Hartsfield to get fast-pass Clear lines this week

The lines leading to security checkpoints at the world’s busiest airport are about to get shorter for passengers willing to pay an annual fee for quicker access to their flights.

A company that operates dedicated security lanes for paying customers is nearly finished installing and testing the lanes at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

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Passengers make their way through the security lines at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

SIGNING UP

Passengers wishing to participate in the Clear program must log in on the company Web site, flyclear.com, and begin the application online.

Passengers would provide photo identification and biometric data, like fingerprints and iris scans, at enrollment stations located at the airport; and at the Hyatt-Regency hotel in Atlanta. Another enrollment station is planned for the Lenox Mall in Buckhead. Applicants will receive their cards in two to three weeks.

Transportation news

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• Topic: Atlanta transportation

The Clear lanes, for travelers willing to pay $128 a year for a faster trip through security checkpoints, will be ready for cardholders by the end of this week, said company spokeswoman Cindy Rosenthal. The lanes will be located to the far right of existing security checkpoints.

Atlanta is one of the latest markets for Clear, a subsidiary of New York-based Verified Identity Pass Inc. The company, which promises passengers a five-minute trip through the dreaded security lines, is also opening fast-pass lanes next week at Boston’s Logan International Airport.

More than 210,000 people have registered for Clear in 19 airports nationwide, Rosenthal said. She could not say how many people initially are expected to sign up in Atlanta, but those who have signed up elsewhere may use the card at any airport with a Clear lane.

In a June interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, company Chief Executive Steven Brill predicted Clear could enroll as many as 100,000 customers locally within three years of opening here.

Clear customers are pre-screened by the federal Transportation Security Administration and are issued plastic cards encoded with biometric information — fingerprints and iris scans — giving them access to dedicated lanes past TSA security checkpoints. Passengers would still undergo security screening.

Like a similar program, the FLO Card operation based in the Washington, D.C., area, Clear provides a service for people willing to pay to undergo a background check for quicker access to their flights.

“It gives travelers a predictable experience that they can count upon, to go through the security process in minutes,” Rosenthal said.

John Lopinto, co-founder of ExpertFlyer.com, said fee-based programs like Clear and FLO Card target the frequent flier who is more in tune with security procedures than the leisure traveler and has minimal security problems.

“Until such time pre-screening programs are ubiquitous at all airport terminals and offer significant time-saving differences compared to elite and priority lanes (for frequent fliers), their value will be limited,” Lopinto said.