Clear contends Registered Traveler protects privacy – responds to survey
The people who run this nation’s highest-profile Registered Traveler program say their system affords fliers strong privacy protections. This is in response to a recent Deloitte & Touche survey that found that 75 percent of those responding to a poll it commissioned were concerned about privacy.
“For this program to be successful,” says Deloitte & Touche Partner Adam Weissenberg, Leader of the firm’s Tourism, Hospitality & Leisure Sector, “the Transportation Security Administration, airports and program operators must reassure travelers that their privacy and identities are safeguarded”.
The leading Registered Traveler provider in the country is Verified Identity Pass. And it seeks to do precisely that: assure passengers that their privacy is protected. Verified Identity Pass operates the Clear program, with fast-track security lanes at several US airports.
Before getting a Clear card, which allows passengers to pass through security more rapidly and with fewer hassles, they have to pay an initial $99.95 fee, pass a background check, and register both iris and fingerprints.
Steven Brill is founder and CEO of Verified Identity Pass. He says his company puts several layers of protection in place to protect its members’ privacy including an annual audit by an independent auditor to track policies and data security procedures; an outside privacy ombudsman to handle any privacy complaints (so far Brill says there have been none); and an identity theft warranty. “If your personal information leaks out,” says Brill, “we will compensate you for any out-of-pocket expenses”.
Firewalls are part of the company’s security package. A revised security policy recently sent out to Clear cardholders notes that "As an extra precaution, your credit card information is stored in a separate facility from the biographic data that is transmitted to TSA (the Transportation Security Administration)".
Before pioneering Verified Identity Pass, Brill founded American Lawyer magazine, and Court TV.
The Deloitte survey found that 83 percent of survey respondents were not interested in enrolling in Registered Traveler. This is despite the fact that 54 percent of them said their biggest airport security complaint was long lines. They cited privacy, not price, as their prime concern.
Noting that the Deloitte & Touche poll is classed as a Tourism, Hospitality & Leisure survey, Brill says Clear’s clientele are not primarily leisure travelers, but frequent business fliers.
“We think right now that [the total market] for Clear is between eight- to nine-million people – 2.5 percent of the [US] population.” While that may seem relatively small, he says it actually represents “30 to 50 percent of the people moving through airports. Because they’re very frequent fliers”.
A microcosmic case-in-point is Orlando. Brill says that represents “10 to 20 percent of the people moving through the Orlando airport”.
As the Clear program expands, it will be instructive to track passenger privacy and the program’s acceptance by business and leisure travelers. Currently, Clear lanes are in place at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International (CVG), Indianapolis International (IND), New York Kennedy’s (JFK) Terminal 7, Orlando International (MCO), and Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International (SJC).
More lanes are due to debut in Albany (ALB), Newark Liberty International’s (EWR) Terminal B, Toronto Pearson International (YYZ) and both Terminals 1 and 4 at JFK.
The program has some 40,000 members.
© Cheapflights Ltd Jerry Chandler
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