KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – New biometric facial recognition technology has been in place since the new Kansas City International Airport opened in February and Thanksgiving put it to the test. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol reports the process is working and processing time has been cut down by 30 percent.
Tuesday is the last day of the 12-day Thanksgiving travel period. U.S. Customs reports many passengers flying out of KCI have traveled to and from Mexico and that its biometric procedures are helping to streamline the process for passengers.
After a passenger returns to the United States and gets their luggage, they would have their photo taken. An algorithm is used to compare the photo to the headshot on their passport. Nationwide, CBP has processed 300 million passengers using this technology and prevented more than 1,800 impostors entry in the United States.
“The facial recognition has completely changed the processing game for customs and border protection and the traveling public.” said supervisory US Customs and Border Patrol officer Emery Harriger.
READ MORE: ‘It was great’: KCI travelers pleased with first Thanksgiving travel experience at new terminal
There are fifteen international flights directly linked to the Kansas City International Airport. Since February, the airport has seen an estimated 2,500 international travelers weekly. They are now able to process passengers within 20 to 25 minutes which is a decrease from their previous average time of 45 minutes.
Also in place is mobile passport control. This allows travelers to securely submit their travel document, photo, and customs declaration information online before arriving at the airport. When they get there, they’ll be able to access a priority line upon entry into the United States.
It’s a free application that can be downloaded from the Apple App store and online from Google Play. More information can be found here.
This cuts back on processing and wait times, which border patrol says is a necessity ahead of a peak travel season. Although it’s a convenient service, the agency says it’s heavily underutilized by travelers.
“We want people to, one, be familiar with the process they’re going to go through, but two, we don’t want to take extra time processing people,” said Harriger. “We are not in the business of delaying people from connecting flights we are simply here to make sure everyone has a legal right to be in the United States and that they are not bringing back something that they shouldn’t be bringing back.”
Looking ahead to Christmas, he says it’s all hands on deck to make sure the processing booths are fully staffed.
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