TSA cannot force a TSA PreCheck member to opt-in for facial recognition (Touchless ID).

WheatenLover

Senior Member
Location
Georgia
"TSA PreCheck members traveling with participating airlines, which include Delta, United and Alaska Airlines, can use the Touchless ID program at participating airports. Travelers are required to opt in to Touchless ID." MSN

Plenty of passengers try to opt-out and are forced to opt-in, This happened to my daughter today at the Atlanta airport. She opted out of facial recognition and the TSA agents threatened to not let her board the plane, and to kick her out of the airport. The agents wouldn't tell her their names. She talked to their supervisor, and she couldn't tell if he was bluffing or not. Naturally she didn't want to be kicked out of the airport. She filed a formal legal complaint online immediately afterwards.

She wasn't rude, unkind, or loud. She merely said that she did not want facial recognition. She had plenty of ID with her: her birth certificate, her passport, and her Real ID Driver's License.

If you have a problem with the TSA, you can contact their customer service here: Customer Service | Transportation Security Administration
 

I suppose facial recognition is superior to the old-fashioned way of someone looking at your ID/passport and then glancing at your face. My first experience with it was when I flew to England in 2019, at the Manchester airport there were no people at all to check us, we put our passport picture page on the reader and then some machine compared our faces and the gate would open. It did seem a little creepy but mostly because it was my first trip anywhere in decades and the place seemed totally empty and so I was a bit scared (soon I found the downstairs had people and help desk etc).
 
I don’t know a lot about what TSA’s business policies are, but I am sure, but not positive, that a passenger may opt out of facial recognition for the TSA if the flight is domestic. The Real ID was supposed to eliminate thie procedure for using facial recognition. Maybe the Supervisor on the floor didn’t get the message.

Please keep us informed using the same thread. Thanks.
 

We would like to visit our friends in Italy next year. They always stay at the same place each year for a couple of months. I need to ask them about facial recognition since they fly a lot & what problems they have had or seen.

If you have a passport & the Real ID driver's license which are all government ID's, what the Hades else do you need? It's your photo on them.
 

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