It’s not a trip to the airport if you don’t check for your passport at least a dozen times on the ride over.

But what if you could rid yourself of that anxiety — and of your passport altogether?

While the TSA has used facial recognition tech since 2019, the “tipping point” for air travel biometrics could come in 2024, per The New York Times.

Experimental programs are already underway in airports around the country:

• Delta Digital ID allows PreCheck members to scan their faces instead of boarding passes and IDs at five US airports.
• United Airlines lets PreCheck travelers use their faces to check bags at select airports.
• American Airlines flyers can get into the airline’s Dallas airport lounge with just their faces.

With TSA facial screening verification already used at ~30 airports and expanding to 400+ more in the coming years, biometric tech looks like it’s here to stay.

Future of flying

One report suggests that 70% of global airlines will use biometric tools for identification by 2026, with 90% of airports already investing in the tech.

Facial recognition technology could grow smart enough for us to ditch physical identification entirely, allowing travelers to go door to door with just their mugs.

This could save a lot of time: Facial scanning cuts over a minute from the bag drop process (down to 30 seconds) and 15 seconds off security interactions (to ~10 seconds).

Overseas, biometric tech is already far ahead:

• Singapore’s Changi Airport is going passport-free for all departures.
• Germany’s Frankfurt Airport lets passengers use their faces for the entire travel process.
• In China, 86% of the country’s international airports use biometric tech. Beijing Capital International Airport lets travelers use their faces at every step of their trip, including checking out at duty-free stores.

But back in the US…

… only ~36% of international airports employ biometric tech. Most of the updates are due to a 2001 congressional mandate requiring airports to add systems that allow for biometric identification of all travelers coming in or out of the US.

That rollout is finished for US entries — it scanned ~113m of them last year — and will be available for all departures by 2026.

Of course, the tech is not without its downsides: there are concerns about its ramifications for privacy and surveillance.

The jury’s still out on the success of Apple’s Vision Pro, but VR headsets are meant to be immersive, so it makes sense for them to cover both a user’s eyes and ears.

But 2004’s Oakley Thump — sunglasses, earbuds, and an MP3 player all in one — was just too expensive for what it provided.

Sunglasses…

… are for protecting your eyes from the sun and looking cool. Oakley Thump came in a single style and a handful of colors, none of which made anyone look cool — not even Lil Jon, who had his own edition.

Attached were a pair of earbuds and a rechargeable MP3 player, which could hold up to 128MB or 256MBs of music. The 256MB version cost $495 ($800+ today), per Engadget.

What went wrong?

Back when most people used wired headphones, a device with six hours of battery life that wouldn’t tangle you in wires may have been appealing, especially for joggers or bikers.

Engadget found the Thump easy to use and the sound quality “surprisingly excellent.”

However, there are only so many activities one performs in sunglasses, unless they’re a Terminator.

The much cheaper iPod Shuffle (RIP) and other competitors retailed for several hundreds less, and didn’t require wearing sunglasses to use them.

Still…

… Oakley made a second Thump, which CNET mostly liked — aside from the price, and the fact that people around you could hear your tunes — and another in 2007 with detachable speakers.

Ultimately, however, Apple’s iPod would grow to dominate the music player market, and Oakley’s high cost and debatable style led it to discontinue the Thump after four years.

And now?

One reviewer noted that the Thump could be brilliant for a few hundred bucks less.

And that’s pretty much what’s happened, albeit not with Oakley and now using Bluetooth tech. CNET touts Bose’s sunglasses-headphones combo as the best on the market in 2024, retailing for $249 today.