I guess it depends on what they are doing with the photo in the time between the security screening and the gate boarding. If nothing is being done with it at all, then it is a farce, and nothing more than revenue protection. If however, they are using it against a database of known bad guys, then this may be somewhat effective in capturing bad guys. (this can be either the really bad guys or the guy who is wanted for something less than really bad). I don't know what I really think of it, given the number of cameras floating around these days. Don't really have a privacy arguement here, and this method may reduce the number of false positves that come out of facial recognition. Just my thoughts.