Last week, ALPA president Capt. John Prater met with the secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, and the TSA administrator, John Pistole, to urge their support for obtaining CrewPASS in the near term. Late on Friday, ALPA received an invitation to meet with the TSA this afternoon to discuss this important program. ALPA was informed that the administrator had taken ALPA’s message seriously and that he wants to see CrewPASS implemented as quickly as possible. To help facilitate that, TSA has now dropped its previous requirement for pilots to be enrolled with a biometric (e.g., a fingerprint); this provision will be restored in the future, but what it means for now is that CrewPASS becomes much simpler and less expensive to implement than previously.
The TSA is meeting with the airlines tomorrow (Tuesday) and has asked us to coordinate with the other parties in an effort to facilitate the success of this program. Capt. Prater has reached out to the other crewmember unions and industry officials to develop a consensual solution.
TSA today emphasized that ALPA had “cleared the way” for CrewPASS to become a success.