Who needs a boarding pass when you can just use your fingerprints?
Starting this summer, some airline passengers at Reagan National Airport will be able to check in, go through security and get on a plane without showing identification or boarding passes. Delta will be testing biometric boarding passes that require passengers to touch two fingers to a screen.
Phase 1 of the program, which began in late May, is already underway. It grants passengers access to Delta Sky Clubs using their fingerprints, so long as the passenger is registered with the airport security company CLEAR, Delta said in a statement.
Phase 2 of the program also will require passengers to register with CLEAR, which costs $99 for a general membership. CLEAR says its top priority is protecting customer information.
Delta says they're the first airline to use the technology that they predict will catch on.
“We’re rapidly moving toward a day when your fingerprint, iris or face will become the only ID you’ll need for any number of transactions throughout a given day,” Delta chief operating officer Gil West said in a statement.
Airport travelers like Rich Kaye are on board with the new technology, but say they hope this doesn’t become the norm with all airlines, because they prefer the special access.
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"What I like about it is you get very quick access in and out of the airport. So, if everybody does it, then it won't be quite as quick," he said.
