With no fanfare, and with little public comment, one of the most dreaded aspects of air travel got faster, less intrusive, and far more pleasant.
I’m talking about airport security, believe it or not. And it’s about to improve even more in the very near future. (No joke.)
Last weekend, I welcomed David Pekoske, the Administrator of the United States' Transportation Security Administration (TSA), on the Frommer’s Travel Show podcast to discuss the technology behind the changes we're seeing in airports today—and the diplomacy involved in the changes that are coming soon.
There are some 2,300 TSA security lanes across the United States, and the roll-out of the changes we discussed has been incremental. The new technology is already being used in some major hubs and smaller airports, but they're on the way to the remainder of U.S. airport terminals in the coming months.
New: TSA's fast ID-matching technology
The first place passengers will notice a difference is in presenting identification. Suddenly, that step has often become lightning fast.
As they did before, the TSA officer still uses credential authentication technology to determine whether the markings on a passport or driver’s license are valid.
But now, something new is happening: The machine digitizes the ID's photo and uses facial recognition technology to compare it to the passenger who is being screened.
"[The officer] takes the picture that's on your credential and digitizes that picture, so it turns it into a whole bunch of ones and zeros," Pekoske told me. "[The officer] then takes a photo of the passenger, digitizes that image, and then does a digital match to see if they match. It's accurate at about 99.7%."
The change has made also made verification a far easier process for TSA staff, Pekoske says.
"You can’t imagine how hard it is [to correctly match people with their ID photos]," Pekoske told me. "If you're looking at a relatively small photo that could be five, six, seven years old and trying to match that up with a person in front of you who might have changed their hairstyle, might have grown facial hair they didn't have before—all kinds of things. So this is a really accurate way to verify that when you present the credential, you are indeed the person that credential was issued to."
Of course, not everyone will want to have their photo taken or facial recognition technology used on them. According to Pekoske, anyone who isn’t comfortable with the new technology can simply opt out without losing their place in line.
When they get to the front of the queue, the passenger simply has to tell the TSA officer that they don’t want to be photographed. They will then be identified the old fashioned way: by visually comparing them to their ID.
And what happens to the photos that are taken in line and for matching purposes?
"When we approached this facial recognition technology rollout for TSA, we put privacy protections first," Pekoske told me. "In other words, we say, 'Hey, we need to make sure that we preserve privacy for all of the travelers going through our system.'… So when your photo was captured, as soon as the next person comes up and inserts their credential, your photo is erased. We don't retain that photo at all."
(The TSA has a detailed privacy policy here.)
Pekoske also noted that the new technology no longer requires passengers to show their boarding passes. The system now knows who is going where, so simply presenting I.D. is enough.
The modernized system even keeps track of changed reservations.
"And we've had a good number of cases, particularly in major metropolitan areas with multiple airports, [in which] …the traveler will be at the wrong airport. Like here in Washington, DC, sometimes the traveler will be at Reagan airport when their flight's out of Dulles. And we can see that right on the screen, to make sure they get directed to the proper airport," says Pekoske.
The TSA's new carry-on luggage inspection system
The big change at the luggage inspection area—now experienced at about 40% of the airports across the United States—is that the TSA uses the same kind of technology used for CT (CAT) Scans in hospitals.
Called computed tomography, it allows screeners to get a 360-degree view inside luggage, rather than just the top-down perspective the old X-Rays supplied.
"We can take a piece of luggage, for example, and [digitally] turn it around," says Pekoske. "We can slice through it just like you can on a CAT scan. What that means for the traveler is: One, it's much better security because we can detect a lot more than what we were able to detect before… Secondly, it's a bit faster because you don't have to take out liquids and gels."
The new system also means passengers no longer have to remove laptops or iPads from their bags.
"Also, we can resolve most of the issues we might have with the image right on the screen, because [the screen] is a lot more detailed than it ever was before, and you can manipulate it," says Pekoske. "You can actually electronically take things out of the bag if you think it's covering something else that you might be interested in."
The result? "Fewer bag searches," says Pekoske.
More reliable body screenings means faster screening
These, too, are getting more accurate.
The part of the process where a person's body is screened for hidden weapons is called millimeter wave technology. Through improved software, the TSA has reduced the false alarm rate by 50%. And that’s great news for everyone.
“We’re doing 50% fewer pat downs [with this new technology],” says Pekoske, who noted that makes lines move faster, and gives officers more time to do other tasks.
One-Stop Security for international itineraries
Perhaps the most exciting development is what’s being called a One-Stop Security (OSS) process.
In the near future, passengers who travel to nations that have partnered with the United States will only have to go through security once—no matter how many plane changes they have.
So say you were traveling from Madrid to Detroit with a stop in New York City. If Spain had partnered with the United States for OSS, when you land in New York City, you won't have to undergo another screening before you board your plane to Detroit.
Even better: You won’t have to pick up your checked luggage and re-check it, either.
Instead, your bags will be taken automatically to your final destination, just as they are for domestic journeys with multiple flight legs.
The process will also be "one-stop" for people departing from the United States to points abroad.
"[This new process] will save passengers probably an hour and a half to 2 hours in the turn time going through international arrivals into the US," says Pekoske.
He noted in our conversation that the TSA will retain the right to re-screen luggage if it's concerned by what officers see in the check-in scans shared by the international partner.
"From a security perspective, what that means is that the security systems are stronger," says Pekoske. "And I think it raises the standards globally for those countries that we partner with… Why do something twice when if you do it once, it's good enough, right?"
The TSA's new inspection measures were approved by Congress in 2022.
The first 6 international airports that the United States will be partnering with for OSS will be announced in the coming months. If the program works well, it should expand rapidly from there.
For Pauline Frommer's full interview with David Pekoske, listen to the September 29, 2024, episode of her podcast, available here.
