TSA’s America 250 Screening Tech Is a Preview of What’s Coming for CUSS Kiosks

Last Updated on July 6, 2026 by Craig Allen Keefner

The Travel has a good consumer‑facing rundown of how TSA is trying to keep July 4th and “America 250” travel moving, but what it really shows is the new baseline for passenger identity, liquids screening, and throughput at the airport edge. For kiosk people, this isn’t just a checkpoint story; it is the context into which the next generation of CUSS 2 platforms, biometrics, and accessibility rules will have to fit.

What TSA is actually rolling out

• TSA expects to screen about 18.7 million passengers over the July 4 window this year, with a single‑day peak north of three million travelers on July 2.

• To cope, they have:

  • Expanded “National Deployment Officer” strike teams to the 14 core host‑city airports for FIFA 2026, opening extra lanes and relieving local staffing bottlenecks.

  • Pushed second‑generation Credential Authentication Technology (CAT‑2) with facial verification at the podium to automate ID checks against Secure Flight in seconds.

  • Deployed CT‑based carry‑on scanners that generate rotatable 3D images so officers can clear bags without constant diverts and repacks.

  • Added Agilent’s Bulk Resolution Technology (BRT), using Raman spectroscopy to identify liquids, gels, and powders through opaque containers in under 10 seconds.

  • Reference article July 2026 https://www.thetravel.com/tsa-deploys-advanced-screening-tech-for-america-250-to-keep-holiday-lines-moving-faster/

• In practice, that means:

  • In CAT‑2 lanes, the boarding pass often disappears – the credential plus biometric match is the “ticket.”

  • In CT lanes, passengers are increasingly allowed to leave laptops and larger electronics in the bag, with some flexibility on toiletries depending on local SOP.

This is the experience passengers will normalize over the next 12–18 months: less paper, fewer bin gymnastics, more biometrics, and AI‑assisted image analysis.

Where this collides with CUSS

• IATA has already put a date on the end of the old CUSS world:

  • CUSS 1.x is formally deprecated as of 31 December 2025 – no new features, no new work on that branch.iata+1

  • By the end of Q1 2026, new CUSS application certifications are only against CUSS 2, with CUSS 2 platforms available for testing and mixed 1.5/2 operation via bridges.kioskindustry+1

  • By the end of Q3 2026, airports can start mandating CUSS 2‑compliant apps and platforms and discontinue 1.5 alternatives – the “mandate compliance” phase.iata+1

  • By the end of 2026, full cutover: no CUSS 1 platforms or apps in production, and new kiosk deployments must be natively CUSS 2; non‑compliant airlines may be removed from shared kiosks.kioskindustry+1

• That transition is happening while:

  • TSA is pushing CAT‑2 and CT as the public‑facing standard for ID and carry‑on screening.

  • Airlines and airports are under pressure to extend biometric and digital ID experiences out to the lobby, bag‑drop, and boarding gates.

So the uncomfortable question for some estates is: will your lobby kiosks and airline apps still be living in a CUSS 1.5, barcode‑only world by the time TSA and the airport authority have normalized biometric‑first flows at security?

Deadlines that kiosk teams can’t ignore

Beyond CUSS itself, there are several hard regulatory dates you’ve already got on your crib sheet that intersect directly with passenger‑facing kiosks:kioskindustry

• CUSS:

  • 31 December 2025 – CUSS 1.x deprecated; no new work on 1.

  • End Q1 2026 – new app certifications only on CUSS 2; CUSS 2 platforms in the field for test and dual‑stack.

  • End Q3 2026 – “mandate compliance” phase; airports may begin requiring CUSS 2 and dropping 1.5.

  • End 2026 – full cutover; no CUSS 1 in production, and new deployments must be CUSS 2 native.

