Eliza Snow
It's never a nice experience to stand in line at the airport for hours just to get a pat down when you get to the end. Hopefully, TSA's new biometric fingerprint tech could make air travel a more pleasant experience for most people. Starting this week, the Transportation Security Administration's fingerprint sensors will go through proof-of-concept testing at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport and at Denver International Airport. The test will last for four weeks, and you can try it out for yourself if you registered your fingerprint as part of TSA's PreCheck program.
Your biometric info will serve as both proof of identification and boarding pass, so it can, in theory, lead to shorter lines and much speedier check-in. For the proof-of-concept test, though, participants still have to show their identification documents, boarding passes and tickets, since its purpose is to assess how accurate the biometric system is.
TSA Acting Assistant Administrator Steve Karoly said in a statement:
"TSA looks at technologies and intelligence capabilities that allow us to analyze and secure the travel environment, passengers and their property. 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."
Haven't provided the agency your fingerprint yet, but you're willing to trust them with your info for the chance to test the new system out? You can still volunteer your fingerprint using its PreCheck lanes at the airport. If we're lucky, it could change the way airport security works in the US.
We hope you're as excited as #ThisGuy about innovative screening technology! He's one of the technicians setting up the biometric authentication technology (BAT). Besides having a super cool acronym, the technology matches passenger fingerprints to those that have previously been provided when travelers enrolled in #TSAPrecheck. This pilot program is voluntary and all participating passengers will also be subject to the standard ticket document checking process of showing their boarding pass and ID. Bummer, we know... But in the long term, this technology has the potential to eliminate the need for a boarding pass and ID altogether. The pilot starts this week and will take place at one TSA Pre✓® lane at the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport #ATL and another at the Denver International Airport #DEN starting this week. TSA will analyze the data collected during the pilot for potential implementation at other U.S. airports in the future.