[Travelandtourism] Trusted travelers may be able to keep theirshoes on

[Peter Donahue]

Hello Cheryl and everyone,

    This is a step in the right direction to restoring flying to what it 
once was.

Peter Donahue


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "cheryl echevarria" <cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com>
To: "travelandtourism" <travelandtourism at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 2:27 PM
Subject: [Travelandtourism] Trusted travelers may be able to keep theirshoes 
on


This is an article from one of my travel magazines that I thought you all 
might be interested in what do you think?

Let's start some discussion on this.

Trusted travelers may be able to keep their shoes on
By Bill Poling
The Transportation Security Administration has briefed airline industry 
officials on a plan to operate an "identity-based" pilot program later this 
year that would provide "expedited screening" to trusted travelers.

TSA did not offer a description of what "expedited" screening will mean in 
practice, but one knowledgeable aviation official said that the expedited 
lane could allow people to leave laptops in bags and forego the removal of 
shoes and belts.

U.S. citizens who are members of the American and Delta frequent-flyer 
programs are expected to be among the first groups of individuals eligible 
to participate, along with members of Global Entry and similar programs that 
expedite the customs and immigration processing for U.S. inbound travel.

American gateways Dallas-Fort Worth and Miami, and Delta hubs Atlanta and 
Detroit will be the initial sites.

TSA said it plans to expand the pilot program to include other airlines and 
airports, specifically naming United, Southwest, JetBlue, US Airways, Alaska 
and Hawaiian.

TSA Administrator John Pistole has said several times recently that he is 
interested in testing a "risk-based" component for the airport screening 
process.

Pistole has described today's airport screening as a "one-size-fits-all" 
system that needlessly subjects all travelers to the same level of scrutiny.

The Air Transport Association quickly issued a statement applauding the 
move.

"We commend Administrator Pistole for his work in implementing risk-based, 
intelligence-driven programs that further enhance our security while 
improving the travel experience for all passengers," said ATA President 
Nicholas Calio. "Allowing TSA to focus its finite resources on that which 
creates the greatest threat is both good policy and good security."

TSA emphasized that passengers in the pilot program will not get any 
guarantees. They may be eligible for expedited screening but "all passengers 
in this pilot are subject to recurrent security checks and random 
screening," TSA said.

TSA said Pistole reiterated during the briefing that TSA will continue to 
incorporate "random and unpredictable security measures throughout the 
airport."

TSA said the pilot will help it to develop "future risk-based, 
intelligence-driven security measures that would enable travelers to 
volunteer more information about themselves prior to flying."

Leading the Way in Independent Travel!

Cheryl Echevarria
http://www.echevarriatravel.com<http://www.echevarriatravel.com/>
631-456-5394
reservations at echevarriatravel.com<mailto:reservations at echevarriatravel.com>

Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel CST-1018299-10

Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Absolute Cruise & Travel, Inc.
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