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BWI to offer pre-registered ID check service
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Travelers wait in line at one of the security concourses at BWI Airport in Linthicum on Wednesday. Passengers with the new ID card will have access to a different, shorter line at security checkpoints. – Chris Ammann/Examiner
BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Just as drivers with an E-ZPass cruise through highway tolls, BWI travelers will soar past long security check lines with a new program beginning this fall at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
BWI put out a request for bids this week for a registered traveler program, which allows fliers to pay an annual fee for a pre-checked ID card. Passengers with that ID card will have access to a different, shorter line at security checkpoints but will still go through basic screening procedures.
The airport spent several months studying the program, operated by private companies with the support of the Transportation Security Administration. Airport officials hope to have the program in place by late this year, according to BWI spokesman Jonathan Dean.
“It’s been a long process,” Dean said. “BWI has spent recent months examining the program and how it would work here. There have been a number of questions and issues, as simple as [the compatibility of] the basic infrastructure of the airport.”
BWI will be the 20th U.S. airport to offer the service, which was piloted in Orlando, Fla., in 2005 and spread nationwide in January 2007.
The program began at Washington Dulles International and Ronald Reagan Washington National airports in mid-March and is operated at both by New York-based Verified Identity Pass Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steven Brill said more than 20,000 people have signed up for the program at those two airports, and said the company plans to bid for the BWI contract.
The company charges a $100 annual fee for the cards as well as a one-time $28 background check fee. To enroll, applicants must provide two forms of government-issued ID and a photo, as well as fingerprints or iris images, one of which must be verified each time the applicant travels.
Brill said his company speeds up checkpoint throughput by more than 30 percent, and cardholders see a typical wait time of about five minutes. A company survey found those customers fly an average of about 60 to 70 times a year.
But ID holders will still have to go through the same scanning and screening process as other passengers, said TSA spokeswoman Lauren Wolf.
“At this point the benefit for passengers is limited to [the length of] the line,” she said.
acahall@baltimoreexaminer.com
Comments from Examiner Readers
9:12 AM MST on Fri., Aug. 22, 2008 re: "BWI is considering joining Registered Traveler program"
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8:33 PM MST on Thu., Aug. 7, 2008
re: "State Board approves $44 million shuttle contract for BWI airport"
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Examiner Reader said:
When is BWI going to approve the program?
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Examiner Reader said:
Look for Martin Owe'Malley to cave in and pander to the blacks on this one, he always does. When Owe'Malley was Mayor he allowed the company that satisfactorly supplied light bulbs to the city for many years be replaced by another light bulb supplier, despite the fact that they charged more and could not fulfill the requirements of the contract. Guess what, the new company was black owned, and that was all that Owe'Mally cared about. In the end the city paid more for its light bulbs, the new minority owned supply company didnt meet the contract AND went out of business in short order. Martin will run this company out of BWI. When looking for a replacement will Owe'Malley search for a competent, financially sound firm that can best do the job at the best price for the tax payer? No, Owe'malley will only give it to a black owned company, whether it can do the job or not. Martin the panderer, it is what he always does.
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Examiner Reader said:
Here we go again. More quotas. Why is the state even spending money on a shuttle service?
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John J. Tormey III, Esq. said:
It’s now confirmed. According to a reliable source from a position high-up in the aviation community, one Robert Allan (“Bobby”) Sturgell recently verbally shared with at least two colleagues the following: (1) Sturgell has ALREADY given notice that he will be leaving his FAA post as Acting Administrator, by, or in, November 2008; and (2) Current FAA “Assistant Administrator For Regions And Center Operations” Ruth Leverenz will be “Acting” in Sturgell’s absence – (which quizzically therefore will make her the “Acting, Acting” Administrator!). This story was scooped by Quiet Rockland, and first broke Friday, July 18, 2008. As of the date and time of this publication, virtually no other news outlets or bloggers have picked it up - but they all eventually will. (Sure – Now!).
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Examiner Reader said:
So if I want to fork over $100+ I can get better service from Federal employees? I like this idea. Let's start a preferred taxpayer system that let's me next next day processing of my tax return.
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Examiner Reader said:
BWI, like the state of Maryland, is a backwater joke. The only reason why it has any economy is because of its proximity to DC, which it doesn't really even take advantage of, since most the state is run by Baltimore bueracrats. If Maryland were in the deep south, it would be behind Mississippi in everything. I should know, I'm from Maryland. I'm glad to be out of there. I don't even tell people I'm from there. I tell people I grew up in New Jersey.
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John J. Tormey III, Esq. said:
Quiet Rockland Urges America To REJECT Robert A. (“Bobby”) Sturgell As FAA Administrator In the lyrics of Dewey Bunnell of the group America, from the 1971 song “Sandman”: “All the planes have been – grounded”. It’s time to bring back America. The REAL America. The FAA is more broken than the cracked airplanes it purports to regulate. FAA Head “Bobby” Sturgell is a losing legacy case – the son of J. Edgar Hoover’s personal secretary, planted years later at the FAA, an agency that the powers-that-be assumed Sturgell could never screw up. Well, that failed legacy case named “Bobby” Sturgell DID screw it all up. Big time. The United States aviation system is now at flashpoint crisis. Enter, Sandman. Quiet Rockland opposes Robert A. “Bobby” Sturgell’s confirmation as FAA Administrator. Moreover, Quiet Rockland calls for “Bobby” Sturgell’s SUMMARY REMOVAL as Acting FAA Administrator.
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Examiner Reader said:
Southwest is an awesome airline. The more direct flights the better. international would be really cool if it happened. Dulles sucks.
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Examiner Reader said:
It's $600 Dulles - Heathrow return or $900 BWI - LHR with BA. So why choose BWI other than for convenience. Last time I flew from the international terminal there were no restaurants or bars to eat at pre-flight.
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