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'Delta Biometrics': Fingerprints now give entry to Sky Club lounges

Some Delta customers won't need a boarding pass to enter frequet flier club lounge.
Delta Sky Club members will be able to use fingerprint readers to gain access to the lounges starting Monday, March 26, 2018. (Photo: Delta Air Lines)

Delta Air Lines, already an industry leader in the use of biometric technology, is doubling down on the technology.

Starting Monday, customers at all 50 of carrier’s domestic Sky Club frequent-flier lounges will be able gain entry by using their fingerprints.

The rollout of the “Delta Biometrics” effort capitalizes on the carrier's partnership with CLEAR, a biometric technology company that gives expedited access through security checkpoints by checking fliers’ identities against their fingerprints.

CLEAR’s technology will power the Delta Biometrics scanners that will let eligible visitors use their fingerprints to gain entry.

The Delta Biometrics program will be open to Delta Sky Club members who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Members who also are enrolled with CLEAR will be automatically registered. Other eligible Sky Club members will be able to sign up for Delta Biometrics starting this week via kiosks being installed in 14 clubs.

Delta says it believes the biometric entry option “has the potential of streamlining check-in for millions of club visits each year.”

“From unlocking our phones to entering the workplace, more and more people have the option to use biometrics as a form of identity verification for daily activities,” Gil West, Delta’s COO, said in a statement. “Having that option is quickly becoming an expectation that we are working hard to meet through this program."

Already, Delta has trialed biometric boarding at Washington's Reagan National Airport, a move that could be expanded if it proves successful. Similarly, West suggested the biometric club entry could expand as well.

"We will continue to gauge employee and customer feedback to refine the offering, and evaluate additional touch points where biometrics can make travel seamless,” West said.

Customers who do not want to use the fingerprint scans may still gain access to the clubs by using their boarding passes.

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