Press Release

For Immediate Release
6 January 2005

TSA To ACTE: New Criteria For Secondary Search Trigger Top Priority For Government Agency

Alexandria, VA -- - The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has assured the Association of Corporate Travel Executives that a new criteria for triggering the secondary search of travelers has become a top priority in the face of changing corporate purchasing trends. In today's regularly scheduled briefing call, the association expressed concern that new airfare discounts were based on one-way flights and that business travelers flying on one-way tickets would suddenly be subject to intensified secondary searches.

"One way tickets are known to be a source of red flags," said ACTE President Greeley Koch. "Yet to take advantage of new fare discounts, many travelers may be flying out on one carrier and coming back on another. Under the present system, this could trigger a lot of secondary searches and create an increased potential for delay."

Presiding over the call, Admiral David Stone responded by assuring the association that the TSA was aware of the problem and had made changing the criteria for secondary searches a top priority. The TSA declined to say when the changes might be implemented. ACTE advises its members that while the issue has been broached, secondary searches may still increase until the problem is officially resolved.

ACTE's Traveler Security Task Force has added this issue to others it will be monitoring in the first few months of 2005. The association will begin polling members to determine the increase of secondary searches in January. Other issues before the task force are privacy concerns, the negative effects of certain security procedures on business travel, and public awareness of crucial developments.

For more information, contact:
Debbie Flynn
CEO
Brighter Group
The Pod, London's Vertical Gateway
Bridges Wharf, Battersea
London SW11 3BE England
T: 020 7326 9880
F: 020 7326 9890
E: [email protected]
W: www.brightergroup.com