CBP’s Biometric Screening System Comes to LAX

US Customs and Border Protection’s ‘Simplified Arrival’ biometric border screening system is now up and running at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

The program is geared specifically toward the screening of international visitors. Upon disembarking, such travelers have their faces photographed at a CBP booth. Biometric technology is used to automatically match their faces to images held in Department of Homeland Security databases.

Those who previously visited the US will no longer need to submit to fingerprint scans, with facial recognition now being the primary biometric identification system.

The contactless system went into operation at the Tom Bradley International Terminal on Monday. In announcing the deployment, Los Angeles World Airports CEO Justin Erbacci framed it as a means of reducing wait times at security screening, and of establishing LAX as a technologically advanced airport on the global scene.

“Los Angeles World Airports is an innovation leader, deploying new technology to enhance safety, streamline the passenger experience and create an increasingly digital curb-to-gate journey,” he said.

News of the deployment arrives soon after Simplified Arrival landed at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Texas. The CBP also brought the program to Detroit and San Francisco in September.

For its part, LAX was the site of airport innovation earlier this year when it began trialling a self-service bag drop system, also in its Tom Bradley International Terminal.

Sources: ABC7 Los Angeles, Airport Technology

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October 30, 2020 – by Alex Perala