Registered Traveler program provider FLO Alliance last week detailed a business model that focuses on joint marketing programs and additional traveler benefits beyond the core expedited airport security lane offering. The alliance, which includes Saflink, Microsoft and Johnson Controls, last month signed Huntsville, Ala., International Airport, as its first airport partner. Meanwhile, other entrants are making their way toward the Registered Traveler space, as more airports make way to open lanes.
FLO Alliance last week officially announced the appointment of Fred Fischer, formerly with competitor Verified Identity Pass, as senior vice president, as well as Business Travel Coalition chairman Kevin Mitchell, who will serve as an ombudsman and liaison to corporate travelers and managers.
Fischer last week said FLO would offer three tiers of membership, the most basic of which would cost $99 and include access to Registered Traveler lanes as well as parking benefits at airports with which FLO Alliance signs deals. Platinum and Global tiers would offer travelers more benefits at corresponding prices. Fischer said FLO would determine specific pricing and benefits prior to its airport launch. He said plans include such options as remote baggage check, airport lounge access, priority airline seating, airline status upgrades and discounts with travel providers and airport concession vendors. Fischer said the alliance is seeking partnerships with travel suppliers, including domestic airlines that have been reluctant to join the Registered Traveler fold.
Huntsville Airport's agreement with FLO Alliance gives it 12 months to determine if it wants to implement lanes, an airport spokesperson said last week. "We are interested in the RT program, but we're continuing to monitor it," the spokesperson said. "At this time, the only real benefit is moving to the front of the line, and that's not really enough of a benefit for our airport, since we don't have a long line as is."
A spokesperson at the Jacksonville Aviation Authority last week echoed a similar sentiment in regards to Jacksonville International Airport, which launched its own independent Preferred Traveler program but is working with the Transportation Security Administration toward interoperability with other airport programs. "We've added a couple of layers because the wait times at our security lines are not very long," the spokesperson said. "What we did to entice people to use it is add on things that would be perks here at Jacksonville."
Vigilant Solutions, which has partnered with Jacksonville International to open lanes, also offers three tiers of membership—Silver, Gold and Platinum. The first tier offers access to the expedited security lane, the second adds parking benefits at the airport and the third adds the benefit of a VIP lounge, slated to open this year. Another vendor that has met the minimal criteria outlined by the Transportation Security Administration is Rochester, N.Y.-based Verant Identification Systems.
Fischer said one key difference between the FLO model and those of its competitors is that the bulk of FLO revenue would come from co-marketing initiatives, not from the sale of Registered Traveler cards. Fischer said that with less reliance on selling cards, FLO would be able to give deeper discounts to travel buyers who purchase memberships in bulk.
Steven Brill, CEO and founder of Verified Identity Pass, said his company does not plan to make ancillary benefits part of its core program. "We don't think we're smart enough to do more than one thing at once. We're focused on making sure that Registered Traveler works for the reason people signed up to make it work," Brill said last week. "That's why we've installed shoe scanners and a trace detector. I think people sign up for this program to get through airport security faster." However, Brill noted that does not preclude marketing arrangements with vendors that could make add-on services available to Registered Traveler members.
Verified Identity Pass is the only Registered Traveler provider operating lanes. The company now has Clear Registered Traveler checkpoints operating at airports in Orlando, New York, San Jose, Cincinnati and Indianapolis. The provider this month signed an agreement to operate lanes at Albany, N.Y., International Airport—expected to open in June—and added Virgin Atlantic to its roster of airlines that sponsor lanes at one of three terminals at New York's JFK International. Unisys, meanwhile, said it plans to open its first lane in Reno, Nev., early next month
(BTN, Feb. 5).Registered Traveler providers expect more airports to come on board throughout the year. "Airports are starting to roll. I think we'll see 20 awarded by the end of the year—not necessarily up and running, but awarded," said FLO's Fischer. "Bids are coming out at Little Rock, Dulles and Reagan, Baltimore, Denver and Oakland. San Francisco said they'd be the last on the face of the earth to do this, and there's now a bid coming out for San Francisco."
Another option, as demonstrated by Verified Identity Pass' agreements with British Airways, Air France and Virgin Atlantic, are direct partnerships with airlines to sponsor lanes. FLO Alliance's Fischer acknowledged that "the domestic airlines have been holding back on this" since the programs have been viewed as a compromise to their own frequent traveler programs.
"If I can come in and give them benefits to their travelers, give them benefits in the security lanes and let them brand the product, we think they'll soften," Fischer said. "We think the carriers will have to do this eventually."
Meanwhile, the adoption of the Open Skies deal between the United States and European Union
(see story) could pave the way for Registered Traveler interoperability on an international scale, Verified Identity Pass' Brill said. Currently, only U.S. citizens can use Registered Traveler cards domestically. "We are heavy into those discussions on both side of the Atlantic," Brill said.