WASHINGTON -- A new passenger screening program to make check-in more convenient for certain travelers is being expanded to 28 more major U.S. airports, the government said Wednesday. There will be no cost to eligible passengers, who no longer would have to remove their shoes and belts before they board flights.

The airports include those used by hijackers to launch the terror attacks in September, 2001: Washington Dulles International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, and Boston's Logan International Airport.

The Transportation Security Administration's program, already in a test phase in seven other airports (including Detroit Metro), is the Obama Administration's first attempt at a passenger screening program responsive to frequent complaints the government is not using common sense when it screens all passengers at airports in the same way. Under the program, eligible travelers have the option to volunteer more personal information so the government can vet them for security purposes before they arrive at airport checkpoints.

"Good, thoughtful, sensible security by its very nature facilitates lawful travel and legitimate commerce," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said.

The program works this way: Participating travelers will walk through a special lane at airport security checkpoints. They will provide the TSA officer with a specially marked boarding pass. A machine will read the barcode, and travelers deemed low-risk likely will be allowed to keep on belts, shoes, and jackets and leave laptops and liquids in bags when being screened.

Not everyone is eligible to participate in the program, which is being tested at airports in Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, Miami, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Eligible travelers are some of those who participate in American and Delta airlines' frequent flier programs, as well as travelers in three other trusted traveler programs run by the Customs and Border Protection agency, which do charge fees to participate. About 336,000 passengers have been screened through the program since the testing began last year, according to the TSA.

By the end of 2012, the government expects select passengers in frequent-flier programs for US Airways, United, and Alaska Airlines to be eligible to participate. The program is expected to be operating in Reagan National Airport near Washington, Salt Lake City International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport by the end of March.

The program is expected to be operating in these airports by the end of 2012: Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Denver International Airport, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Honolulu International Airport, New York's LaGuardia Airport, Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, Puerto Rico's Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, Orlando International Airport, Philadelphia International Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Pittsburgh International Airport, Oregon's Portland International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Florida's Tampa International Airport, and Alaska's Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

First Published February 9, 2012, 5:00 a.m.