Using TSA PreCheck Touchless ID with Kids

Touchless ID is one of the best upgrades to the airport security experience in years. No fumbling for your ID, no handing your boarding pass to an officer — just a quick face scan and you are through. If you have already set it up, you know how smooth it makes the whole process.

But once children enter the picture, a lot of parents have questions. Can the kids use Touchless ID too? What happens at the lane if they cannot? And what about a child traveling solo, do the rules change then?

The short answer: Touchless ID is designed for adults, and children are not currently eligible. The longer answer involves a few important distinctions depending on which airline you are flying, and what happens instead is actually simpler than most people expect.

Here is everything you need to know before you get to the airport.

Why Children Cannot Use TSA PreCheck Touchless ID

Touchless ID is not controlled by the TSA. Each participating airline which includes American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines, runs its own enrollment program and sets its own eligibility requirements. The TSA operates the technology at the checkpoint, but the airlines decide who qualifies to use it.

Every participating airline requires enrollment through a personal loyalty account with a valid passport and Known Traveler Number (KTN) stored on file. That combination alone rules out most children. But two of the five airlines go further and state an explicit age floor: both American Airlines and Southwest Airlines publish that participants must be 18 or older to enroll.

Alaska, Delta, and United do not publish a specific age minimum on their Touchless ID pages, but the practical result is the same. A child would need their own Mileage Plan, SkyMiles, or MileagePlus account with a valid passport and KTN already stored inside it to qualify independently. For the overwhelming majority of children, that combination does not exist.

Airline	Key Notes
American Airlines	Must be 18 or older. Children 17 and under can use standard TSA PreCheck lanes with an eligible parent.
Alaska Airlines	Requires a Mileage Plan account with KTN and passport stored. Children who are not enrolled Mileage Plan members with those credentials on file cannot participate. Once enrolled, opt-in stays active until you opt out.
Delta Air Lines	Delta's policy explicitly states that every traveler in your party, including children, must individually opt in. Each person needs their own SkyMiles account with a KTN and passport on file. For most traveling children, this is not feasible.
Southwest Airlines	Southwest explicitly requires participants to be 18 or older. Children cannot use Touchless ID on Southwest regardless of circumstances. Standard TSA PreCheck process applies for the whole family.
United Airlines	Requires a MileagePlus account with both a KTN and valid passport stored. Each traveler must enroll through their own account before check-in. Like Delta, children would need their own qualifying account to participate independently.

Always verify with the airline before you fly as policies can change.

So What Happens at the Lane When You Have Kids with You?

This is where parents often worry unnecessarily. The answer is straightforward.

When you are enrolled in Touchless ID, you use the dedicated Touchless ID lane and complete your face scan as usual. Your children, who are not enrolled, go through the standard TSA PreCheck process right alongside you in the same lane, they just present their boarding pass to the officer rather than using the biometric scan.

For children 12 and under, the TSA PreCheck indicator does not even need to appear on their boarding pass. They can join you in the PreCheck lane automatically as long as you are on the same reservation and your boarding pass shows the PreCheck indicator.

For children between 13 and 17, the PreCheck indicator does need to appear on their boarding pass. To make that happen, keep them on your reservation and leave the KTN field blank for them when booking. Do not enter a number unless your child has their own KTN. Leaving it empty is what tells the system to extend your PreCheck benefit to their boarding pass.

Either way, everyone in your group still gets to keep their shoes on, laptops stay in bags, and you skip the long standard security line. The only difference is that you use the face scan while your kids show their boarding passes. It is a non-issue in practice.

One thing worth noting for all Touchless ID users: even after your face scan clears, you should always carry a REAL ID. The TSA specifically advises this if the biometric system cannot verify your identity for any reason, officers will ask for a physical document.

What About Kids Flying Alone?

If your child is flying without you, both the TSA PreCheck and Touchless ID rules shift.

On the TSA PreCheck side: children flying alone need their own KTN to use the PreCheck lane without an adult. Normally, minors under 18 do not need to show ID for domestic travel. That exception does not apply when an unaccompanied minor is in a PreCheck lane alone, though. According to the TSA, unaccompanied minors who are eligible for PreCheck must show an acceptable ID to receive expedited screening.

On the Touchless ID side: unaccompanied minors cannot use Touchless ID. On the two airlines with a published age minimum, American and Southwest, the 18-or-older requirement makes this explicit. On the other three airlines, the enrollment requirements make it equally inaccessible. There is no scenario in which a child flying alone can use the Touchless ID lane.

Two other things worth knowing if your child is flying solo:

If you are given a gate escort pass to walk your child to the gate, that pass does not carry your PreCheck benefits. You will go through standard screening regardless of your membership status. That rule applies to every adult, no exceptions.

Each airline also handles unaccompanied minors differently when it comes to minimum travel ages, supervision requirements, and fees. Always check directly with your airline well before booking a solo trip for a child.

The Bottom Line for Family Travelers

Touchless ID is currently an adult-only program, and that is unlikely to change in the near term given the enrollment requirements each airline has built around it. But that does not mean your family misses out on the benefits of TSA PreCheck.

You use Touchless ID. Your kids use the standard PreCheck process. Everyone stays in the same lane, everyone keeps their shoes on, and the whole group still clears security faster than the standard line. The experience at the airport is smoother than you might expect.

For a full breakdown learn how Touchless ID works, how to enroll, and which airports currently have it.