Your driver’s license and boarding pass could wind up as excess baggage on your next flight if a new test of biometric identification takes off.
Instead of handing your boarding pass and ID to a Transportation Security Administration agent, you could soon simply place two fingerprints on a scanner to be recognized and ushered through security — and then you could repeat the process to board the plane.
But the initiative, which is being spearheaded by Delta Air Lines (DAL), faces a lengthy pre-flight checklist before it can eventually be implemented in airports, as I learned during a demonstration at Washington’s National Airport.
How it works — and will work
Delta’s system relies on the biometric-identification technology of Clear, the New York firm that sells expedited security screening for $179 a year to travelers who have their fingerprints and retinas scanned.
You can find Clear kiosks at the checkpoints of 22 airports, plus a handful of sports venues. But Delta, which already offers Clear discounts for members of its SkyMiles frequent-flyer program ($99 for general members, $79 for most elites, free for top-tier flyers), plans to deploy Clear fingerprint scanners before and after that security boundary.
“Our goal is to have it as a part of the customer’s check-in experience, from baggage check through the clubs and onto the gate,” said Sandy Gordon, the Atlanta-based airline’s vice president of airport operations.
It’s starting with Delta’s SkyClub lounge at National, where Clear members with SkyClub access can secure entrance with their fingerprints instead of handing over a boarding pass or a membership card.
The actual time saved here is minimal, since the routine of lounge admittance serves a chance for the people behind the front desk to greet you by name and thank you for your business.
I have no status or lounge membership with Delta, so when I authenticated myself with the fingerprint scanner (it didn’t beep or blink upon recognizing my prints), a screen behind the counter displayed a script for the agent to sell me on a SkyClub membership.
Privacy concerns
For Delta, the payoff will come when the same biometric system can let passengers check bags, clear security, enter the lounge and board the plane. But the TSA has to sign off on it first.
“We’re partnering with the TSA and moving as quickly as they can to get their approval,” Gordon said.
Passengers, in turn, will need to decide on their comfort level with Clear storing so much data. Beyond having the biometric details of my fingers and eyes getting stored with Clear, I had to scan in my driver’s license and enter my Social Security Number.