Self-Service Passenger Screening System Scheduled for Testing at Las Vegas Airport

The Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate will begin pilot tests in mid-March of a prototype self-service screening system for passengers at the Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport.

 The system for testing at the airport’s TSA Innovation Checkpoint features screening rules and standards as rigorous as the protocols of its regular PreCheck lanes. David Pekoske, TSA administrator and a speaker at a Potomac Officers Club event, pointed out that the Las Vegas tests will provide data and insights for opportunities to apply the system to other airports, the TSA said Wednesday.

Dimitri Kusnezov, DHS science and technology undersecretary, sees self-screening as a step toward securing future airports, with the continuing rise of airline passengers.

The TSA and the DHS S&T designed and developed the PreCheck prototype at TSA Systems Integration Facility in Arlington, Virginia, where initial tests were also conducted in a laboratory setting.

The prototype’s features include a video monitor with a step-by-step guide for passengers to finish the screening process. After they complete the required steps and are cleared, automated doors open for the passengers’ flight boarding. Transportation security officers will be assigned to monitor PreCheck passengers in the self-screening lane, if necessary.

In late 2021, the DHS S&T awarded contracts to three companies for the conceptualization and development of self-screening prototypes, with the system at the Las Vegas airport first to pass laboratory tests.