IDEMIA Brings TSA PreCheck Registration Carts to Mississippi Airport

IDEMIA is trialing a new enrollment method to encourage more people to sign up for the Transportation Security Administration’s PreCheck screening program. TSA PreCheck essentially allows the agency to vet registered travelers before they get to the airport. It then uses fingerprint recognition to verify their identities on-site, so they can pass through security without removing their shoes or taking laptops out of their bags.

The new enrollment system involves the use of mobile registration carts, which will be deployed at three locations in the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport in Mississippi. Each cart will be staffed by a professional enrollment team, and will be equipped with all of the technology needed to enter someone into the TSA PreCheck system.

Those who sign up at the airport will receive their Known Traveler Numbers within three to five days, so they will not be able to take advantage of the benefits of that program on that particular flight. However, they would enjoy expedited screening on all future trips. The carts will be roaming in the pre-security area, as well as post-security and at the gates.

The trial will run from March 17-28, and will eventually expand to other airports in the United States. IDEMIA and the TSA are hoping that people will be more receptive to the PreCheck pitch while they are stuck at the airport (and after they have been through a lengthy screening process). The trial program is intended to raise awareness about the PreCheck program, so the people running the carts will be trained to answer any questions travelers may have.

“We are giving passengers greater access and flexibility, making the whole process easier, quicker, and more efficient,” said IDEMIA I&S North America Travel and Transport SVP Lisa Sullivan.

“Once we’ve completed this two-week pilot, we will have a better understanding of how it can best accommodate the traveler and where it needs to be within an airport to have maximum benefit,” added TSA Federal Security Director for Mississippi Kim Jackson. “From there, IDEMIA will work with the TSA and airports to expand this process to other markets in the U.S.”

The TSA recently published a new Identity Management Roadmap to guide its digital transformation. IDEMIA has been collaborating with the TSA on the PreCheck program for several years, and had registered 12 million individuals as of October of last year.

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March 16, 2022 – by Eric Weiss