Wouldn’t you be interested if I told you that there is a way for you to bypass the security screening at airports faster? This might be especially interesting if you are a family that frequently flies with younger children. My wife and I don’t have any kids yet, but we have seen the frustrated parents standing in lines that move at a snail’s pace with curious and active children that seem to ask a million unanswerable questions. Knowing how to be able to bypass long lines at security checkpoints, especially with children in tow, is probably worth paying for. Well, you ought to already know by now that nothing is free.
The TSA has decided to proceed with plans with a program designed to allow some passengers to bypass normal airport security (When I read the headline in the Philadelphia Inquirer, I had to do a double-take). For a yearly fee, between $80 and $100, you’d become a registered traveler. As a registered traveler, you would be given a card that can be handed to security at a security checkpoint that would allow you to avoid the long lines. Before you decide to rejoice at this exciting news, realize that there’s a possibility that you still might have to take off your shoes, take out your laptop from its carrying case, go through metal detectors and still have to go through a secondary screening according to agency officials of the TSA. You should also know by now that you have to take the good with the bad.
This program has already been tried in five airports in 2004 and 2005 already. It’s going to be implemented nationwide in June 2006. Some relatively bad news is that if private companies decide to get a piece of the action and issue cards, they are going to have to determine whether applicants are members of terrorist sleeper cells. You already know what the means. A few more hands are going to be digging through your very personal data.
Obviously not everyone is going to need this new feature. Some checkpoints are faster than others. No matter what, you’re still not going to leave the airport until the plane leaves. Look at it like this: standing in lines a little longer only means a little less time sitting in the terminal. Go to the following for more details if you think you might be interested: www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=8&content=09000519800b4ddd.