Only A Few Airports Offer Option For Low-Risk Fliers

It's now been over a year since the US government quietly announced a trusted traveler program, allowing frequent business fliers to pay an annual fee to private security providers to prescreen low-risk travelers, to allow quick transit through security lines at airports.

Business fliers, who are on the clock while they wait in lines, welcomed the option. But so far, only a fraction of the country's airports offer the program... making it tough for such businesses to make a go of it, reports The Seattle Times.

Also complicating matters -- and we know this will be hard to believe -- is the Transportation Security Administration. One private provider, Clear, says the TSA has blocked strategies for streamlining the security process, nixing proposals for shoe-scanning and biometric measures.

TSA spokesperson Lara Uselding says the technology used by private enterprises doesn't meet TSA standards, and the agency is reluctant to divert its own personnel to staff private lanes.

Airlines also haven't all warmed to the idea. Continental operates Terminal C of Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. The airline provides its own, exclusive TSA security line for members of its Elite program, and has kept Clear from competing with it, according to the company.

Fortunately for those who want the option, Clear has reached 85,000 total subscribers, and is now turning a profit on its operation at Orlando International Airport.

FMI: www.tsa.gov, www.flyclear.com