OT-Morpho traveler authentication program hits 5 million enrollees
07 August, 2017
category: Government, Transit
As the summer travel season heats up, OT-Morpho has announced it has enrolled 5 million air passengers in its TSA PreCheck traveler authentication program. The company credits the achievement of that milestone to such factors as a mobile enrollment push and a revamped ad campaign.
Designed mainly for domestic travelers and people who fly at least three times per year, the enrollment service is operated by IdentoGo
The company’s trusted traveler program “allows U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals and lawful permanent residents to quickly move through security at U.S. airports in expedited lines without removing shoes, laptops, liquids belts and light jackets,” OT-Morpho says. Designed mainly for domestic travelers and people who fly at least three times per year, the enrollment and airport security service is operated by IdentoGO, a service made by MorphoTrust, which is itself part of OT-Morpho.
Traveler authentication program
Here’s how OT-Morpho’s traveler authentication program works:
- Fliers are encouraged to start an application by pre-enrolling online via the TSA PreCheck site, and then making an appointment at one of the 390 local IdentoGO centers. IdentoGO operates “its own centers, kiosks in airports and H&R Block offices and more,” a company spokeswoman says. “The enrollment agents in each location are employed by IdentoGO. There is a pretty wide spread of locations—in Virginia, for example, you can now enroll in PreCheck at DMVs across the state through a partnership announced last summer.”
- At those appointments, agents verify identity documents such as birth certificates and passports, and “obtain biographic information before live-scanning applicants’ fingerprints and securely transmitting the application package to TSA for review,” the company says.
- The TSA then completes the application vetting process and issues a Known Traveler Number via mail once the application is approved.
- Applicants can check enrollment status at https://universalenroll.dhs.gov/and clicking on “Check Status.”
- The application processing costs $85, and buys five years of access to the TSA PreCheck program. Application processing typically takes a few days to a few weeks to complete.
The OT-Morpho traveler authentication program gained new enrollees in part from what the company calls a “mobile enrollment RV tour” that signed up fliers at business parks, universities and music festivals. The company also credited a revised TSA PreCheck advertising campaign that shifted its focus to millennials for securing new enrollees. Discounts also helped: Enrollees could earn a Groupon voucher for TSA PreCheck enrollment, along with $150 in hotel discounts.
