Checking bags and slow security checkpoints can make air travel cumbersome. One airline wants to speed things up with a simple thumbprint scan.
Alaska Airlines has started to use passenger fingerprints as a replacement for travel documents, driver's licenses, and credit cards necessary to board a plane, according to Bloomberg News. The airline is the first U.S. carrier to use biometrics for its boarding passes and inflight purchases.
"Air travel is about moving quickly, and yet airports are one of the places where travelers seem to move the slowest," Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst, told Bloomberg. The boarding change should make time spent in the airport a "substantially faster experience."
The carrier introduced the system at its frequent fliers lounge in Seattle on Aug. 21. The airline put print readers in all four of the "Board Rooms."
The new system will face several challenges in its expansion. Alaska Airlines must convince regulators that the device is "foolproof and will safeguard privacy," according to Bloomberg. It also must carry all the data found on physical boarding passes, such as boarding zones and seat information.
"You're not going to be able to look at your finger and go, 'Look, I'm in 16D,'" Sandy Stelling, an Alaska Airlines executive, told Bloomberg.
Alaska Airlines has pioneered other travel conveniences including online ticketing and satellite navigation for jet landings in the 1990s. It started wireless check-in in 2001, and was the first airline to accept Good Wallet last year.
