Airlines Plan Quick System For Identifying Passengers

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Airlines Plan Quick System For Identifying Passengers

Several airlines have begun working on plans for a passenger identification system that would rely on background checks, fingerprints, iris scans and high-tech IDs to verify individuals' identities and speed security screening at airports.

The "trusted traveler" program would give pre-screened passengers easier access through security checkpoints, much as frequent-flier cards permit certain regular travelers to board airplanes before other passengers.

Industry officials floated the idea last fall as a way to minimize chronic security delays that carriers blame for declines in passengers and revenue. But officials in the new Transportation Security Administration have repeatedly declined to endorse it, saying such a system might be vulnerable to abuse by terrorists.