TSA fingerprint technology will be tested as a way to identify passengers and get people through checkpoints quicker, the agency said, while JetBlue announced it will experiment with facial recognition features to do the same.
The fingerprint technology is being used at Atlanta and Denver airports, Transportation Security Administration officials told USA Today.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in May that Delta Air Lines was testing a system to replace boarding passes with fingerprints through its Sky Club at Reagan National Airport in Washington D.C.
Delta is working with the private biometric identification technology firm Clear, which has a five-percent stake in the airlines, to develop the technology to reliably identify passengers through fingerprints.
In Delta's test, passengers who are enrolled in the Clear program use their fingerprints at three scanners at the Sky Club. Delta said it eventually allow members use fingerprints to check bags and board flights.
"We're rapidly moving toward a day when your fingerprint, iris or face will become the only ID you'll need for any number of transactions throughout a given day," said Delta chief operating officer Gil West, per AJC.
JetBlue said last month it was working with Customs and Border Protection on facial-recognition technology to identify travelers at the gate during boarding, said USA Today.
"We hope to learn how we can further reduce friction points in the airport experience, with the boarding process being one of the hardest to solve," said Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue's executive vice president of customer experience. "Self-boarding eliminates boarding pass scanning and manual passport checks. Just look into the camera and you're on your way."
SITA, the global provider of information technology, communications and border security solutions to airlines, is providing the technology to perform facial capture and integration with Custom's database as well as integration with JetBlue's departure control system, stated the airline.
"This biometric self-boarding program for JetBlue and the CBP is designed to be easy to use," said Jim Peters, chief technology officer for SITA. “What we want to deliver is a secure and seamless passenger experience."
"TSA looks at technologies and intelligence capabilities that allow us to analyze and secure the travel environment, passengers and their property," said Steve Karoly, TSA acting assistant administrator for requirements and capabilities analysis.
"Through these and other technology demonstrations, we are looking to reinvent and enhance security effectiveness to meet the evolving threat and ensure that passengers get to their destinations safely."
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