After a measured launch and rollout last year of PreCheck, the Transportation Security Administration on Wednesday announced plans to broadly expand the airport trusted-traveler program this year to more than two dozen large U.S. airports.
Through PreCheck, TSA absolves some vetted frequent flyers and members of other Department of Homeland Security trusted-traveler programs from removing shoes, laptops, jackets and belts during airport security screening.
Though TSA still characterizes the program as a "pilot," the expansion represents another step toward permanence.
Already active at airports in Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami and Minneapolis, PreCheck this year is slated to launch in Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver, Houston, New York, New Orleans, Newark, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Washington, among other locations.
After launching last year with American Airlines and Delta, the program is growing to include US Airways, United and Alaska Airlines.
TSA claimed it has screened more than 336,000 passengers through PreCheck, which provides benefits to travelers while allowing TSA "to focus its efforts on passengers the agency knows less about while providing expedited screening for travelers who volunteer information about themselves prior to flying," according to TSA's announcement.
Still, participants in the program are not guaranteed its benefits each time they are screened, and program members must wait in line like other travelers for document and ID checking.
According to TSA administrator John Pistole, the program represents a shift "away from a one-size-fits-all approach to a more intelligence-driven, risk-based transportation security system.”
Pistole in an interview with Business Travel News last month said TSA is "interested in expanding it as broadly as possible, moving from the pilot concept to making it a formal part of TSA."
Source: Business Travel News