analysis

 

Airport Passenger Screening Survey

Commissioned by FLO Corporation

Conducted by Business Travel Coalition

Published July 30, 2007

Publisher’s Note: This survey was commissioned by FLO Corporation. All survey questions and raw data are included so that independent analyses of survey results can be undertaken. To provide an extra measure of transparency, reporters from USA TODAY and Business Travel News were provided with the survey Website access information so that they would have unfettered access to survey results.

 

Airport Passenger Screening Survey

I. Introduction

Since 2001, Business Travel Coalition (BTC) has surveyed, interviewed and conducted workshops with corporate travel managers and individual business travelers regarding airport passenger screening and Registered Traveler (RT) programs. BTC has provided testimony to the U.S. Congress on RT and in 2007 briefed and secured feedback from senior executives from all major U.S. network carriers. BTC has been a strong advocate for RT and has advised RT services provider Verified Identity Pass, Inc. and currently supports FLO Corporation.

FLO Corporation commissioned BTC to update a June 2005 BTC Airport Passenger Screening Survey, which had been sponsored by Verified Identity Pass, Inc. As with all BTC surveys, in addition to conclusions and analysis, questions and raw results are provided so that independent reviews can be undertaken. Indeed, by providing the questions and the answer choices others such as airlines, airports, RT service providers and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) can seek to replicate the BTC survey results.

As an extra measure of transparency with this survey, reporters from two national publications, USA TODAY and Business Travel News, were given unfettered access to the survey Website to examine the results in real time. 

The survey was conducted over four days, from July 16 through July 19. Twenty-four hundred (2,400) participants were randomly chosen from BTC’s electronic community of over thirty thousand (30,000). Two hundred and eleven (211) travel industry professionals and individual business travelers took part in this four-day survey. The survey software was set to block someone from taking the survey more than once.

Results can be filtered by type of survey participant, i.e. corporate travel manager, individual business traveler, travel supplier and other. Results can also be further filtered by the cities of Denver, Washington, DC and Atlanta, cities whose airports are considering implementing RT. Survey results and analysis will be shared with TSA, airlines, airports and RT industry participants to bring transparency and clarity to what consumers of commercial air transportations services are seeking in a RT program.

II. Registered Traveler Security Mission

Not near the top of TSA’s list of reasons to develop RT was greater convenience for travelers. At the very top, though, was prevention of suicide bombers targeting unsecured airport areas overflowing with travelers. Last month, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that, [at Hartsfield-Jackson International], “…wait times to clear security stretched to close to two hours,...  At its peak…, the line stretched well outside the terminal onto the sidewalks.” Likewise, at LAX Terminal 1, on almost a daily basis, lines stretch outside along the curb. This is what keeps airport security directors up at night.

The reality is that the top threats to the aviation system are (1) man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS), (2) attacks on congested, unsecured airport areas such as security checkpoints and (3) cargo. The mission for RT is not to enhance security vis-à-vis airplane hijacking (largely already accomplished), or to help the traveler, but it is to expeditiously move vulnerable travelers into secure areas by making scarce airport space and TSA screeners far more productive.

III. Quantitative Survey Results At-A-Glance

IV. Summary Analysis

Consistent with BTC’s 2005 Airport Passenger Screening Survey, participants indicate overwhelming support for the RT program. Some 82% of survey participants indicated that they would like the airlines they contract with, or travel on, to embrace RT. Only 3% said they did not.

A vast majority (80%) of survey respondents said they would pay $99 per year for faster security checkpoint processing only. Travelers are indicating that not having to remove shoes or laptops would be a convenience. However, what is truly important to them is expeditious security lane processing that is predictable and consistent from airport to airport such that a business executive would not have to leave a customer’s office 45 minutes early because of not knowing what to expect at an airport on any given day. 

It is true that TSA pilot programs, and early airport RT implementations, were necessarily stripped down initiatives that only envisioned “front-of-the-line” benefits, perhaps including not having to remove shoes or laptops—what BTC calls RT 1.0. However, TSA for some time has encouraged RT service providers to be creative in developing other value-added RT benefits not related to the checkpoint. BTC survey results validate TSA’s instincts that to have the broadest possible commercial appeal, consumers would like the options of membership packages with different benefits at varying price points. The broader the appeal, the faster RT can reach critical mass at the national level and, as such, fulfill the TSA RT security mission of moving travelers quickly into secure areas of airports.
   
Survey participants were asked if they were interested in benefits beyond expeditious security check point processing, i.e. value-added services along the continuum that represents the door-to-door travel process. Some 38% said they would be Extremely Interested or Very Interested in paying $199 to upgrade from a RT 1.0 offering to a premier RT 2.0 benefits package that could include reserved parking at one’s home airport, remote baggage check-in at hotels, airport concession discounts and global assistance. Only 6% said they were not interested at all.
In further support of TSA thinking regarding expanding the benefits offering beyond RT 1.0, some 59% of survey respondents indicated benefits offered would be the single factor that would most influence their decision in selecting a RT services provider from whom to purchase a RT membership. 24% indicated price was key and only 6% said a RT provider’s reputation was the key factor.

V. Survey Results