Cost may kill travel program (TSA Registered Traveler)

[brooklynite]

By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — A government proposal that would force air travelers to pay up to $200 a year for a fast pass through airport security could kill the program, advocates and lawmakers said Wednesday.
That price — double what was expected — would "severely threaten" the long-delayed Registered Traveler program, said Steven Brill, a Manhattan entrepreneur planning to launch the idea at four airports this year.

Eagerly awaited by travelers and recently touted by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Registered Traveler offers fee-paying fliers expedited airport screening. Travelers in the program would have to pass a background check to rule out ties to terrorism and would get an ID card to speed them through checkpoints.

The Transportation Security Administration said last year that it expected to charge about $30 for a terrorism check. Now it wants to charge another $70 to pay for TSA screeners at Registered Traveler checkpoints, TSA spokeswoman Ellen Howe said. It also may charge an additional $20 for a criminal background check. Those costs are in addition to yearly fees of up to $80 that fliers would pay to companies operating the program.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., whose committee oversees Registered Traveler, said $200 "far exceeds anything that's ever been entertained. ...You don't know if it's going to succeed now."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-09-13-fliers-program_x.htm?csp=34

Yes, nothing could be more cost-effective than the private sector...

[kurth]

1. The yearly extortion fees are just an estimate:

$80 operating company fees
$70 TSA screening fees
$30 terrorism check
$20 criminal background check
$10 belt and shoe sheck
$10 underwear check
$90 DNA check
$20 STD check
$40 tax and license
$60 shipping and handling