The Travel Advisory

Consultants Adopt a Scan Due Attitude

If our very informal survey is any indication, consultants are salivating at the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA's) plan to offer an express traveler lane at airports — even if it means giving up some privacy.
Under the TSA's Registered Traveler Program, frequent fliers will be able to bypass extra security inspections if they agree to submit to background checks in advance. The pilot program will launch at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport with Northwest Airlines this summer and roll out to other airports through November. Depending on the results, the program may be expanded nationwide.
"If it would save me time and aggravation, I'd sign up this second!" says Sean Fox, a senior manager with Deloitte Consulting, who logs more than 100,000 miles annually.
Capgemini Principal John Jordan has already written to American Airlines to volunteer.
"It seems long overdue to take active fliers and rule them out as high security risks without any racial or other probabilistic and predicative methodology," says Jordan, who flies out of Boston Logan International Airport.
After passing the biometric kiosk (think finger printing, etc.), registered travelers will go through primary screening and will not be randomly selected for secondary screening.