Newark Airport rolls out face-scan security lanes with streamlined ID checks
Travelers who opt in just need to walk up to the lane, have their face scanned and photographed - and the gates open once the system confirms a match.
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The Transportation Security Administration on Tuesday officially unveiled a new security screening option at Newark Liberty International Airport that lets eligible travelers get through checkpoints using only their face with no physical identification required.
The technology is running in four lanes at United Airlines' Terminal C at Newark.
Travelers who opt in just need to walk up to the lane, have their face scanned and photographed - and the gates open once the system confirms a match.
TSA officials said the photo is deleted immediately after the match is made.
For now, the technology is limited to Terminal C.
To use it, TSA PreCheck members must enter their passport information and Known Traveler Number into the United app, then opt in to the program.
"You're seeing the really the next evolution of technology," said Allan Twigg, managing director of United's EWR Systems Operations Center. "We have been partnering with TSA to try to find ways to streamline passenger screening, to make it more efficient for our customers."
United officials said the system is designed to speed up and smooth out the security process, and each set of four lanes requires only one employee to operate, a change from the multiple staff members typically needed to check IDs and boarding passes.
"It really will make things easier, especially coming into the Labor Day weekend, where we expect about 60,000 customers to travel through the Newark airport between Sept. 4 and Sep. 7," Twigg said.
TSA Federal Security Director Greg Hawko said Newark is the first airport to receive this particular version of the technology in the US, but he does not expect it to be the last.
"Everybody's asking when they can get it at their airport or when they can get it in another terminal," Hawko said. "And our hope is that in the near future we'll be able to do that."
