We do not typically cover airport security on this site. We cover food, we cover rides, we cover the things that make a Disney trip worth the planning and the money and the annual leave days. But every once in a while something happens in the travel space that is so directly useful to the people who read this site that we would be doing you a disservice by not talking about it.
This is one of those times.
American Airlines just expanded TSA PreCheck Touchless ID to all of its hub airports, and the list of cities getting the upgrade reads like a map of where Disney travelers come from. No physical ID. No boarding pass. Just your face, a camera, and a line that moves faster than the one you have been standing in for years. We are going to explain exactly what this means and exactly how to set it up because the opt-in process is simple enough that you should do it before you finish reading this.
Here is what is new. Touchless ID is now coming to Charlotte, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York’s JFK and LaGuardia, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Washington D.C.’s Reagan National Airport. That adds to the 60 U.S. airports where American already offers the program. American has also said it is continuing to work with TSA to expand to additional airports in the coming months.
Orlando International, the airport that a significant portion of this site’s readership flies into for Walt Disney World, already has Touchless ID in place through American. So if you are flying American from one of the newly added cities into MCO, you can potentially move through security faster on both ends of the trip. That is a genuinely good development for a day that already starts early enough.
What Touchless ID Actually Does
The technology is called facial-matching and the name tells you most of what you need to know. Instead of handing a physical ID and boarding pass to a TSA officer, you look at a camera. The system compares your live image against photos already on file with the U.S. government, things like your passport, Global Entry enrollment, or visa. When it confirms the match, you move through the expedited PreCheck lane. That is the whole process.
What it removes is the document scramble. If you have ever been in a security line with a four-year-old, a stroller folded under one arm, a carry-on balanced on the other, and your boarding pass on a phone that chose this exact moment to ask for your passcode, you understand why eliminating that step matters. The camera does the work. You keep moving.
Participation is opt-in. If you would rather show a physical ID the old-fashioned way, standard PreCheck lanes are still there. Nobody is required to use facial matching. It is an additional option for travelers who want it.
The program is specifically available to eligible AAdvantage members with TSA PreCheck. To set it up, open the American Airlines app or go to the website, find the information and password section of your account settings, scroll to secure traveler, enter your Known Traveler Number and valid passport details, make sure all other account information is current, and check the box for TSA PreCheck Touchless ID. Five minutes, done. The system handles everything automatically at participating airports after that.
Why This Is Specifically a Disney Traveler Story
Here is why we are covering this and not leaving it to the travel news sites.
Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles, JFK, LaGuardia, Washington D.C., Miami, Philadelphia, and Phoenix are not random cities. They are some of the most concentrated sources of Walt Disney World and Disneyland visitors in the country. The families reading this site are, statistically, flying out of several of these airports on their way to a park right now or planning to very soon.
The difference between a smooth airport morning and a chaotic one on the first day of a Disney trip has a downstream effect that anyone who has done this more than once understands. Getting through security with time to breathe, to grab something to eat, to let the kids have a moment before the boarding rush, sets a tone for the day that carries all the way to the park gate. Arriving frazzled at Magic Kingdom before you even get on the monorail is a real thing that happens to real families and it colors the whole morning.
Touchless ID does not solve every airport problem. But removing the document fumble from the security checkpoint is a small, real improvement that compounds across every trip you take from a participating airport. For families who fly to Disney two or three times a year, that compounds fast.
If you do not have TSA PreCheck yet, the enrollment requires an online application, an in-person appointment at a TSA enrollment center, and $78 for new members or $70 for renewals. The membership lasts five years. We are not going to do the math out loud for you because you already know the math works if you take more than one or two trips a year. The TSA website has an enrollment center locator and most major airports have one on-site. Get the appointment scheduled.
Genuinely, if you have American AAdvantage and TSA PreCheck, go into the app right now and opt in. Secure traveler, in account settings, Known Traveler Number and passport details, check the box.
It will take you less time than it took to read this article and it will make your next airport morning noticeably easier. And if the food situation at the airport after you get through security is something we can help with, we have guides for the dining options at Orlando International and a few of the major hub airports.
Because even the beginning of a Disney trip should involve something worth eating.
