Last week we reported that, this holiday season, 25 million travelers passed through TSA over the Thanksgiving holiday and more are expected for Christmas and New Year’s — a mind-boggling number stretching the limits of our airports and systems. TSA PreCheck and companies like CLEAR help passengers circumvent the lines and are a must for frequent travelers, but what are airlines, in particular, doing for this growing problem? The answer is biometric boarding.

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To some, this may be a bit intrusive or concerning, but I honestly think this kind of technology is happening anyway, and we need to embrace and use it to make our lives easier. In the last year, airlines announced the testing of biometrics, including Delta at ATL, and both Lufthansa and American Airlines brought it to LAX for their pilot program. It works when customers begin the boarding process; the facial recognition program will scan an image of their face and send it to an existing cloud-based CBP database. The system then instantly matches the image against the passport photo already on file and sends back a “yes” or “no” determination on whether they are cleared to board within seconds at the gate, freeing up the gate agent’s time and making the tedious boarding procedure much faster.

This might take a while for airlines and travelers to navigate and perfect, but I am honestly excited about the technology. .

How do you feel about this movement?

— Carly Allen, executive vice president