March 8, 2008 Maybe they should photograph your luggage too
Heathrow’s mew Terminal 5 brings with it an onerous new security regimen:
“For the first time at any airport, the biometric checks will apply to all domestic passengers leaving the terminal, which will handle all British Airways flights to and from Heathrow.
The controversial security measure is also set to be introduced at Gatwick, Manchester and Heathrow’s Terminal 1, and many airline industry insiders believe fingerprinting could become universal at all UK airports within a few years.
All four million domestic passengers who will pass through Terminal 5 annually after it opens on March 27 will have four fingerprints taken, as well as being photographed, when they check in.
To ensure the passenger boarding the aircraft is the same person, the fingerprinting process will be repeated just before they board the aircraft and the photograph will be compared with their face.”
— from the Telegraph of London
Maybe they should photograph your checked luggage as well, since - with British Airways (the exclusive user of Terminal 5) - you’ll often never see it again. Their unoffical slogan is “Fly the Flag, lose the bag!“
Reader Comments (1)
Airport security in Israel barcodes your checked baggage as soon as it is x-rayed so that if your x-ray is called into question later they can immediately associate it with your baggage and track it down. It's probably the best system I've seen yet and I can't imagine why this isn't in place in more places.