Program to speed screening at Logan -- for a price

Verified Identity Pass's Clear program, which speeds prescreened travelers through security checkpoints at participating airports, will debut at Logan International Airport this month.

Clear gives travelers who pay the $128 annual fee a high-tech identification card to verify their fingerprint or iris image at designated security lane kiosks.

Clear spokeswoman Cindy Rosenthal said the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan, was one of the first agencies interested in this fast-pass program since it was tested in Orlando in July 2005.

But she said Massport's long approval process has held up Clear's arrival, so instead Delta is sponsoring the program at its Logan terminal.

More than 200,000 travelers have registered for Clear and used their fast passes nearly 1.5 million times across 18 airports nationwide since the program began three years ago.
(By Nicole C. Wong, Globe staff)