When boarding my flight, I opted out of the biometric scan and chose manual verification instead. Rather than scanning my passport in a reader, the gate agent took a photo of my passport with her personal phone.
I asked why, and she said this was per her supervisor’s instructions. Apparently the photo gets sent to a group chat, then a supervisor emails TSA with my passport and boarding pass to notify them that I opted out of biometrics. I was so caught off guard that the photo had already been taken and sent before I could really process it.
I travel once or twice a year and have never seen anything like this. I also noticed flight attendants taking photos of passengers’ documents on their phones while onboard, which added to my concern.
What I don’t understand:
Why does TSA need to be notified that someone opted out of an optional process?
What happens to that data?
Is this information deleted, the way airlines claim biometric data is?
Is this even standard procedure?
I’ve already sent complaints to both the airline and TSA but haven’t heard back yet. Has anyone else experienced this or knows what’s actually going on behind the scenes?
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