Battle Brewing over Fingerprinting Proposal

A new federal rule would mean longer lines and higher fares for many travelers headed overseas.

By Martha Lynn Craver, Associate Editor, The Kiplinger Letter

May 23, 2008

A proposed rule requiring airlines to fingerprint all foreigners as they leave the country has the industry up in arms. The rule from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is set to take effect in January, would require the airlines to collect the fingerprints of all non-U.S. citizens and send them to Washington within 24 hours. Foreign travelers already must provide fingerprints when they enter the country, and collecting them when they exit would confirm that travelers are who they say they are, says Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

Travelers could face even longer lines if already overburdened agents are forced to fingerprint passengers. There could be extra charges, too, as carriers pass along their expenses as a surcharge on tickets. Furthermore, the proposal does not stipulate how carriers would implement the requirement, potentially resulting in different processes at different airports and among different carriers, says Susan Gurley, executive director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives. "An identical exit system, with identical signage, needs to be in place at every airport…to minimize delays or confusion experienced by travelers attempting to leave the country," says Gurley.

The airlines insist fingerprinting is a job for the government, not for airline clerks. Ideally, the security check would be done by federal agents at existing security checkpoints or "other non-intrusive" locations, the carriers say. If they don't win that battle, the airlines will try to delay the rule, hoping that the next administration will be more sympathetic or that Congress will at least foot the bill.

Cost is another concern. There is no provision in the proposal to compensate carriers for fingerprinting these departing passengers. "This is an industry in crisis and adding the DHS $3.5 billion proposal…on top of the financial burdens airlines already bear is unconscionable," the Air Transport Association, the industry trade group, said in commenting on the DHS proposed rule. That cost would undoubtedly be passed along to consumers in the form of higher ticket prices.

Airlines already are required to send biographic information to DHS for all passengers prior to leaving the U.S. The proposal to require fingerprinting when they leave was recommended by the 9/11 Commission as an antiterrorism measure and was enacted into law in 2007.

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