By offering frequent travelers free membership to the Transportation Security Administration’s expedited screening program, the agency can save money and speed up the screening process at airports across the country. 
 
 That is the conclusion of a study by professors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who offered the idea as a solution to the TSA’s growing budget costs and long airport lines. 
 
 The study tackles a vexing problem for the TSA: getting more fliers to pay $85 for a background check to use an expedited screening line that lets fliers keep their shoes, coats and belts on and keep laptops in their luggage. About 12 million people have signed up for the program, dubbed TSA PreCheck, and similar programs for international travelers. 
 
 But the TSA had hoped to get 25 million travelers signed up for TSA PreCheck by now, a goal that the agency said would enable the TSA to reduce staff and speed up the screening lines at the nation’s airports. 
 
 The study, lead by Sheldon H. Jacobson, a computer science professor, calculated that if the TSA waived the $85 enrollment fee for 25 million travelers, it would lose out on $425 million a year in fees. (The $85 fee is for a five-year membership.) 
 
 But the study also found that if 25 million travelers taking at least six trips a year were to use the TSA PreCheck lines, the savings would total $459 million a year, thanks to lower staff expenses and equipment costs. 
 
 The net result would be annual savings of $34 million, according to the study, which was published in November’s Journal of Transportation Security. 
 
 “The analysis presented here suggests that the TSA can justify enrolling such high-value travelers in the program at no cost,” the study concludes. 
 
 Still, the report noted that some bad feelings might arise among travelers who are not frequent fliers and are not offered the fee waiver. Also, frequent fliers who are now paying the $85 fee may be upset when TSA PreCheck is suddenly offered free to new passengers, the study noted. 
 
 A TSA spokesman could not be reached for comment on the study but Jacobson, the lead author of the study, said the TSA asked for a copy of the study Monday. 
 
 hugo.martin@latimes.com 
 
 To read more about the travel and tourism industries, follow @hugomartin on Twitter. ||||| CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- There is an easy way to reduce lines at the airport, increase security and save the Transportation Security Administration money, according to a new study by University of Illinois researchers: waive the $85 fee for frequent fliers to enroll in the TSA PreCheck program, which allows pre-screened, verified travelers to go through expedited security at airports. 
 
 The study by computer science professor Sheldon H. Jacobson and graduate students Arash Khatabi and Ge Yu calculated the cost of extensive screening compared with expedited screening in terms of workforce labor hours and equipment. They found that costs saved by frequent travelers using expedited security exceeded the cost of waiving their enrollment fees for PreCheck. 
 
 "This is an easy case where spending some money will save the federal government more money," Jacobson said. "There is a transition period - the savings are realized over the first five years, and then in perpetuity. So if the federal government is looking for a way to save money, giving TSA PreCheck at no cost to high-volume, high-value fliers makes sense." 
 
 The study, published in the Journal of Transportation Security, looks at multiple scenarios of how many people would have to enroll at different travel frequencies for the fee waiver to be cost-efficient. The researchers found that the average travel frequency of those enrolling would have to be six round trips, or 12 screenings a year. 
 
 "We only look at the direct cost savings in labor and equipment. We don't even talk about the savings in time of the passengers who would no longer have to wait hours in line," Jacobson said. "That could add tens or hundreds of millions of dollars a year, which would be a bonus to the economy. More people could decide to fly, because of the time and cost savings." 
 
 The benefits would extend beyond the cost. According to Jacobson, an expert in aviation security, submitting every passenger to heightened security actually has the adverse affect of making air travel less safe by diluting resources that should be focused on high-risk, unknown passengers. TSA PreCheck reduces the number of unknowns by pre-screening passengers. A traveler who wishes to enroll in PreCheck pays an $85 fee to be subjected to a background check, and if nothing of concern is found, receives PreCheck certification for five years. 
 
 "The strength of PreCheck is the background check. It's not the item that we're trying to stop, it's the person with ill intent who we're trying to stop," Jacobson said. "PreCheck vets people and says, 'These people are not likely to be a problem to the air system.' They make sure you are who you say you are, and that your background shows no evidence that you are going to cause a problem." 
 
 Getting more travelers enrolled in PreCheck - particularly those who fly three or more round trips in a year - would produce the desired benefits, Jacobson said, yet enrollment has lagged far behind projected numbers. Waiving the fee might entice more travelers to enroll. 
 
