According to a recent study of travelers all over the globe, most jet-setters are comfortable embracing biometric processing and digital passports at the airport.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released the information in its 2026 Global Passenger Survey (GPS). The organization is a trade association with over 370 member airlines, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Ryanair, United Airlines, Lufthansa, and many more. The GPS report, released October 28, gathered over 10,000 responses from participants in over 200 countries. The percentage of participants who said they’d had an airport experience involving biometrics rose 8 percentage points, from 50% in 2025 to 58% in the 2026 GPS report. A whopping 87% of passengers were satisfied with their biometrics experiences at the airport this year. Also, 78% said they were willing to share their biometric information if it let them avoid pulling out their passport and boarding pass while going through airport security.
And that isn’t the only type of modern airport technology that many travelers are open to. The report also said 84% of participants “are interested in using a digital passport for online check-in instead of their physical passport.” Additionally, 82% would be open to sharing their digital travel identification “with an airline at booking, after payment,” if it granted them “more personalized services, such as information on visa requirements.”
According to Nick Careen, IATA’s Senior Vice President, Operations, Safety and Security, the continued global rollout of biometrics at airports will need governments to get on the same page regarding digital passports.
“More passengers are experiencing biometrics during their travels. They like it and want more,” said Careen. “That’s good news because the benefits are substantial — smoother journeys for passengers and more efficient, secure processes for governments and airlines. To make biometrics the norm for international travel, governments must agree [on] a framework for issuing and accepting secure digital passports — or Digital Travel Credentials.”
Can You Opt Out Of Biometric Processing At United States-Based Airports?
The types of biometrics typically requested at airports around the world for security purposes are those that document unique physical characteristics. Examples include facial scanning for facial recognition, iris scanning for iris recognition, and/or fingerprinting for fingerprint recognition.
The United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says travelers can decline “to participate in the facial comparison technology process.” The agency tells travelers that even if they decline to provide biometrics for facial recognition, the alternative security processing won’t take longer or change their place in line for screening.
Additionally, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) states on its website that American citizens who don’t want to “submit to facial photo capture” can request “alternative processing.” The latter would likely involve a CBP officer manually looking over your travel identification documents.
