Registered Traveler program
Excerpts from http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/200...ered_trav.html The Registered Traveler program has nothing to do with security. It is simply a way to pay $100 to cut to the front of the line. While $28 of fee goes to a security check, there's actually no rational reason to do the check other than to make the program look like it's security-related. The program is set to work like this - a traveler submits 10 fingerprints, a couple of optional iris scans, a digital photo, and personal information including their Social Security number to the government through one of the private groups running a Registered Traveler program. After the government runs a $28 background check and clears the person, the private company (so far only Verified Identity Pass is certified) issues them a smart card. Then, after a traveler gets her boarding pass the normal way and heads toward the security checkpoint, she goes to a special line that has a kiosk. There she has her fingerprints scanned and checked against the card and if they match, she goes immediately to the front of the screening line. Then she goes through screening as normal - with their liquids in a bag, laptop out of its case, shoes off, etc. So, what's the point of a background check if all you get is a better place in the same line you would have been without the card? But can't those with the unfortunate name Robert Johnson or Ted Kennedy, who keep getting snagged by watchlists, join Registered Traveler to avoid having to prove they aren't the terrorist the government is looking for every time they fly? Yes, they can join, but no, it won't make any difference. The two systems don't touch at all. Some Registered Travelers will still not be able to print their boarding passes at home and will get the dread SSSS on their boarding pass (the code for extra screening). In short, Registered Traveler is a program that lets people pay an annual fee of $100 to cut to the front of the line. As for the background check? It's purely theater to make the public think the program is something other than a way for the well-off to avoid the hassles of post 9/11 airline travel. The TSA promises that the program won't slow down regular travelers, but that's plainly absurd. If it speeds up those willing to pay $100, it's going to slow down those unwilling or unable to do so, since there are currently no plans to add special screening lanes for Registered Travelers. ************************************************** **** Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions. ....Albert Einstein |
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