Commercial travel passenger identification security system and process

A commercial travel passenger identification security system and process whereby commercial passenger carriers, including air, rail, motor coach, ship, and other, can optimize the security of their passengers and equipment by requiring passengers to present an electronic credential that authenticates their identity and minimizes the risk of their carriage. Prospective passengers must (a) submit an application for secure travel credentialing that includes personal information and references. The application is (b) reviewed and the applicant's references, credit history, and police and judicial records are evaluated against specific criteria that rate the level of risk in credentialing them as passengers. (c) Rejected applicants are notified of the specific reasons for their rejection and an appeals process is made available to them. (d) Accepted applications are referred to a third-party that serves as a credentialing agent. The credentialing agent must employ one or more biometric devices, such as facial scans, speech recognition, retinal scans, or fingerprinting, to authenticate the identification of the applicant, conjointly wedding these biometrics to the applicant's birth record, passport, driver's license, employee identification, security clearances, or any of a number of other identifying credentials presented by the applicant in support of his or her application. (e) The successful applicant is issued an identifying code as well as a credentialing device, such as a PCMCIA (smart) card, transponder key fob, picture identification, or any combination thereof. (f) Upon booking travel, the credentialed traveler presents his or her identifying code that corresponds with his or her credentialing device. Coded tickets are issued to the traveler. (g) At check-in, the traveler presents his or her credentialing device, which is read by equipment assigned to the carrier and matched to the facial scan, speech recognition, retinal scan, or fingerprints of the traveler provided at time of check-in. (h) At check-in, all baggage is searched, sealed, and equipped with a transponder chip or other device that matches the passenger's credentialing device and transponder code. (i) At time of boarding, traveler uses credentialing device as an access key to gain admission to the conveyance. (j) At time of arrival, passenger uses credentialing device to retrieve checked baggage.