TSA's CrewPASS passes muster

Starting this weekend, you're going to notice that you're being asked more questions before you get anywhere near an airport as part of a new Secure Flight Rule. Take heart. You're not alone. Security is getting tighter all over, and that includes the cockpit.

The Transportation Security Administration has announced plans to expand its CrewPASS program using biometrics to verify the identities of flight crew members.

Capt. John Prater, President of Air Line Pilots Association International, told FederalNewsRadio's Federal Drive that in addition to increased security, the change should help passengers move more quickly through screening.

If you get pilots and flight attendants out of those security lines and bring them in a different portal, under a different identification system, hopefully it will decrease the times and it will allow the TSOs, the officers, to spend more time looking for people with mal intent instead of inspecting crew members.

According to the TSA, wait times at security checkpoints have dropped from an hour or more two years ago to less than 10 minutes now.

With the implementation of CrewPASS, Prater says crews should be nearly flying through their checkpoints.

The TSOs, the officers themselves, will man the computer. A pilot would walk up to it, place his or her fingerprint on a scanner, and within hopefully 10 or 12 seconds a picture would pop up with the identification that would be the same picture as on his or her identification card. With that, they would be allowed to go on into the sterile area of the airport and get to work.

It removes thousands of pilots and flight attendants from the passenger screening lines which, Prater says "will make the experience of getting through in a secure manner better for our passengers."

Prater tells FederalNewsRadio he expects to see the program expand nationwide in the next six to nine months.

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On the Web:

Air Line Pilots Association - TSA and ALPA Announce Enhanced Security Initiative for Airline Crews (pdf press release)

TSA - Secure Flight Program

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