More airports are replacing ID checks with facial scanning

Your face may now be all you need to fly United Airlines out of Chicago or Los Angeles. No driver’s license or passport required. United is the latest airline to partner with the Transportation Security Administration’s “touchless” identity verification at airport checkpoints for PreCheck members. The program is part of a larger effort to improve the dreaded security screening process. Fliers can opt in to United’s new Touchless PreCheck ID program when they check in on the airline’s app. At the airport, they access a dedicated security queue where their faces are scanned and, if verified with their existing passport or visa photo in the system, are waved on by a TSA agent. They then proceed through the checkpoint the same as they do now, placing bags on the X-ray belt and passing through a metal detector. Travelers must be flying on United and members of both PreCheck and the airline’s loyalty program to use the facial recognition option. “It’s a much faster and better experience,” said Timothy Kuryak, a Southern California-based television executive and writer who has used the new service when flying United out of Los Angeles International Airport. Compared with Clear, the private and controversial expedited screening service that also uses fingerprints or eye scans — broadly known as biometrics — to verify travelers’ identities, Kuryak said he thinks the new touchless PreCheck option is faster and experiences fewer glitches. For those confused by all the TSA screening options, touchless PreCheck is an addition to the standard TSA line and PreCheck queue — both of which require you to either provide an ID to an agent or insert it in a machine for verification — and Clear queues. Story has more.<br/>