As anyone who has joined a security queue at Heathrow recently can testify, the journey from check-in to airport gate takes longer than ever. Passenger traffic at Stansted rose by nearly 16% in the year to March, while the numbers at Heathrow exceeded 64 million. In recent months, I've seen banknotes removed from a wallet by security staff, a passenger ordered to remove his hands from his pockets as he passed through the x-ray machine, and had my keys meticulously inspected at Munich. (Not once, however, did anyone spot the Bic razor that was trapped in the lining of my bag.)
Indeed, the former editor of Wallpaper magazine, Tyler Brûlú, recently advocated a separate security channel for regular travellers. He was half joking. Yet that is exactly what Schiphol airport in Amsterdam introduced 18 months ago - and the technology involved could soon become commonplace in European airports.
The scheme is called Privium (schiphol.nl) and is open to anyone with a European Economic Area passport. Members pay a minimum fee of 99 euros (£66) per annum and undergo an iris scan, which is stored on a smartcard. In order to comply with Dutch privacy laws, the biometric and passport data are not stored in a central database: they are deleted as soon as the passenger's card is removed from the reader.
In return, they enjoy exclusive use of fast-track border passages at Schiphol. Those who want to use a separate check-in zone and priority parking pay an additional 17 euros.
Privium is not foolproof. Around one in a hundred iris scans produce a false negative, and the passenger is diverted to the front of the usual queue for passport control. Contact lenses do not interfere with the scan, although tinted spectacles do. Nonetheless, it cuts the time spent at passport control to 10-15 seconds, and members can save as much as half an hour of queuing.
The scheme already has 10,500 members, of whom 13% are British, and the UK carrier bmi is one of the airlines participating in the scheme, with a fast-track Privium check-in desk. "I think it's probable that there will come a time when this technology will become commonplace," a bmi spokesman told the Guardian.
"Obviously, there's a limit to how much we can influence the process of getting airports to introduce it."
No British airport has announced a similar scheme, although JFK and Athens are currently carrying out trials using the same biometric solutions provider, Dartagnan. Narita, Frankfurt and Umea airport in northern Sweden are also interested, and Heathrow recently ran a trial with BA and Virgin Atlantic frequent flyers. As for the future, says a spokeswoman, "it's really in the hands of the Home Office. The technology is no longer at Heathrow."
Schiphol will not reveal whether Privium runs a profit. But the airport's experience of running the technology will prove very useful when European governments begin to introduce biometric passports - as they surely will. If Britain is lucky, Congress will follow US secretary of state Colin Powell's advice and postpone the deadline for the introduction of biometric passports. If it does not, the Home Office and airports will still struggle to have the necessary technology in place by mid-2005.
What does all this mean for Privium? After all, when everyone has to be scanned, fingerprinted or profiled - as the US will be demanding of British visitors this autumn - won't the scheme become redundant? Not at all, according to Schiphol's press officer, Pamela Kuypers. "Privium will not cease to exist if and when biometric passports are issued. It is an airport service programme, and offers not only fast and secure border passage but other perks." The smartcard has room for another biometric, she says. And the fast-track security checks will still be reserved for members.
Moreover, the Privium experience suggests that travellers are a great deal more willing to submit to fingerprint and iris scans if they think it will save them time and effort. Introducing biometric technology at airports will be expensive. It is quite possible that BAA, and other British airports, will try to recoup some of the cost from frequent flyers who will pay for the privilege of not queuing. At the moment, it is left to individual airlines to ease the path for their customers. BA's new check-in zone for club class passengers at Heathrow Terminal 1 is a haven of calm. The hordes outside are left with harassed workers and rows of empty check-in desks. Smart cards like Privium's could well be on sale at Heathrow in the next couple of years. Unfortunately, the cost - in money and personal data - will probably be high.
