Demand for such programs has soared in recent months with news reports of congested screening portals, according to Paul Tumpowsky, the chief executive of Skylark Travel Group Inc., a New York company that books luxury flight packages.
“We’ve seen a lot of people who are effectively asking us how they can get rushed through security,” Tumpowsky said in an interview.
Stacy Small, president of Elite Travel International, recommends such services to her high-end corporate and entertainment-industry clients. “I don’t think many people know about it,” Small said.
CLEAR spokesman Brian Ek declined to comment.
Steering Passengers
Steering the most valued passengers to shorter lines is no different from other perks, such as private lounges, Vaughn Jennings, a spokesman for the Washington trade group Airlines for America, said in an e-mail.
“The concept of a business or venue allowing its best or most frequent customers easier or expedited access to entry is not unique to airlines,” he said. Premier customers, who tend to fly more, “pay the most in security fees.”
Airline customers pay a flat fee of $5.60 per one-way flight, or as much as $11.20 per round trip, on all tickets. Proceeds totaled $6.6 billion last year, according to TSA’s website.
On a recent Friday afternoon at National Airport, about 100 people stood in the regular screening lane for Terminal B while a handful of passengers trickled into a premier entryway that bypassed the main line. At times, there were as few as five passengers waiting in the shorter line, allowing for a markedly faster trip through security.
Shellie Ziegler, 43, who was waiting to catch a flight home to Indiana, said she didn’t object to people taking advantage of the speedier lines.