The Transportation Security Administration is planning to
adopt a three-tiered system for passenger and baggage screening at U.S.
airports.
TSA intends to pre-select passengers for "expedited,
standard or enhanced" screening at the time of booking. The information
will be embedded in the barcode of the boarding pass.
Continuing to move away from what TSA administrator John
Pistole has called a "one-size-fits-all" approach, the new system is "designed
to increase the number of airline passengers who may be eligible for expedited
screening," according to a Federal
Register notice.
According to the notice, the new procedure will rely on
existing data in the Secure Flight system that is used to match passenger
reservations records with the FBI's watch list.
Secure Flight is the TSA program that requires booking
systems to include the passenger's full name, gender, date of birth, redress or
Known Traveler Number if applicable, and other data.
The new system will use Secure Flight data for the additional
purpose of performing a risk assessment "before the passenger receives a
boarding pass, to determine what level of physical screening the passenger will
receive" at the airport.
TSA said the risk-based analysis will take into account
other information about the flight or other current intelligence, and will also
incorporate "a level of randomness."
Low-risk passengers selected for expedited screening would
be assigned at the airport to the lanes now used for TSA's PreCheck program,
where pre-approved frequent flyers are permitted to keep their shoes and belts
on, and to keep laptops in their cases.
PreCheck is being expanded this year from 40 to 100 U.S.
airports, and will also be opened to the general public this fall, meaning that
any traveler can apply by submitting to a background check, agreeing to be
fingerprinted and paying a fee, expected to be $85.
TSA is advising existing PreCheck participants who enrolled
through their airline frequent-flyer programs that they should consider
applying through TSA, "as they are more likely to be selected for PreCheck
expedited screening more often if they are vetted via the PreCheck application
process."
Applications will be accepted online, but applicants will
have to visit an enrollment center to provide a fingerprint. The first two
enrollment centers are expected to open this fall at Washington Dulles
International Airport and Indianapolis International Airport.
This report
originally appeared in Travel Weekly.