Registered travelers: Still taking their shoes off

The Registered Traveler program, which allows screened participants to go through a special, faster security line, posted a mixed performance this week. On the positive side, the program officially opened for business at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Tuesday.

Up to now, the only other airport operating the program was Orlando International, which has signed up about 30,000 travelers since it launched in 2005. Steven Brill's Verified Identity Pass will manage the programs. Brill told USA Today that Registered Traveler will launch at Indianapolis International on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Verified Identity Pass rolled out a machine this week that scans the shoes of people going through the Registered Traveler lines in Orlando. But the ShoeScanner produced mixed results on its first day operating. Out of 50 travelers walking through the scanner, 28 had to take their shoes off anyway, because the machine detected metal in the shoes, USA Today reports. 

The company that created the ShoeScanner in partnership with Verified Identity Pass is planning to upgrade the machine so it can tell the difference between good metal (such as found in a spiked heel), or bad metal (such as contained in a bomb).

Does anyone else find this whole thing a little confusing? I wasn't in Orlando for the launch of this shoe scanner contraption, and maybe it's simple to understand when you actually see it there. But still, it's hard enough trying to keep track of which airports have launched the Registered Traveler program, which are actually operating, which are taking enrollees and which have shoe scanners (just Orlando right now).

I guess it's all worth it though, for a shorter security line. What do you think?

Write to: Barbara Correa at bboydstoncorrea@yahoo.com