Are You Trusted, Regular or Risky? Airline Security Checkpoints Could be Based on a Risk Profile
Several industry organizations are working on proposals to overhaul security checkpoints to provide more or less scrutiny based on the risk profile of each traveler.
While the proposals are in the early stages of development, they represent a growing consensus around a concept that has the support of John S. Pistole, the head of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration: divide travelers into three groups - trusted, regular or risky - and apply different screening techniques based on what is known about those passengers.
''Today we have T.S.A. agents looking at TV screens, but they don't know anything about the person going through the system,'' said Steve Lott, a spokesman for the International Air Transport Association. ''The idea is to take data that the government and the airlines are already collecting about passengers and bring it to the checkpoint.''