The new U.S. Transportation Security Administration PreCheck program at the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport is speeding up the security screening process for travelers there, officials said Wednesday.
TSA and airport officials gathered at the security checkpoint area Wednesday to showcase how the program works. It debuted in Little Rock last month.
In the PreCheck program, pre-approved passengers can avoid the standard security checkpoint in favor of a less obtrusive one. Participants can leave on their shoes and belts, leave laptops in cases and keep allowed liquids and gels in carry-on bags.
As passengers went through late Wednesday morning, they made it through the PreCheck area in only a couple of minutes after a quick sniff of their bags by Lucky, a TSA explosive-detecting dog.
Kay Kelley Arnold, chairman of the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission and a frequent business traveler, said she's gone through the PreCheck program at airports around the country, getting through security in between three and six minutes in places like New York and Washington.
She said she likes avoiding the hassle of removing her belt and shoes and taking items out of her bag.
"With this program, you don't have to do that," Arnold said. "You can go quickly through security ... [And] when it makes it faster for one passenger, it makes it faster for all passengers."
Sari Koshetz, a TSA spokesman, said travelers can take part in PreCheck through several avenues. Some travelers are picked to go through on any given day when they check in to their flights, while some frequent fliers are invited by airlines to join the program. She said TSA will later this year offer travelers the option of paying a fee, going through background and threat-assessment checks and joining the PreCheck program for five years.
Koshetz said PreCheck will be at Little Rock and 99 other airports, out of 450 across the U.S., by the end of the year. She said the feedback has been positive so far.
"People love it," she said. "It's very quick, it's very thorough and it's just another form of expedited screening and it's the way TSA has been going toward risk assessment, intelligent-based security. And this is one way we're bringing it to the public."