The Association of Corporate Travel Executives today said it will send to the Transportation Security Administration the results of a survey on traveler receptivity to the Registered Traveler program to help inform the agency's decision making. ACTE also spoke out against relaxing security at Pittsburgh International Airport to allow access beyond checkpoints to shoppers without tickets. ACTE also announced it is studying the cost of the International Air Transport Association's rules to individual corporations.
Travelers like the idea of a registered traveler program, according to an ACTE survey released today at the association's global conference in Orlando, which found that out of more than 1,000 travelers from 35 companies, 85 percent support and 73 percent would pay $100 annually for the program proposed by TSA. While traveler support for the program seems clear, what is not clear to them is that the program only will eliminate some secondary screenings and not reduce wait times at security checkpoints.
"There is some evidence that the traveling public might have some confusion regarding the details of both programs," said ACTE president Garth Jopling, referring to both Registered Traveler and CAPPS II and said 57 percent of respondents are "unaware that TSA would require companies or airlines to submit PNR information for background investigation."
Although wait times have diminished since the introduction of new screening procedures in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, Angela Naegele, ACTE's CAPPS II and Registered Travel Initiative leader and corporate travel buyer for AT&T, said travelers are attracted to the idea of further dwindling wait times. Forty-four percent of respondents said security checkpoint waits average between 15 and 30 minutes, 12 percent said the wait took up to 45 minutes, while 6 percent said the time exceeded 45 minutes.
While the program could shorten time spent in line, TSA's consideration to let the non-flying public through security and into the terminal at Pittsburgh International Airport will increase wait time, as well as compromise security, Jopling said, adding that Pittsburgh airport's proposal will exacerbate the confusion travelers face with the lack of consistency of airport security processes. While a spokesperson for the ailing airport said even a 1 percent to 2 percent pickup in business beyond its security checkpoints would help keep the airport afloat, "Sideline profits should not be driving airport security measures," Jopling said.
Pittsburgh's airport authority and TSA in the weeks ahead will work out the details of the proposal, according to officials. An airport spokesperson said Pittsburgh airport would open access to people without tickets at non-peak travel times and will keep security as one of its highest priorities.
Meanwhile, ACTE chairman Cheryl Hutchinson said executives participating in a forum in Finland last week on International Air Transport Association regulations were shocked at the regulations' price tag, which estimates place as high as €1 billion annually. Hutchinson, who is spearheading changes to IATA regulations at ACTE, said the regulations provide no value to the business travel industry
BTN, Dec. 8, 2003). ACTE said it has discussed making changes to the regulations with IATA but has yet to see proposed changes on the IATA agenda.