28 more US airports to test lesser-hassle screening

A new passenger screening program to make check-in more convenient for certain travelers is being expanded to 28 more major U.S. airports, the government said Wednesday. There will be no cost to eligible passengers, who would no longer have to remove their shoes and belts before they board flights.

The Transportation Security Administration's first attempt at a passenger screening program was subject to frequent complaints that the government is not using common sense when it screens all passengers at airports in the same way.

However under the new program, eligible travelers have the option to volunteer more personal information about themselves so that the government can vet them for security purposes before they arrive at airport checkpoints.

Not everyone is eligible to participate in the program, which is already being tested at airports in Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, Miami, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Eligible travelers are some of those who participate in American and Delta airlines' frequent flier programs, as well as travelers in three other trusted traveler programs run by the Customs and Border Protection agency, which do charge fees to participate.

By the end of 2012, the government expects select passengers in frequent flier programs for US Airways, United and Alaska Airlines to be eligible to participate as well.

The program is expected to be operating in these airports by the end of 2012:

• Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport
• Charlotte Douglas International Airport
• Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport
• Denver International Airport
• Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
• Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport
• Honolulu International Airport
• New York's LaGuardia Airport
• Lambert-St. Louis International Airport
• Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport
• Puerto Rico's Luis Munoz Marin International Airport
• Orlando International Airport, Philadelphia International Airport
• Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
• Pittsburgh International Airport
• Oregon's Portland International Airport
• San Francisco International Airport
• Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
• Florida's Tampa International Airport
• and Alaska's Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport

ORIGINAL SOURCE
Content used in this not-for-profit blog remain the property of their respective owners.