When Clear, the dominant Registered Traveler operator, ceased operations on Tuesday, it left 250,000 members with nothing to show for their membership fees and threw the future of the RT program into serious doubt.
It appears there will be no refunds for Clear’s customers, and while the two remaining RT vendors said they would honor Clear cards in the three airports where they operate, the cards will no longer be accepted as identification by security officers at airport checkpoints.
Of equal concern to many Clear members is the fate and security of the reams of personal data they turned over to Clear in order to qualify for the cards. The company said last week it was taking steps to secure and delete the data, which includes not only detailed personal information but biometric identification such as fingerprints and iris scans.
Registered Traveler was mandated by Congress in late 2001 as part of the post-9/11 Aviation and Transportation Security Act, which also created the Transportation Security Administration.
It was the intention of lawmakers that the program would speed customers through airport security lines while maintaining the elevated security that was hastily put in place following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
In return for a fee of between $150 and $200 and the submission of certain personal and biometric data, passengers were supposed to be allowed an express lane through security checkpoints.
But the program never achieved critical mass. Most passengers seemed indifferent to the service, and the TSA, which had been mandated by Congress to establish the program, eventually decided to stop processing security checks for RT vendors.
In April, the Congressional Research Service, which helps lawmakers gauge the success or failure of key programs and institutions, described RT as "uncertain."
The final nail in Clear’s coffin came this month, when its parent company, Steve Brill’s Verified Identity Pass, was "unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations," according to an official posting on the company’s website.
The Clear lines closed immediately at the 18 airports in which they had been installed, and it appears very unlikely they will ever reopen.
"I expect the Clear lines will go away," said TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis. "However, we do not anticipate any impact to TSA operations."
As for the fate of Clear’s abandoned customers, Davis said that was not a TSA concern.
"The Clear program was a market-driven, private-sector venture offered in partnership with airports and airlines in certain locations, and not a TSA program," she said.
As for airport security lines, she said, "The airlines have responsibility for management of the lines up until the point where a TSA officer is positioned checking boarding passes and government-issued IDs. TSA will continue to screen passengers in the order in which they are presented to us in the queue."
Registered Traveler's usefulness debated
Without TSA support for the program, the airlines found no use for RT.
"Once the TSA stopped doing security checks, this became nothing more than a passenger facilitator," said Air Transport Association spokesman David Castelveter. "The airlines already do that with our premium customers or through our frequent flyer programs."
But travelers and travel advocacy groups insist the service is needed.
"We believe this program allows for strong, safe travel and alleviates burdens that can hinder productivity while on the road," said Kevin Maguire, CEO of the National Business Travel Association. "As the program’s primary provider ceases operation, we urge TSA, in cooperation with U.S. carriers, to keep the program alive and make certain it becomes a true risk-management tool for secure and efficient air travel."
What’s needed now, said Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, is for the RT program to return to its roots: "It needs to be a real security program."
Castelveter disagreed, asserting that TSA’s current security measures are adequate.
Meanwhile, the RT program will continue without Clear. The two remaining RT providers, FLO and Vigilant Solutions, say they are talking with the TSA about what can be done to move Clear business their way.
While Clear operated in 18 airports, Flo operates only at Reno-Tahoe, Nev., and Vigilant operates at Jacksonville, Fla., and Louisville, Ky.
Davis said the TSA "does not have oversight of the transference of membership. That decision is between Clear, the other service provider and the cardholder."
The TSA held a conference call on June 23 with industry associations to discuss Clear’s demise. The upshot, according to the Airport Council International, was that "the TSA Registered Traveler Program Office has no intention of placing Clear cardholders on the card revocation list. … Clear customers will be able to use Flo and Vigilant Systems Registered Traveler lines at the remaining three airports."
However, the Airport Council reported, "TSA stated a decision was reached this morning that Clear cards will no longer be an acceptable form of identification to gain access to security checkpoints."
Concern about data protection
During the conference call, Verified Identity Pass’s acting CEO, Jim Maroney, acknowledged his customers’ inquiries regarding the security of their personal data.
"Maroney stated that all applicant and member personal information will continue to be secured in accordance with TSA requirements but is in the process of being deleted under the direction of company officials," the Airport Council reported.
Clear has a plan to secure and delete personal information in three areas by using the highly secure G-band spectrum to secure software and data on kiosks for enrollment data; bringing all employee laptop computers to its office in New York so data can be removed; and removing data from the central system located at Lockheed Martin’s facilities in Orlando and Palm Coast, Fla., where it is stored.
The TSA last summer briefly suspended Verified Identity Pass’s authority to process new applications after a laptop containing unencrypted personal data from about 33,000 RT applicants was reported missing.
The suspension was quickly lifted after the laptop was recovered and the company started to encrypt applicants’ personal data.
Nevertheless, the Congressional Research Service reported, "The incident and the potential threat of data breaches … raise considerable questions about the protection of private information."