Touchless Security Checkpoint System Installed At BWI Airport

BALTIMORE, MD — Automated photo identification scanners have been installed at checkpoints throughout the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, enabling a touchless security checkpoint system using credential authentication technology.

All 36 security checkpoints are administered by the Transportation Security Administration. When a traveler approaches any document checking podium at the entrance of the security checkpoint, a TSA officer will ask the traveler to insert or scan their own photo ID into the unit, eliminating the need for the individual to hand his or her ID or boarding pass to the TSA officer.

The CAT units also improve TSA’s capability to detect fraudulent ID such as driver’s licenses and passports at checkpoints and increases efficiency by automatically verifying passenger identification. The units are able to confirm a passenger’s flight status in near real time, adding to the efficiency of the process.

“The use of the CAT units not only enhances security, but it also reduces a touchpoint between travelers and TSA officers, and makes this first step of the security screening process self-serve, an especially important feature during the pandemic,” Andrea R. Mishoe, TSA’s Federal Security Director for Maryland, said in a news release.

When travelers approach the TSA travel document podium, they place their driver’s license or passport into the CAT unit to be scanned. Because the passenger inserts their ID instead of handing it to a TSA officer, it is one less touch-point to help fight the spread of the coronavirus. In most cases, travelers who approach the TSA travel document checking podium do not have to show their boarding pass because the CAT unit verifies the traveler is prescreened to travel out of the airport for a flight that day.

However, officers may ask for boarding passes for individuals younger than 18 and/or those with ID issues. Even with TSA’s use of CAT, travelers still need to check in with their airline in advance and bring their boarding pass to their gate agent to show the airline representative before boarding their flight.

CAT units authenticate several thousand types of IDs including passports, military common access cards, retired military ID cards, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Trusted Traveler ID cards, uniformed services ID cards, permanent resident cards, U.S. visas and driver’s licenses and photo IDs issued by state motor vehicle departments.

Airport officials noted that "it is critical" that travelers have their REAL ID-compliant driver’s licenses or other acceptable form of identification by the Oct. 1, 2021, deadline. The CAT units will not accept a driver’s license after Oct. 1, 2021, if it is not REAL ID-compliant.