After more than a year of promises and preparation, Registered Traveler has finally expanded beyond Orlando International Airport. Programs designed to speed enrolled travelers through specially designated airport security lanes have launched at several airports, and the Transportation Security Administration has given the green light to additional Registered Traveler providers.

Airports in Cincinnati; San Jose, Calif.; and Indianapolis opened Registered Traveler lanes in January. In addition, on January 16 British Airways opened an RT lane at Terminal 7 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

The Registered Traveler provider in all of these cases is Verified Identity Pass Inc., which operates an RT program called Clear. New York-based Verified opened the first Registered Traveler lanes at Orlando International Airport two years ago.

Verified also has agreements with Air France and Virgin Atlantic Airways. Air France will sponsor a Registered Traveler program at JFK Terminal 1, which was expected to start screening passengers in late February, while Virgin Atlantic expects to open “fast-lane” security for passengers at Newark International Airport's Terminal B and JFK Terminal 4 by mid-March.

According to Verified, 35,000 people nationwide have signed up for the Clear program. Participants pay $99.95 to be pre-screened by the TSA and receive a biometric identity card that provides them with expedited passage through security checkpoints.

Right now Verified is the only RT provider operating at U.S. airports, but other companies are in position to roll out programs as well. Unisys Corp. of Blue Bell, Pa., planned to have a Registered Traveler program up and running at Reno-Tahoe International Airport in late February. Verant Identification Systems Inc. of Rochester, N.Y., and Saflink Corp. of Kirkland, Wash., have also been approved by TSA to operate Registered Traveler programs.