DHS unfazed by airline complaints about biometric check-in
Andrew Compart, Travel Weekly, 6/11/2007
VANCOUVER -- The U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security is sticking to its proposal to require airlines to collect fingerprints at check-in from departing foreign travelers on international flights, in spite of vehement protests from U.S. carriers that the mandate would be costly and time-consuming and create longer check-in lines.
Michael Jackson, the department's deputy secretary, said the DHS still planned to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking with the requirement soon.
"It's the only model that we can figure out that will work," said Jackson, an attendee at last week's IATA's Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit.
He also insisted it would not create long check-in lines.
"People's dwell time at a check-in point is vastly longer than the one or two seconds it will take to simply put your finger on a fingerprint reader," he said. "I think it's going to be easy... over time to integrate this into the business model that the aviation industry has."
He said he did not expect a "burdensome delay."
Jackson, who wants the process in place by 2008, said the department was willing to provide airlines with fingerprint readers at check-in counters and help airlines connect to the passport readers. He also said the department was willing to let airlines move the process to self-service check-in kiosks equipped with fingerprint readers and passport readers.
IATA seems to be adopting a different tack than the Air Transport Association in the U.S., trying to work with Homeland Security to craft a more amenable proposal. IATA Director General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani, asked about Jackson's comments, said he supported the idea of incorporating the technology and the process into self-service kiosks.
Jackson said he met with International Civil Aviation Organization officials at the summit to talk about the proposal, and added that he had talked with airlines in the U.S.
The DHS proposal is an effort to beef up a 3-year-old program called US-VISIT, which collects biometric data from foreign visitors.
Under that program, inbound visitors at U.S. airports and other points of entry are digitally photographed and fingerprinted at special kiosks. The data are later matched against a DHS database to verify international travelers' identity. Digital fingerprints are also collected when travelers exit the U.S.
However, travelers only are asked to provide the data on a volunteer basis.
Consequently, the DHS said, while the US-VISIT biometric technology works, there has been a low traveler-compliance rate. It believes integrating the process into check-in would boost the rate.