 "We are saying to TSA and to the decision-makers in Washington, 'It's worth it to invest that money because you're going to get it back. It will facilitate more people going through checkpoints more quickly, make the system more secure and produce a cost savings for the TSA. It's a win-win-win situation,'" he said. 
 
 ### 
 
 Editor's notes: To contact Sheldon H. Jacobson, call 217-244-7275; email: shj@illinois.edu. 
 
 The paper "When should TSA PreCheck be offered at no cost to travelers?" is available online. 
 
 DOI: 10.1007/s12198-016-0176-z ||||| Hate the full-body scans, pat-downs and slow going at TSA airport security screening checkpoints? For $100, you can now bypass the hassle. 
 
 Want to avoid TSA pat downs, long lines and waltz through security with shoes and jackets on, laptops stored and all the soft drinks you can carry? As Scott McCartney explain on The News Hub, there is a way, and it costs just $100. Photo: Reuters 
 
 The Transportation Security Administration is rolling out expedited screening at big airports called "Precheck." It has special lanes for background-checked travelers, who can keep their shoes, belt and jacket on, leave laptops and liquids in carry-on bags and walk through a metal detector rather than a full-body scan. The process, now at two airlines and nine airports, is much like how screenings worked before the Sept. 11 attacks. 
 
 To qualify, frequent fliers must meet undisclosed TSA criteria and get invited in by the airlines. There is also a backdoor in. Approved travelers who are in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's "Global Entry" program can transfer into Precheck using their Global Entry number. 
 
 "It's a completely different experience than what you're used to," said Matt Stegmeir, a platinum-level Delta Air Lines Inc. frequent flier who was invited into Precheck when it opened at his home airport, Minneapolis-St. Paul. Besides zipping through security screening quickly and easily, Mr. Stegmeir noticed another difference: TSA agents at the Precheck lane are usually smiling. 
 
 "It's really a jarring contrast. It reminds you just how much of a hassle the security procedures in place really are," he said. 
 
 Global Entry has been extremely popular with frequent international travelers. Approved travelers get to use a kiosk to enter the country rather than waiting in often-long lines to get their passports stamped and go through Customs inspection. 
 
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 Consider that in January at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, the average wait in line was 35 minutes between 4 and 5 p.m., and the longest wait was 137 minutes. The wait at Terminal 1 at New York's Kennedy International Airport averaged 44 minutes in January for people arriving between 10 and 11 a.m. Enrolling requires a $100 application fee for a background check, plus a brief interview with a Customs officer. 
 
 For domestic travel, Global Entry pays off because it gets you into Precheck. Once TSA announced in the fall that enrollment in Global Entry and CBP's other "trusted travel" programs (Nexus for frequent travel across the Canadian border and Sentri for frequent travel across the Mexican border) would get you into Precheck, applications for Global Entry took off. 
 
 In February, for example, 26,602 people applied, more than triple the number of applications in February 2011, according to CBP. And February applications were up 42% from January as more and more travelers catch on. 
 
 "We want as many people as possible in the program," said John Wagner, CBP's executive director of admissibility and passenger programs. 
 
 TSA says it also wants as many people as possible in Precheck, which is still in pilot-testing phase. Both agencies say the programs can enhance screening of people they know nothing about if they can move low-risk people who submit to background checks out of the main queues. 
 
 "We can reduce the size of the haystack when we are looking for that one-in-a-billion terrorist," said TSA Administrator John Pistole. 
 
 Mr. Pistole, an FBI veteran who took over TSA in 2010, said that by studying frequent-flier histories as well as conducting background checks, he's confident the U.S. now has the technology and the intelligence information to make less-rigorous, faster screening work. TSA has been trying to move to more "risk-based" security—something critics have suggested for many years. 
 
 Once in Precheck, TSA still checks names against terrorism watch lists before every flight, just as it does for other travelers. If a passenger is cleared for Precheck screening, a code is embedded in a traveler's boarding pass. 
 
 Precheck members usually get to use security lines set up for first-class and elite-level frequent fliers. But Precheck travelers actually don't know if they will get to use the easy screening until the TSA officer checking IDs actually scans the boarding pass. If the pass has the code, a Precheck passenger is steered to a separate screening lane for what amounts to old-style airport screening. 
 
