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Rising Costs Imperil Registered Traveler Program

By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com

September 20, 2006

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Costs could kill a program designed to whisk air passengers through VIP security lanes.

According to the Transportation Security Administration, background checks that would clear consumers for the Registered Traveler program could add more than $100 onto the $80 annual fee companies typically charge to join the program.

That would push the total to $200, a figure that might discourage many potential passengers from joining.

Already operating in Orlando, Registered Traveler had been expected to expand to 20 additional airports. All have applied to TSA for permission to run the program.

But that was before the agency announced it needed to tack on fees of $70 to cover screener salaries, $30 for anti-terrorism checks of each potential member, and possibly an additional $20 for criminal background checks.

Those figures contradict the $30 anti-terrorism check the TSA proposed in 2005.

The key stumbling block appears to be the $70 fee for screener salaries, since backers insist the agency does not need to hire new or additional screeners to cover Registered Traveler lanes.

That's the position of Manhattan attorney Stephen Brill, who charges $80 a head for membership in Verified Identity Pass - the concept he created under Registered Traveler guidelines. Equally unhappy is Larry Zmunda of Unisys, a Pennsylvania firm also hoping to convince consumers to sign up for Registered Traveler. He calls the proposed price "a huge blow."

Congress is also complaining.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat whose committee is responsible for Registered Traveler, admitted the new figures could jeopardize the program. He said the projected $200 total tops anything that was ever considered previously.

California Republican Dan Lungren agreed, noting that the TSA will have to justify its request for the $100 surcharge. Lungren's subcommittee oversees the agency.

Using taxpayer dollars to reduce the price won't work unless the TSA backs off its stance that Registered Traveler is a private-sector program positioned only as an option for passengers.

Even support from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff may not help; if the higher price stands, millions of potential members may be dissuaded from joining.

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