Clear Opens Registration for National Registered Traveler Program
Government green-lights “Advance Registration” as first step in nationwide rollout program – started in Orlando and powered by General Electric and Lockheed Martin technologies – to rollout in New York, San Jose, Cincinnati, Indianapolis with airport and airline support.
Clear®, the only service provider operating a registered traveler program at a U.S. airport, announced today that it is now accepting advance enrollment registrations online for four airports in the nationwide program. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which oversees the initiative and has worked for more than a year to establish the rules and processes for a national fully-interoperable program, authorized the first step in the national expansion of the program last week, allowing “advance registration,” while it completes the final steps necessary to launch the registered traveler lanes at these airports across the country this fall.
“We appreciate all of the long, hard work that the TSA team has done to make this a reality,” said Clear CEO Steven Brill. “Under the leadership of Secretary Chertoff and TSA head Kip Hawley, TSA has laid the foundation for a competitive, sustainable, secure program that will enhance security while increasing convenience for all travelers.
“We expect to begin in-person enrollments at these new airports by mid-October and to have our lanes operating at the security checkpoints about three weeks after that,” Brill added. “TSA is ninety-nine percent of the way there in completing the final approvals related to rules and processes that have long-since been decided on. So we expect to be able to keep to this schedule, especially that they have now given the go-ahead for this first part of the enrollment process.”
Applicants can begin the membership enrollment process at www.flyclear.com to use Clear at New York JFK International Airport British Airways Terminal 7, as well as San Jose, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati International Airports — all in addition to the Orlando Airport, where 27,000 members are now using the Clear lanes since operations began there in July 2005.
The “in person” portion of enrollment, where applicants have their biometric (fingerprint and iris) images captured, is currently available only at the Orlando Airport. Clear is now beginning installations of enrollment stations at the other airports and plans to bring mobile units to large corporate centers in all cities where registered traveler programs are available. More than 20 other airports across the country have told TSA that they want to launch registered traveler programs this year.
Registered travelers will pay Clear an annual fee of $79.95 per year (which is not charged to the member’s credit card until TSA has approved the applicant and a biometric “smart” Clear card has been issued). They will also pay a separate TSA vetting fee. TSA, which is expected to announce the fee shortly, has said the vetting fee will be between $27.00 and $30.00. Clear is telling customers that it will charge them $27.00 and absorb the extra cost if it turns out to be $30. The Clear card will allow access to all registered traveler lanes at U.S. airports regardless of the service provider operating the lanes.
“We’re delighted at the range of airports that are taking the lead in participating in our national launch,” said Allison Beer, Clear Vice President of Corporate Development. “We’re now coast to coast, north and south, and across the Midwest. We have an agreement with British Airways, the first airline to participate in the registered traveler program, and we expect many more key airports and airlines to join us before the end of the year.”
“Lockheed Martin has done a terrific job as our equity partner and systems integrator, standing up a true national network that has enormous scale and unparalleled security, privacy, and customer service standards,” said Clear Chief Operating Officer Courtney Nichols. “And General Electric has done a superb job planning the airport installations, which, pending TSA approval, will also include GE’s cutting-edge equipment that could allow for enhanced security–expediting benefits for our members.”
Clear and GE, which is also a major investor in Clear, have developed an enhanced verification kiosk for deployment at the registered traveler security lanes, which is now being tested in Orlando. The new kiosk includes a shoe scanner and explosive trace detector that will be used at the same time that members present their biometric cards at the kiosk. If approved by TSA, the new kiosk could allow for members not to have to remove shoes or suit jackets, but TSA has not completed its evaluation of the equipment. “We’re hopeful about the enhanced kiosk,” Brill said, noting, “It’s only the beginning of a plan we announced early on – to look constantly at ways we can purchase premium technology for our lanes that will help give our members an increasingly more convenient experience at no sacrifice to security. The faster our lanes move,” Brill added, “the shorter the non-registered traveler lanes become, because our lanes will be able to absorb so many more people.”