 TSA says Precheck members are selected randomly for regular screening to enhance security. But that unpredictability irks frequent travelers. The agency doesn't make travelers go to the end of the regular screening line, however, but instead slips them into the front of the regular queue. 
 
 "I like Precheck, but it would be much more valuable to me if I were able to know before leaving for the airport whether or not I had Precheck approval for that day's flights," said Beth Allen, a University of Minnesota economist and frequent traveler. 
 
 Gary Kaminsky, who travels 100,000 miles a year domestically, says he's gotten Precheck screening on about 80% of his trips so far out of Los Angeles International Airport, his home base, on AMR Corp.'s American Airlines. "When it does work, it's phenomenal," he said. "It cuts security screening down to about 30 seconds." 
 
 For now, travelers say Precheck lanes are almost always empty—no waiting. In fact, Precheck may be making regular lines longer since equipment and officers are devoted to a little-used lane. Mr. Pistole said that will change as the program expands and the agency collects more data. 
 
 Currently, TSA is working with only two airlines, American and Delta, because they were able to handle computing requirements set by TSA for the frequent-flier aspect. Even if you get into Precheck through Global Entry, it will currently only work for you on American and Delta domestic flights at airports with Precheck lanes. 
 
 Also, Precheck lanes are in place only at nine airports. Currently, American passengers can use it in Dallas-Fort Worth, New York Kennedy, Los Angeles and Miami. Delta passengers have Precheck access in Atlanta, Detroit and Salt Lake City. Passengers on both airlines can use Precheck in Las Vegas and Minneapolis-St. Paul. 
 
 Later this month, Precheck is set to expand to Washington's Reagan National Airport for Delta passengers and certain members of the U.S. military, and Chicago O'Hare with American. 
 
 By the end of the year, Mr. Pistole said Precheck will be in place at 35 airports and six airlines, covering most major U.S. airports and airlines. Expansion will continue in 2013, but Precheck probably won't be available at all 450 commercial airports, since many have a small number of travelers each day. "The goal is to cover the broadest cross-section of travelers," he said. 
 
 In the Fast Lane 
 
 Two programs make security and customs screening easier for preapproved travelers. 
 
 Precheck 
 
 What it is: Expedited airport security screening 
 
 Best perks: Leaves shoes, belt and jacket on; liquids and laptop remain in bag. Walk-through metal detector instead of full body scan. 
 
 Agency: Transportation Security Administration 
 
 Who is eligible: Certain frequent fliers from Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and certain members of Customs and Border Protection's Trusted Traveler programs, including Global Entry, Sentri, and Nexus. For domestic flights only so far. It's voluntary and you have to opt in. 
 
 Best way in: Ask your airline if you are already eligible. Otherwise, apply for Global Entry and then update your profile at airlines with your Global Entry number and click to opt into Precheck. 
 
 Cost: Free. 
 
 Where is it available:Certain checkpoints in Atlanta, Detroit, Las Vegas, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Salt Lake City, Dallas/Fort Worth, New York Kennedy, Miami and Los Angeles. More cities and airlines coming. 
 
 Number of people enrolled: TSA won't disclose 
 
 Number of applicants rejected: TSA won't disclose 
 
 Most obvious disqualifiers: Non-U.S. citizens, anyone on a terrorism watch list. 
 
 Launch: October 2011 
 
 Global Entry 
 
 What it is: Expedited immigration and customs screening when entering the U.S. 
 
 Best perks: No lines. Walk up to a kiosk, get a paper receipt showing clearance and you're on your way. Reduces the time to enter the country by 70%. 
 
 Agency: Customs and Border Protection 
 
 Who is eligible: Preapproved, low-risk international travelers 
 
 Best way in: Apply online at globalentry.gov. There is no minimum international trip requirement. You provide personal information and submit to a background check, then go to an airport for an interview with a CBP officer, plus photographing and fingerprinting. 
 
 Cost: $100 application fee 
 
 Where is it available: 24 U.S. airports covering 97% of international air arrivals 
 
 Number of people enrolled: 278,000 as of March 1 
 
 Percentage of applicants rejected: 3% 
 
 Most obvious disqualifiers: Conviction of a criminal offense or violation of Customs, Immigration or Agriculture regulations or laws; being subject of a law-enforcement investigation or having pending criminal charges or warrants. 
 
