U.S. airlines are protesting a plan that would require them to take fingerprints of foreign travelers as they fly out of the country because doing so could create massive lines, reports USA Today. Congress has required that the 33 million foreigners a year coming into U.S. airports be fingerprinted when they arrive and leave the country. Cleverly, perhaps, it did not specify who should take the prints. The Homeland Security Department, which currently fingerprints foreigners coming into U.S. airports, wants airlines to be responsible for taking fingerprints as these travelers leave. The airlines are balking. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) urged the White House to kill the plan. “This is a government function, not to be outsourced to the private sector,” said Ken Dunlap, security chief for IATA North America. One insider says the airlines are likely to win this one. “Carriers are pulling out all the stops to kill” the proposal, said Stewart Verdery, a former Homeland Security assistant secretary for border and transportation policy. “My guess is they’re going to be successful.”
Airlines protest fingerprint plan
Previous post: Queen opens Heathrow’s new terminal
Next post: Places to appreciate St. Paddy’s Day
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Okay … for $8.75 an hour, we check in passengers, translate, reissue tickets, take baggage, lift baggage, load it on planes, make seating arrangements, deal with frequent flyer upgrades, handle standbys, take care of misconnecting passengers, get spat on (yes, for real), stand for 8-12 hours a day. And SMILE. Don’t forget to SMILE! And on top of that we have to take fingerprints too? Give me a friggin break. Make no bones about it, I love my job despite the low pay and difficult working conditions. But if the Feds want fingerprints taken, let them come stand behind the counter with us and do it their OWN selves!