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Tim Nelson

Twin Cities airport working on deal to open paid express lanes

Lines at north security checkpoint
Passengers wait in line to go through the new north security checkpoint at Terminal 1 of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Feb. 26, 2016.
Leila Navidi | Star Tribune via AP 2016

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The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is working on a deal to open a paid express lane for quicker security screening.

The Clear airport security program is a private trusted traveler program that uses biometric identification like fingerprints, iris and facial recognition to verify travelers' identities. Travelers in the Clear program may bypass the checking of IDs by a TSA agent.

The company's website says it offers travelers the chance to "speed through security lines."

"What we don't do is a background check," says David Cohen, chief administrative officer for Clear, which is partly owned by Delta Air Lines. "All of our patrons, with their verified identity are still subject to the TSA's secure flight analysis and physical screening. Everyone who's going through a Clear line is still being vetted by TSA the way they would otherwise vet everyone flying."

Cohen says the fast lane could be open in the next several weeks.

"When you go to an airport that has Clear, there's a general screening lane, there's a pre-check lane and there's a Clear lane. And Clear customers can rely on the fact that with the automated identity check process, they're going to be able to move in a matter of just a couple of minutes, and maybe even faster than that, consistently," Cohen said.

The company is still negotiating the final terms of a deal with the Metropolitan Airports Commission to set up the lanes. It charges $179 annually, but has occasional introductory rates and regular discounts for Delta SkyMiles members. The program is free for the most frequent travelers and $99 for Delta SkyMiles members.

Clear says it has more than 700,000 "members" and will be available to travelers in 22 airports by this spring.

The program is in 18 airports now, including Reagan National, Dulles, BWI, JFK, San Francisco and Seattle. It's opening in LaGuardia on Wednesday and Atlanta next week.

The program has drawn criticism elsewhere, called elitist for the privileges it offers — although Cohen says it may actually help regular travelers by clearing out some people from the TSA waiting lines.

Airport officials in Minneapolis say they're not ready to talk specifics yet, but told Fortune magazine that they don't want to squeeze out any regular lanes to accommodate a Clear kiosk.