Agent cant pull any pictures from the system, in fact they cant really do anything with the system, it is only linked to the airline system to mark the person on board. The picture should go straight to CBP federal database. CBP also notes that the system do not store US citizen information once verification is complete, so that means there are no pictures to be pulled even if someone wants to.

OP didnt mention where he is going but if it is from LAX and on F class, then it would likely be domestic, which I dont think there is any kind of facial recognition boarding available, as the airlines do not have access to the picture database that the federal government has.

I think this is how boarding at the gate works:

Domestic: BP scan
International: Look at Passport signature and face scanning machine. If face scanning machine is broken, BP and Passport scan.

While certainly seems a bit of an awkward interaction — on the recognition part, seems much more likely that the GA recognized OP from some prior experience, i.e. human-brain facial recognition, than that there was some camera and computer doing facial recognition to spot all the 1Ks.

That's right, i think that is what happened here, but that would be highly inappropriate and violating so many airline and government rules and policies.

At SPN, while there is no UA facial recognition scanning, there is an actual U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) exit checkpoint (with one or two CBP officers staffing the two booths) to the left of one of the boarding gate areas. Prior to actual boarding, passengers make their way over there to get a CBP stamp on their boarding pass, without which one cannot board a UA flight.

The two CBP booths are the same as the regular immigration booths, having a little built-in camera near the top of the glass booth wall / window, with which the CBP officer takes one's picture.

Interestingly, this procedure is required to go to GUM. While Guam is domestic, historically the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) had its own immigration control prior to Saturday, 28 November 2009, and also has unique visa waivers for PRC citizen tourists -- and asylum cannot be sought in the CNMI until 2030.

Travelers within the CNMI, that is, Tinian (TIQ) and Rota / Luta (ROP), use a separate "Commuter Terminal" with no CBP involvement. UA does not serve these two less populated islands.

For boarding? Yes, there's usually a sign stating such in the vicinity of the immediate boarding area. I'd be interested in finding out what actually happens if someone refuses the facial recognition, and how willing the GAs would be to do it the 'old fashioned' way, despite that specifically being an option of the displayed notice.

While waiting in line, I believe I saw a passenger whose face wouldn't scan. I think the same machine (or one immediately adjacent) has a place to scan a boarding pass, which was done in this instance.

Yeah, that's because it didn't work.
How would it be handled though, if someone simply refuses....at EWR?
We need a guinea pig!

Here's a case of someone who could not opt out of face scanning for boarding a UA International flight at SFO: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chec...aving-usa.html

(granted, in this case, 5 min before gate closure is not really a good data point)

OP here. This is exactly what happened. 1k on a F ticket HNL - LAX - LAS. Arrived LAX and went to UC. Went to LAX gate a couple minutes before preloading. Biarded first in 1k group, I may have been the only 1k because there wasn't a group push to the gate and I don't know if anyone was behind me. As I approached GA he said hello muscae. I nodded and scanned my boarding pass. Got the beep that it already was used. Looked at GA and he said I saw you sitting out there and already checked you in. I said thanks and boarded. He used my real first name in place of muscae. I thought it was weird. I fly this route and also via SFO frequently, so maybe he recognized me? I know several LAX UC staff and nearly all the HNL UC and GAs recognize me.. I didn't really recognize the LAX gate agent, but maybe.

I agree that it’s weird, but he definitely must have recognized you, as the facial recognition is only used for international flights as discussed above. UA does not have their own image database to use for facial recognition even if they’ve been surreptitiously developing Big Brother crowd-scramming tech. :)

Often work half of the time with those newer machines at Terminal A, which clog up boarding. Usually GA just go back to traditional boarding.

It is creepy
 

In terminal 3, last December, I had a TSA agent tell me that the program was not optional, but required, and got into a argument with the agent that required me to complaint to the supervisor and make a formal complaint. The supervisor had to remind the agent that the program was optional and apologized to me for the agent's behavior. A very unpleasant experience.

TSA or CBP? TSA is the one at the security checkpoint, CBP is the one at the boarding gate. Both CBP and TSA have facial recognition but the purpose is different.

While the use is different In both cases biometrics are optional, and on both cases a properly trained agent should take no more than 15 seconds to hear, comprehend, and implement the opt out request (sometimes TSA will do a bit more of a "show" about verifying your ID just to slow things down -- or at least that's been my perception -- but other than that it's NBD)

I always opt out of the TSA version (I know it's inconsistent with using CLEAR, no I can't coherently convey my rationale for this, but I am what I am) and the TSA agents are generally cool, the CLEAR guys aren't always aware that thats an option which has made for some interesting exchanges.

Biometric boarding has only actually been working on one of my international departures so the opt out attempt sample size is far smaller there but no issues