Touchless security lanes are spreading fast
Facial recognition at the security checkpoint used to be a novelty found in a handful of major hubs. That’s changing quickly. TSA PreCheck Touchless ID, a program that uses facial recognition, is expanding to 65 airports this spring, with the expansion prioritizing 2026 World Cup host cities, where a surge in travelers is expected.
As of the start of this rollout, 15 airports had Touchless ID lanes, including Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago O’Hare, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Newark, New York JFK, New York LaGuardia, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Seattle, San Francisco, and Washington Reagan National. The program is opt in and works with select carriers, and it’s available through Alaska, American, Delta, Southwest, and United, enabling touchless screening through facial verification in ten seconds or less. For travelers who would rather skip the camera entirely, TSA has kept an alternative in place, since standard checkpoints still allow a manual identity check instead.
The rise of the digital driver’s license
Plastic wallets are slowly getting company from digital ones. In late 2025, Virginia became the first state to offer a fully digital driver’s license through a dedicated Mobile ID app, and Illinois, the largest state to launch mobile IDs widely, followed about a week later.
Apple joined the trend around the same time, and its rollout has been unusually broad. Apple’s Digital ID feature is now accepted at 250 plus U.S. airports for TSA checkpoints, letting passport holders create a digital identification on their phone rather than carrying a physical document. By early 2026, fifteen states supported mobile driver’s licenses in Apple Wallet, with seven more states expected to join during the year. It’s still a patchwork system, so checking whether a home state participates before relying on a phone as the only form of ID is a sensible habit.
Real ID rules finally have teeth
For years, the Real ID Act sat in the background as a deadline that kept getting pushed back. That’s no longer the case. Real ID enforcement began on May 7, 2025, and since that date, state issued driver’s licenses and IDs that are not Real ID compliant are no longer accepted as valid forms of identification at airports.
Travelers who show up without an acceptable form of identification now face a real cost. Starting February 1, 2026, anyone unable to provide an acceptable form of ID at a checkpoint has the option to pay a forty five dollar fee to use TSA ConfirmID, a system that attempts to verify identity through other means so screening can proceed. It’s a workable safety net, but not a cheap one, and it makes carrying a passport or a compliant license the far simpler choice.
Europe’s biometric borders arrive
Crossing into much of Europe no longer means a quick glance and a stamp in the passport. The Entry/Exit System, or EES, is an automated system that digitally records non-EU visitors as they enter and exit the Schengen Area, capturing name, travel document, date and place of entry or exit, and biometrics including fingerprints and a facial image.
The system began in phases and is now running at full strength. As of April 10, 2026, the EES is fully operational in 29 European countries, including popular destinations such as France, Italy, Spain, and Germany. There’s no fee attached for most travelers, and no advance paperwork required, since the biometric capture simply happens at the border on arrival. The tradeoff, at least for now, is time. Border officials and industry groups have both flagged that the new process is likely to slow down immigration for foreign travelers at first, so building in a longer connection at a busy hub is a reasonable precaution.
Etias: the next hurdle for visa free travelers
The EES is only half of Europe’s new border setup. The other half, called ETIAS, has not launched yet but is close. ETIAS is scheduled to start operations in the last quarter of 2026, and it will apply to travelers who currently enter Europe without needing a visa.
Once live, the system will require advance registration rather than a decision made at the border. ETIAS will be mandatory for citizens of countries such as the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, and the fee involved is modest, since the fee for the ETIAS application is seven euros. Applicants will need to share basic details, and per the program’s design, a valid passport, destination within the EU, and general background information along with any prior immigration history will all be part of the process. There is one detail worth remembering for anyone tempted by unofficial looking websites offering to file an application early, since as of mid 2026 a date has not yet been confirmed and travelers cannot currently apply for an ETIAS.
Britain’s own entry permit system
The UK has run a parallel track to Europe’s changes, and it’s already further along. The ETA program to enter the UK was implemented for travelers from the United States on January 8, 2025, requiring an electronic authorization before arrival rather than a visa applied for in person.
The requirement has since widened. As of April 2, 2025, citizens of the European Union are also required to apply for permission to enter the UK through ETA. After a gradual introduction, the ETA will be enforced for visitors to the UK beginning February 25, 2026, closing out what had been a long transition period. For travelers juggling a UK stop alongside a Schengen itinerary, it means two separate authorizations to track rather than one.
AI has quietly taken over trip planning
Ask around and it’s clear that fewer people are opening a dozen browser tabs to plan a trip the way they used to. AI powered tools are transforming trip planning in 2026, from Google Search’s itinerary building Canvas and global flight deals to ChatGPT’s app integrations with Booking.com, Expedia, and Uber.
The tools themselves vary in what they’re actually good at. Some, like Mindtrip, lean on a database of over 11 million points of interest to build conversational itineraries, while price prediction tools take a more numbers driven approach. Hopper, for instance, has built a reputation around telling travelers whether to book now or wait, and its accuracy rate hovers around ninety five percent according to the company’s own tracking. Even so, adoption hasn’t caught up with the hype just yet, since one recent test of the category found that ninety percent of travelers have heard of AI trip planning, yet only thirty eight percent have actually tried it, and just thirty three percent plan to use it regularly in 2026.
Chatbots that book instead of just talking
The next step beyond suggestions is action, and that’s where things are heading. Analysts predict a move toward fully agentic AI capable of handling end to end travel execution within the next year, meaning software that doesn’t just recommend a hotel but actually reserves it.
That shift is already visible in how mainstream chat assistants work. ChatGPT now connects directly with apps like Booking.com, Expedia, Uber, and DoorDash, letting users search for hotels, flights, rides, and meal plans from within the chatbot itself, using natural language queries with account linked personalization. Booking still tends to finish on the partner’s own site rather than inside the chat window, but the discovery and comparison steps, once the most tedious part of planning, are increasingly handled by a single conversation.
Small airport habits that still save time
Faster identity checks don’t automatically translate into a faster morning at the airport, and it helps to know where the real bottleneck sits. Checked baggage remains the limiting factor for many travelers, since most airlines still enforce forty five to sixty minute bag drop deadlines regardless of biometric screening speed.
There’s an easy workaround for travelers checking a bag anyway. Self service bag drops, now available at most major airports, typically have thirty minute cutoffs, and switching to self service can reclaim fifteen to thirty minutes of the morning. Combined with a Touchless ID lane where it’s available, or a digital ID loaded onto a phone as backup, that extra buffer of time is often what turns a stressful sprint through the terminal into something closer to routine.
Final thoughts
