By Joe Myxter, travel editor
Reporting from Future Travel Experience 2011 in Vancouver, B.C.
Note to travelers: Your experiences matter.
That?s the upshot from a panel of heavy hitters in the travel industry, including Kevin McGarr, president and CEO of the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA), David Sanchez, program manager of office and field operations for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and David Vance, managing director of airport services for American Airlines, who spoke Friday about how their respective groups are approaching government issues surrounding security, immigration and border control.
McGarr acknowledged a renewed focus on customers? travel experiences in the airline industry. McGarr noted the success of some of CATSA?s initiatives, including NEXUS, the trusted traveler program that is ?working very well,? and special security lines that tailor to families and travelers with special needs.
Sanchez discussed CBP?s efforts, including the ?Model Ports? initiative which aims to, among other things, improve the experiences of travelers arriving to the United States by speeding up lines and adding TV monitors that show pictures of America, allowing visitors to ?visualize yourself being in Disneyland or a desert in Utah.? Sanchez also touted Global Entry, part of the government?s trusted traveler program, that vets frequent international travelers who volunteer. If deemed low risk, they can avoid lines and use kiosks to enter the United States.
American Airlines? Vance, meanwhile, expressed a biometrics-based vision that would move travelers through traditional airport touchpoints, from curbside to plane seat. While some biometric technology, such as fingerprint scans and iris recognition, is slowly being adopted, Vance said public acceptance remains a challenge, and said there need to be proven benefits in order to overcome privacy concerns.
Whether already in use or just a fantasy, these initiatives all share a common theme of improving the experiences of travelers moving through airports. Or, as CATSA?s McGarr put it: ?We want to make the customer the focus.?
More from Future Travel Experience 2011
Joe Myxter has been running msnbc.com's Travel section since 2006. Follow him on Twitter.
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