New Efforts to Shorten Airport Security Lines with Background Checks

The stereotype of the business traveler dashing to catch a plane with minutes to spare was long ago retired; 9/11 and unpredictable security lines took care of that. And any hopes that private companies could run faster alternative lanes proved too optimistic after the companies closed down a year ago.

Lines at security at Denver International Airport the day before Thanksgiving last year. A company, AlClear, will run a private security program there.

But there may be life yet in the E-ZPass-style lanes.

A new crop of successors has risen up, and in recent weeks two airports, Indianapolis and Denver, have been named as the first airports to get the revived programs. While the companies’ odds of success this time around remain uncertain, one factor working in their favor may be pressure from members of Congress, business travel groups and some airports for a reprieve from the sometimes lengthy waits at checkpoints.

Legislation is pending in Congress that would direct the Transportation Security Administration, which balked at the earlier private efforts, to support a new registered traveler program for passengers deemed to be low risk.

At the same time, a two-year-old United States Customs and Border Protection program called Global Entry, which allows fliers undergoing background checks to bypass immigration lines returning home at the end of the trip, is getting a lift from a new publicity campaign aimed at increasing enrollments. Global Entry is now at 20 airports in the United States, including Kennedy Airport in New York, Miami, Los Angeles and other large international gateways.

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