. American on Monday signed up at least 250 travelers passing through Boston.

Logan is the fourth of five airports pilot testing Registered Traveler. By the end of this month, American Airlines will also have the program at Reagan Washington National Airport. The program began in late June at Northwest Airlines' terminal at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and spread to United Airlines at Los Angeles International Airport in July. Last week, the program added Continental Airlines at Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport. TSA's goal is to have 2,000 registered travelers at each location for the 90-day pilot programs.

The primary difference between the Registered Traveler program and TSA's ill-fated Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-Screening System (CAPPS II) program is that the former uses only volunteered information. CAPPS II ran into trouble when TSA contractors solicited passenger information directly from airlines, without first securing permission from the passengers themselves. "TSA and its contractors are bound by the Privacy Act," the TSA spokeswoman says. "The data will not be kept beyond the pilot program." The spokeswoman says it's unclear whether registered travelers will have to reapply for the program once the pilots are completed.