With the opening of Heathrow Terminal 5, all departing domestic passengers are to be fingerprinted at the check-in, and again at the boarding gate, to prevent them swapping boarding cards with international passengers. According the
this report, industry insiders believe fingerprinting could become universal at all UK airports within a few years.
Although some overseas airports use fingerprinting as part of immigration checks, this will be a world first for departures. International passengers at Heathrow will not be fingerprinted - at least for now.
So - is this a sensible security measure, a welcome technological advance, an attempt to make fingerprinting seem normal in preparation for ID cards, or more hassle when the fingerprint scanner refuses to recognise you?