Unknown item in the boarding area! Now AIRPORTS will install self-checkout style security as TSA trials tech in Las Vegas

Next time you travel by plane, you may be asked to check yourself at a security checkpoint.

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is testing a “self-service screening option,” much like those found in supermarkets or fast food restaurants.

Instead of handing someone their boarding pass and ID card, passengers will instead have their documents scanned and will be responsible for checking their bags for any prohibited items.

The pilot program is scheduled to begin in January at Harry Reid Airport in Las Vegas, according to a report from the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate.

With the launch of the program, there will be a “huge learning curve” as travelers learn how to use the new technologies, according to one expert.

For example: Nowadays, if a passenger leaves something in their pocket when they pass through a body scanner, a TSA officer will guide it out of the machine and pat it down to make sure it's not dangerous.

But under some proposed new systems, the machine simply won't let the traveler through.

There may be an officer who can alleviate this confusion, but there may not be — like when something goes wrong at a supermarket self-checkout kiosk.

The goal of the system is to make the travel process more efficient and free officers to perform other duties, according to TSA materials on the so-called Rapid Screening Program.

With more people traveling all the time, the agency is trying to screen people more quickly without increasing the number of TSA officers (TSOs).

“Travelers will use passenger and mobile screening systems at individual consoles or screening lanes themselves, reducing the number of inspections and bag searches TSOs need to perform and freeing up their time to reallocate to the busier aspects of screening operations,” Screening said. In Velocity Program Director John Fortune in A a report About the project.

With the new process, the screening area will have many more scanners than it currently does.

Travelers will enter the area, place their carry-on bag into the scanner, and follow computerized instructions to scan their body.

It is not clear how effective self-checking is in speeding up the security process, nor whether this change might lead to lax security.

DailyMail.com has reached out to the TSA with questions about these two areas, and we will update the article if the agency responds.

After the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001, security at airports in the United States was greatly enhanced, as federal authorities sought to prevent such attacks in the future.

This effort has included increased use by federal officers and private companies that have developed body scanning technology that has become standard across the country.

Screening at Speed ​​funds several different companies that will develop screening technologies.

The program also allocated funding to several companies whose videos will guide passengers on how to adjust their behavior to pass the checkpoint.

Over the past few years alone, advanced airport security technology has cost taxpayers more than $2 billion.

In 2021, the Transportation Security Administration awarded $198 million to government contractors to equip airports with X-ray security screening machines. The following year, the agency awarded $781.2 million for more scanners.

In April of this year, the Transportation Security Administration announced that it had awarded the award $1.3 billion For over 1000 new scanners.

Beyond the financial cost to consumers, experts expect it will create new difficulties for travelers.

“There's going to be a huge learning curve with this, but it's not just going to be a learning curve with the screening staff,” Jeffrey C. Price, professor of aviation and astronomy at Metropolitan State University of Denver, Tell Washington Post.

“It will be a learning curve with all passengers.”

actually, Self-service boarding gates At the airport terminals cause delays in boarding the plane at JFK Airport in New York. All passengers have to do is scan their ticket.

The rapid survey program is part of a phenomenon that economists have called “shadow work.”

Shadow work It includes “the work that companies have been able to deliver to their customers, via technology” – self-checkout, for example.

Some forms of shadow work have replaced wage labor so long ago that many people may forget that it was once someone's job.

Grocery clerks previously filled orders, before shoppers had to wander around the store to find products. And the gas station attendants once filled your car for you.

Experts predict that more shadow work will lead to fewer jobs for people.

Additionally, anyone with experience with self-checkout systems might be surprised by the idea that the TSA is manipulating airport security on confused and disoriented travelers.

Given the financial and humanitarian issues involved, the program's launch will be small at first.

The technology will debut in a few lanes at Harry Reid Airport in Las Vegas in January, only for travelers who have completed the TSA Precheck process that includes a security background check.

“Like self-ordering kiosks at fast food and sit-down restaurants, self-service screening allows Trusted Traveler passengers to complete the security screening process themselves,” Fortune said in the report.

Naturally, TSOs will be on hand to help solve technical problems.