Select DFW airports are now equipped with a new TSA tech that will conveniently and efficiently board passengers without going through their passes according to a CN Traveler article from June 27 which reports,
“Many airline passengers equate summer travel with snaking lines at airport security. But this year, TSA is adding new technology to speed along even the most congested checkpoints. One such piece of equipment, called a credential authentication technology (CAT) scanner, is programmed to automatically match traveler’s ID information to flight manifests. In short: Travelers at dozens of U.S. airports no longer need to show their boarding passes to TSA officers, eliminating one more item that fliers need to scramble for in order to get through security.
The scanners can digitally process a traveler’s ID and match their biographical information like name and birthdate against the Secure Flight database in real time. “There is no need for a boarding pass at this point since the Secure Flight database contains the names and flight details for people ticketed to travel in the next 24 hours,” Lorie Dankers, a TSA spokesperson, said in an email.
Instead, travelers will either hand over their ID to the TSA officer at the podium or insert it into the machine themselves, depending on the airport. Many travelers may have already noticed the new ID process, as the agency says it has so far deployed 1,621 CAT scanners to 176 airports. Among those, 90 scanners are “modified and equipped to read and verify digital identification,” says a TSA release”
Aside from these new machines, TSA is also working on additional machines to help with the boarding of passengers with regard to their luggage according to a Dallas Morning News article from July 6. They say,
TSA is also working on adding new baggage scanning machines that could eliminate the need to take laptops and liquids out of luggage and backpacks, although those costly machines are being rolled out slowly at airports across the country.
The new technology comes just weeks after TSA and American Airlines started tests on a new facial scanning technology that lets American Airlines customers enrolled in TSA PreCheck skip showing ID cards . That program allows customers to upload their driver’s licenses and scan their faces into the American Airlines app, then present a QR code in the TSA PreCheck line.
Facial scanners verify the passenger’s face against photos in the app and on the identification card.”
Currently, only 90 CAT machines are running in the country and 19 of these machines are deployed in Dallas-Fort Worth area.