 Launch: Pilot program 2008; upgraded to permanent program in February 
 
 Source: WSJ Reporting 
 
 Write to Scott McCartney at middleseat@wsj.com ||||| As the U.S. expanded a program to streamline airport screening for passengers willing to undergo background checks several years ago, the then-chief of the Transportation Security Administration dubbed it the “happy lane.” 
 
 For the small portion of travelers now in the program that provides access to short lines, it may fit John Pistole’s description. But for passengers who don’t participate, it has contributed to security screening delays and growing tensions at airports because far fewer people signed up than the agency projected. 
 
 Enrollment in the program known as PreCheck, and other similar plans, is less than half of the government’s goal of 25 million. Travel and security specialists blame inadequate marketing, the sometimes cumbersome application process and the mixed messages sent when many non-PreCheck passengers were allowed into the faster lines for several years. 
 
 “They just haven’t sold PreCheck. They’ve got to sell it as a benefit,” said Charles Leocha, a travel advocate who is supported by airlines and other related businesses. 
 
 Shoes On 
 
 Passengers in PreCheck -- who are allowed to get through security without taking off shoes and unpacking laptops after paying $85 and undergoing a background screening -- say it cuts time off their travel. 
 
 “I can spend more time at the office instead of spending time waiting in security lines," said Wayne Broadfield, 38, a Washington-based architect. He said he applied for PreCheck because he usually travels alone for his job, and it works well. "I wouldn’t fly without it.” 
 
 Hence the "happy lane" comment by Pistole at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado in 2013, when he expanded the program. 
 
 For more on efforts to cut down on airport waits, click here. 
 
 The idea was the agency would get a far more detailed look at the backgrounds of large numbers of travelers, allowing it to focus on a smaller number of people and improve efficiency, Pistole said Wednesday in an interview. 
 
 Pistole said the goal should still be processing about half of U.S. flyers through an expedited screening program like PreCheck, because most travelers are low-risk and the agency reduced the number of screeners because it was emphasizing security measures outside the screening lines. 
 
 “You would improve wait times dramatically,” said Pistole, who left the transportation security agency at the end of 2014. “It has the potential to be a game-changer, as I and others envisioned it five years ago, but people have to have confidence in the system that a true bad guy will be detected, hopefully, before he gets to the airport.” 
 
 Lagging Enrollment 
 
 But even Pistole said he’s surprised at the delays in getting the program to capacity. The lagging enrollment has been one of the reasons that thousands of passengers have missed flights this spring in long airport lines. 
 
 If PreCheck were operating at projections, it would ease the burden on the TSA, which is facing an increase in the number of travelers this summer. The agency has lost more than 5,000 screeners since 2011 as its budget was trimmed and it had to conduct more time-consuming security measures after Homeland Security Department Inspector General reports criticized the agency for missing hidden weapons and explosives. 
 
 But another factor in the long lines is PreCheck and how it was altered in the past year, according to TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger and Pistole. 
 
 In its initial years, the TSA funneled regular passengers into PreCheck lanes -- where fliers don’t need to take off shoes, unpack laptops or remove liquids -- to ensure that there were enough people to justify the newly created lines. 
 
 Unacceptable Risk 
 
 That process was an “unacceptable risk to aviation security” because additional steps the agency was supposed to take to ensure people didn’t take advantage of the program often weren’t followed, Inspector General John Roth said in a report last year. 
 
 Neffenger, who took over TSA in July, halted that portion of the program, forcing passengers back into regular screening lanes, adding another burden that has swelled lines. 
 
 “One of my fundamental priorities is to dramatically expand the PreCheck population and to dramatically expand the capability to enroll people in PreCheck,” he told the House Homeland Security Committee at a hearing on Wednesday. 
 
 Neffenger’s shift in the agency’s priorities last year after Pistole left took some of the wind out of PreCheck, said Jeff Price, an aviation security consultant and professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver. 
 
 Trusted Traveler 
 
 “John Pistole was really the one who finally brought a trusted traveler program that TSA liked,” Price said. “After Pistole left, they had the big blowup over the screening failures, and Neffenger walked right into that buzzsaw.” 
 
