As technology evolves, the process of moving through security checkpoints and boarding a plane is expected to become faster and more efficient.
Twenty years after the Sept.11,2001 terrorist attacks, air travelers are still grappling with a barrage of enhanced security procedures and long lines. The safety protocols have managed to protect airports and planes from further attack, but they’ve also made air travel unpleasant at best. Sorry travelers, it looks like the body scans and shoe removal are here to stay. “I don’t see it changing,” said Lora Ries, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. “It never seems to be fewer requirements… the direction always seems to be for more.” As technology evolves, the process of moving through security checkpoints and boarding a plane is expected to become faster and more efficient. Enhanced shoe scanners that can detect weapons, explosive substances or electronics concealed in shoes and other footwear, will likely be part of the mix, according to Dana Wheeler, CEO of Massachusetts-based Plymouth Rock Technologies. That means the shoes can stay on. Security screening, he said, will also be expanded to passenger drop-off points and airport and off-airport parking lots, in addition to walkways and tunnels approaching departure and ticket kiosks. This means problems can be flagged earlier, potentially making it faster to get through the final security checkpoint. Wheeler also predicts security areas will increasingly be equipped with next-generation security devices that incorporate artificial intelligence. “These will include millimeter-wave imaging and radar, infrared sensors and chemical-trace sensors,” he said in a recent interview with Reader’s Digest. Self-serve kiosks and online check-in are already in use with some airlines. Wheeler said that’s “a definite indicator” that staffed check-in desks are being phased out, which could further speed the departure process for travelers. TSA spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said her agency can’t accurately predict what technologies it may use in the coming years, but “we are always looking to stay ahead of evolving threats.” “We often will make it known what our needs are to increase efficiency and address evolving security threats, and then the private sector will develop technologies we can test,” she said.
