Airlines blast plan to fingerprint foreign fliers

WASHINGTON -- Airlines are protesting a government plan that would require them to take fingerprints of foreign travelers as they fly out of the USA, saying it could create massive lines at airport check-in counters.

Congress has required that the 33 million foreigners a year coming into U.S. airports be fingerprinted when they arrive and leave the country but 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 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. The association represents 240 airlines worldwide.

The opposition could derail a key part of the Homeland Security Department's effort to keep track of foreign visitors including suspected terrorists.

"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."

Robert Mocny, who heads the fingerprint program, said fingerprinting foreigners as they leave is essential. The information helps track those whose visas have expired and allows monitoring of people whose movements in and out of the USA suggest terrorist plotting. "It's a better way of monitoring the movement of individuals we have an interest in without them hiding behind a fake name," he said.

In a February meeting with the Office of Management and Budget, IATA said fingerprinting each foreign traveler would take about a minute, leading to huge lines at check-in counters and kiosks, and potential flight delays.

"If you think the travel process is bad now, just wait," IATA North America chief Douglas Lavin said in an interview. Buying and operating machines to fingerprint the foreign visitors would cost airlines hundreds of millions of dollars, Lavin added.