Airport biometrics stakeholders say that flyers in the United States will see an acceleration in the deployment of touchless and digital airport identification technology over the next few years, including the first end-to-end digital airport journeys.
"It's inevitable," said Donnie Scott, CEO of the biometric identity solutions developer Idemia North America, which also provides TSA PreCheck enrollment services.
Scott said he believes a few airports will offer hands-free journeys, at least to passengers on certain airlines who are enrolled in PreCheck, within two to five years. Such experiences will become more consistent over the next decade, he said.
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A full domestic digital airport journey would include facial identity verification or mobile ID checks at bag drop, security clearance and at the departure gate.
For international travel, checkpoints also include digital passport verification for check-in and passport verification upon entry and exit.
At present, members of the Global Entry program already re-enter the U.S. hands-free. Instead of showing a passport, they stand for a photo at a kiosk, which is then compared through automation to a passport file photo held in the Global Entry database.
The next touchless ID verification to be brought to scale in the U.S. could be at TSA security checkpoints. The agency now offers touchless security lanes at nine airports, working in partnership with Delta and United.
American Airlines and Alaska Airlines are also slated to join the Touchless Identity Solution program, which is only available to PreCheck flyers and requires them to opt in with the airline. Once enrolled, flyers can pass through checkpoints in much the same fashion as Global Entry re-entrants.
Jason Lim, the TSA's identity management capability manager, said that touchless ID screening takes an average of eight seconds per person, compared with the 18 to 20 seconds it takes at checkpoints where photos are verified manually against a physical ID. So far, approximately 6 million travelers have gone through a touchless TSA checkpoint since the first one was used in Detroit in 2021.
Tech is not the challenge
The primary challenges of bringing deployment to scale aren't technological, Lim said.
"It's all the things around the technology — the processes and the people," he said. "It's change management at scale."
Adding touchless lanes requires coordination between airports, airlines and the TSA, Lim said. For example, checkpoint configurations must be changed and TSA officers must be trained. So must travelers.
Still, Lim said, the TSA understands that there is demand within the industry for a buildup of its touchless screening capabilities.
"We are ready to support the expansion," he said. "But there is a gap between being ready to support and able to support."
Funding is one constraint for the TSA, as it is for Customs and Border Protection and other key players in the deployment of U.S. airport biometrics. Political opposition is another.
In a July hearing of a House Homeland Security subcommittee, TSA administrator David Pekoske testified it would take until well into the 2040s at present funding levels for the agency to complete its rollout of biometric passenger screening technology, according to BiometricUpdate.com. Funding for such investments is supported by the $5.60 Passenger Security Fee that flyers pay per one-way trip. But since 2013, Congress has diverted a third of security fee revenue to the general treasury.
Political opposition to airport biometric deployments mostly comes from privacy advocates. Every session of Congress, a bill is introduced to prevent the federal government from using facial-recognition technologies, BiometricUpdate.com managing editor Chris Burt wrote. The most recent one was introduced in the Senate in November by a bipartisan group of six senators.
However, biometrics appear to have the support of the public. A September Ipsos study commissioned by the U.S. Travel Association found that 79% of air travelers support its use at TSA checkpoints.
Consumer preferences, coupled with efficiencies, are key factors driving the more assertive biometric adopters, such as Alaska Airlines. The carrier currently offers biometric-enabled remote international check-in, and it plans to join the TSA Touchless Identity program in Atlanta, Salt Lake City and Washington early next year, said Kristin Olsen, the airline's director of product management for the digital technology guest experience. Also in the works are LAX; San Francisco; Portland, Ore.; and Alaska's home base of Seattle, once the TSA can facilitate digital screening in those final three airports.
Alaska also has much bigger near-term plans. The airline expects to implement touchless bag drop in Portland and Seattle soon after the TSA enables touchless screening there. And Olsen said the carrier is working with Customs and Border Protection to offer touchless international exit from Portland and then Seattle, meaning that Alaska hopes to offer a hands-free journey in Portland for international flyers before the end of next year. Domestic could follow in 2026.
But Olsen also emphasized the importance of enabling mobile ID verification at every checkpoint. Verification via mobile IDs, she said, is easier for many travelers than pulling out a physical ID, and it also is more comfortable for travelers who have privacy worries with biometric identity verification. Currently, 12 states issue digital IDs, which are already accepted at TSA checkpoints via applications such Apple Wallet and Google Wallet.
"My tagline is 'Face or phone at every touchpoint by the end of '26 or '27,'" Olsen said. "We want to give the guest the opportunity to use digital identity in whatever they want to be able to use it."
Along with specific airlines, Idemia's Scott said he expects select airports to be drivers of early end-to-end digital journeys. He cited Denver, Dallas, Atlanta and three New York-area airports - JFK, LaGuardia and Newark among those making substantial biometric investments.
*This article originally appeared on Travel Weekly, a sister brand of Northstar Travel Group.