Carlson Wagonlit and Visa became the
latest travel suppliers to offer customers memberships in a pilot
Registered Traveler program designed to expedite qualifying airline
passengers through airport security checkpoints.
Under separate
agreements with Verified Identity Pass -- a private sector company
that operates Clear, a Registered Traveler program at Orlandos
airport -- Carlson-Wagonlit Travel will offer discounts on
first-year memberships to its corporate clients, and Visa will
offer certain cardholders discounts on Clear
memberships.
The Clear
discounts will be offered through the Visa Incentive Network, which
enables member financial institutions to provide cardholders
discounts and promotions in various states.
Visa and Carlson
Wagonlit join a growing list of companies, including Travel and
Transport and Hyatt Hotels, which have arranged to provide
Registered Traveler discounts to their customers.
About 25,000
travelers are already members of the Clear program.
The
Transportation Security Administration, which facilitates the RT
program, announced in April that it intends to roll out RT programs
in as many as 20 airports this year, in cooperation with
private-sector vendors.
The TSA has
requested statements of interest from airports to gauge their
potential participation in the program.
Under the plan,
RT airports would come on line as soon as the private sector
vendors, such as VIP, make the necessary arrangements with host
airports and airlines and get security approval from the
TSA.
Under the
program, the vendors are responsible for pre-enrollment of
passengers as well as the collection of biographical information,
biometric data, validation of information, RT membership card
production and issuance and user-fee collection.
VIP, currently
the predominate RT vendor, said it has either signed agreements or
is in negotiations with several airports interested in
service.
The TSA is
expected to soon announce additional RT airports.
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport has plans to initiate an RT
program possibly by the end of June.
But even as
momentum begins to build behind RT, the debate over its value
continues to rage, pitting airlines against airports with travelers
caught in the middle.
A key opponent of
the program is the Air Transport Association, the trade group
representing major U.S. airlines, which contends the TSA should
focus on expediting all passengers through security, not just
business travelers, who make up the majority of RT program
members.
ATA declined a
request by Travel Weekly to comment for this story, referring
instead to a letter it recently sent to 79 airport managers across
the U.S.
In the letter,
ATA President James May, who in February testified before the
Senate Commerce Committee in opposition to the RT program, urged
the managers to reject the TSAs ongoing efforts to develop RT as a
nationwide system.
May argued that
as currently designed, the program will unnecessarily drain limited
TSA resources and detract from the agencys ability to craft more
comprehensive programs benefiting all travelers.
The ATA also took
exception to the TSAs business model, in which the RT programs
would be partially fee-funded. The amount of the fee and how it
will be administered havent been determined, but those issues are
expected to be resolved in a rule-making process, under which the
TSA is accepting industry comment through the end of
June.
But a TSA
spokesman said one thing is clear: The program is going to be a
private, industry-driven program. It is not going to be funded by
the federal government.
The plan, as
outlined on the TSA Web site, stresses interoperability because it
involves different vendors operating RT programs at different
airports.
It calls for an
open technological platform that facilitates competition, a central
information management system (known as the Transportation Security
Clearinghouse, managed by the American Association of Airport
Executives) with safeguards to protect personal privacy. The TSA
would be responsible for setting key program standards and security
measures.
None of this sits
well with the airlines.
We are
uncomfortable with the lack of a proven economic model, May wrote
in the letter to airport directors, adding that neither the TSA nor
the airlines nor the current RT vendors have agreed on a robust
business model for fee interchange between various providers at
different airports.
The ATAs
opposition confounds VIP founder and CEO Steven Brill.
I had one
discussion with Jim May and it was like talking to a wall, Brill
said. I couldnt figure out what their opposition is rooted in, and
I still dont.
Brill added that
there may be a disconnect between the [airline] people that liaison
with the ATA and the customer-service and marketing people, the
very senior people, that we are talking with at the airlines. But
this is having no effect on the roll-out of the program.
Charles Chambers,
senior vice president, security and economic affairs for the
Airports Council International-North America, which supports the RT
program, said he believes the airlines opposition is rooted in the
ATAs desire to make sure it makes sense. I view [the issues raised
by the ATA] as a positive. I think having a variety of comments and
thoughts about the process has been a positive.
Meanwhile, the RT
program continues to move forward. We are in the midst of
negotiating partnership agreements to co-market and co-brand [RT]
cards with more than one major airline, Brill said. Additionally,
he said, he is in similar discussions with every airline except
Northwest.
All of which
thrills business travelers.
If you are able
to remove people who are willing to undergo background checks, put
them in one line and the unknown people in another line, the TSA
can focus their resources more wisely, said Bill Connors, president
and CEO of the National Business Travelers Association, which
supports expanding RT programs to all airports.
Ultimately,
Chambers said, I think RT shows promise in developing technology
that may be useful to more expeditiously get [all travelers]
through the screening process.
To contact reporter Michael Milligan, send e-mail to [email protected].