

Bringing it Home: TSA program means faster lines at Aspen airport

Rick Carroll/The Aspen Times |


Security lines at the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport are moving a little more quickly these days because of the Transportation Security Administration’s loosened-up checkpoint screening procedures.

The accelerated process came in mid-October, when the TSA rolled out an offshoot of its PreCheck program at the Aspen airport, meaning that some passengers don’t have to remove their shoes, headwear or light outerwear when going through the security checkpoint.


The expedited process, said airport Executive Director Jim Elwood, “isn’t PreCheck, but it’s a variance of it.”

In addition to PreCheck enrollees, select passengers learn they won’t be subject to the normal inspections after arriving at the airport. There, they’re given a laminated yellow card to provide to TSA officers before going through the checkpoint.

Even so, they still have to remove laptop computers and other electronic devices before passing through security, as the airport has just one security lane and doesn’t have a PreCheck lane.

“We’re trying to get away from the one-size-fits-all approach,” Jason Higgins, the TSA’s acting manager at the Aspen airport, said Friday.

How do the non-PreCheck members face less scrutiny at the checkpoints? The TSA’s risk-assessment program allows it to determine if travelers shouldn’t be subject to the same security screening as others by pre-screening travelers before they arrive at the airport.



TSA PreCheck lanes are currently available at 92 airports — but not Aspen’s — in the U.S.


The program had been available to frequent fliers associated with the seven airlines that are part of the Trusted Traveler Program, managed by the federal government. Now it’s available to any U.S. citizen who clears a background check and pays $85.

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