 Responding to the screening failures became the focal point at Neffenger’s confirmation hearings, and the TSA’s priorities changed, according to Price. One of the first things they did was to slow down the lines and stopped worrying so much about PreCheck. 
 
 “Problem is, all of their future passenger projections were based on having 25 million people in PreCheck by this year,” he said. The program includes 2.8 million people. “When you make that much of a mis-estimation, you’re going to see what you see today.” 
 
 PreCheck is enrolling about 16,000 new members a day, up from 8,000 in April, TSA spokesman Michael England said. TSA grants PreCheck privileges to about 6.7 million other so-called trusted traveler programs, such as the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Global Entry. 
 
 Frequent Fliers 
 
 In the early days of the program under Pistole, passengers who qualified for PreCheck were drawn from airline frequent flier lists. In 2013, he expanded it to people who applied, paid the fee and were checked against lists of criminals and suspected terrorists. 
 
 As the fledgling program got off the ground, keeping PreCheck lines full by adding people from frequent flier programs and from regular lines was necessary. But it had the unintended consequence of leading people to think they didn’t need to actually apply, according to Stewart Verdery, a former assistant secretary at the Homeland Security Department who founded Monument Policy Group in Washington. 
 
 “It gave a totally mixed message about what the program was. It was a huge misstep,” said Verdery, whose firm represents MorphoTrust USA, the company that processes PreCheck applications. 
 
 Now that security lines are growing, the TSA has at times had to shut its PreCheck lanes to so screeners could focus on regular passengers, derailing the benefits of the program, Kerry Philipovitch, senior vice president for customer experience at American Airlines said at a congressional hearing Thursday. 
 
 “It’s a service TSA is selling and people are paying for, and they are incredibly frustrated when those lines are closed,” she said. 
 
 Offering Perks 
 
 Syracuse, New York, Hancock International Airport has boosted its PreCheck membership to about 40 percent of travelers because it has an enrollment center and offers perks such as free parking for members, Christina Callahan, the airport’s executive director, told the hearing. 
 
 Syracuse is in the district of Representative John Katko, the Republican who is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee’s transportation security subcommittee. 
 
 One way to quickly expand the program would be to automatically add U.S. government workers who have already cleared a background check, according to Sharon Pinkerton, senior vice president for legislative and regulatory policy at the trade group Airlines for America. The TSA already automatically includes U.S. judges and members of Congress. 
 
 Pistole said PreCheck enrollment could be expanded by adding locations where people can apply. Applicants must apply in person to verify their identity at one of about 300 locations. The government is proposing using outside contractors, who would receive a portion of the PreCheck fee, to expand the number of locations and improve marketing. 
 
 Privacy and civil liberties questions have delayed that effort for years, Pistole said. The agency had to write rules and regulations and work out liability issues, he said. 
 
 “I had hoped it would be done before I left and they’re still working on it,” Pistole said.
– Millions of people pay for the privilege of leaving their shoes and belts on and their laptops in their bags during airport security screenings. But a study out of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign says by making the TSA's PreCheck program free—it's currently $85 for the regular background check and a five-year membership—lines will be made shorter, the TSA will save money, and everyone's life will be a whole lot easier at our congested airports, the Los Angeles Times reports. The problem is hitting the sweet spot of having enough travelers going through the expedited PreCheck lines to justify the cost expended on staffing those dedicated lines. The original goal by this point was to have 25 million signees in the program and others like it (such as Customs and Border Protection's $100 Global Entry program), but by May, per Bloomberg, not even half that number had come aboard. The study published in the Journal of Transportation Security checks out different scenarios to see which would end up paying off for both the TSA and consumers, per a release. Although getting rid of the five-year fee of $85 for 25 million travelers would result in losing $425 million a year, if every traveler who signed up went through PreCheck at least six times a year, the cost savings would amount to $459 million annually from decreased staff and equipment costs—a net savings of $34 million per year. "It will facilitate more people going through checkpoints more quickly, make the system more secure, and produce a cost savings for the TSA," Sheldon Jacobson, the study's lead author, says in the release. "It's a win-win-win situation." A noted drawback: If the fee were waived only for frequent fliers, occasional travelers might be miffed at having to pay, as would those already paid up.