Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Alaska Airlines Board Room members can now scan their fingerprints instead of showing identification to enter the company's member-only lounge at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. The airline says it is hoping to assess how customers feel about using a biometric system, with hopes that it could eventually be expanded to other areas of the airport.

First rolled out in Seattle in August, the program now exists in all Alaska Airlines Board Rooms, company spokesperson Bobbie Egan said. The biometric system came to Anchorage on Sept. 15. 

“Our point in the pilot (program) was to gauge customer interest ... and willingness to sign up,” Egan said.

Passengers can sign up at the company’s airport Board Rooms, which are members-only lounges. The process takes about two minutes, Egan said. One index finger is scanned, and an algorithm converts unique reference points of the fingerprint into a string of numbers associated with the person’s Board Room membership. Fingerprint scans aren’t saved, according to Egan.

“We don’t store it,” she said, and “you cannot go back and recreate it.”

So far, 800 people have checked in to the Anchorage Board Room using their fingerprints, Egan said. Most people -- 91 percent of Anchorage Board Room members who signed up -- have rated the system “good” or “great,” according to Egan. 

“Our goal is just to make travel easier and reduce some of the pain points along the way,” Egan said. “We know it saves time, and when you’re traveling you don’t have to search for an ID.

“All of this is optional,” she noted.

Eventually, the pilot program could be extended to other areas of the airport -- at check-in, security checkpoints or during the boarding process, Egan said.

Whether that eventually comes to fruition is up to the Transportation Security Administration, Egan said. While Alaska Airlines has begun initial conversations with the TSA about expanding its biometric program, “it would be premature to say how soon, or if the TSA is even interested” in the expansion, Egan said.

Ross Feinstein, press secretary for the TSA, wrote that the agency “is always looking for new technology and procedures that will enhance security and increase efficiency.”