• Accessibility:

  • June 28, 2025 – European Accessibility Act deadline for most businesses serving the EU, including self‑service terminals.kioskindustry

  • May 11, 2026 – HHS Section 504 digital accessibility deadline for covered U.S. healthcare/social services entities with 15+ employees; kiosks explicitly included as “self‑service machines.”kioskindustry

  • May 10, 2027 – Same rule for smaller covered entities (<15 employees).kioskindustry

• Financial/digital signage:

  • January 1, 2027 – FDIC Part 328 digital sign/advertising compliance date for insured institutions’ ATM‑style devices and other digital channels, after the recent extension.kioskindustry

• Ongoing “always on” regimes sitting behind all of this:

  • PCI DSS v4 migrations for unattended payment, EMV/acquirer mandates, GDPR/CCPA and other privacy laws, and a growing cluster of U.S. state biometric privacy statutes that explicitly call out facial recognition and other biometrics in retail and transit environments.kioskindustry

When you overlay these timelines on top of TSA’s America 250 modernization and the FIFA/Olympics decade, you get a pretty simple message: airports and airlines have almost no room left for “wait and see” on their CUSS and front‑of‑house kiosk strategies.

Problems brewing for lagging CUSS estates

If you are still deep in CUSS 1.5 by mid‑2026, the issues are not theoretical.iata+1

• Functional stagnation:

  • New features, including deeper biometric integrations, will be developed against CUSS 2; 1.x will not get those enhancements.

  • That leaves older apps struggling to participate in modern ID and bag‑tag flows that passengers now expect after using CAT‑2 and CT lanes.

• Certification bottlenecks:

  • Airlines certifying or re‑certifying 1.x apps now will have to come back and re‑certify for CUSS 2, effectively paying the certification tax twice.

  • Vendor capacity for CUSS 2 certification and platform upgrades will be finite, and the burn‑in phase is explicitly there to manage that congestion.

• Commercial leverage:

  • IATA’s plan explicitly contemplates airports removing non‑compliant airlines from common‑use kiosks after the full cutover.

  • That becomes a bargaining chip in local commercial negotiations once the airport has at least one CUSS 2 platform live and certified.

• Compliance and risk optics:

  • As biometrics and CT become the security norm, regulators and privacy advocates will focus harder on how and where biometric data is captured, stored, and used – including any capture at kiosks.x+1

  • Deploying or upgrading kiosks in this window without a clear stance on ADA/EAA accessibility, PCI DSS v4, and biometric privacy is going to look increasingly reckless to boards and regulators.kioskindustry

What self‑service teams should be doing now

For airport, airline, and integrator teams, the action items are pretty clear.

• Map your CUSS footprint:

  • Inventory which airports and kiosks are still on CUSS 1.x, what apps run on them, and which vendors host the platforms.kioskindustry

  • Identify which lanes and locations are on the critical path for America 250, FIFA 2026, and other high‑volume events.

  • CUSS Migration PDF

• Align your CUSS 2 plan with security modernization:

  • Where the airport is rolling out CAT‑2 and CT, make sure your self‑service vision (check‑in, bag‑drop, disruption handling) aligns with that “less paper, more biometric, fewer touchpoints” expectation.x

  • Treat CUSS 2 migration as part of the same program, not a separate IT project.

• Bake in accessibility and privacy:

  • Design CUSS 2 kiosks and applications to meet EAA and HHS 504 accessibility requirements instead of bolting on “exceptions” later.kioskindustry

  • For any biometric capture at the kiosk, work with legal to line up notices, consent flows, retention limits, and deletion mechanisms consistent with GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, and emerging state biometric laws.kioskindustry

• Avoid the certification cliff:

  • Do not sink more money into 1.x certifications unless absolutely unavoidable; route new work to CUSS 2 where possible.iata+1

  • Engage platform vendors early about CUSS 2 capacity, dual‑stack periods, and realistic test windows so you are not stuck at the back of the queue in late 2026.iata+1

TSA’s America 250 deployment is a useful reminder that passenger expectations are being set at the checkpoint, not in the lobby. If your CUSS roadmap does not assume a biometric‑friendly, CT‑era passenger journey by 2026, the gap between what travelers experience at security and what you offer at the kiosk is only going to get more obvious

More Resources

Here are 10 URLs on kioskindustry.org that relate to CLEAR and TSA:

1. CLEAR Airport Kiosk – Update on TSA and Idemia

   • https://kioskindustry.org/clear-airport-kiosk-update-on-tsa-and-idemia/kioskindustry

2. Airport Kiosk TSA: Faster Identity Verification with Clear EnVe Pods

   • Includes CLEAR, TSA, and EnVe Pods round‑up links.

   • https://kioskindustry.org/airport-kiosks-tsa-clear-evve-pods/kioskindustry

3. Airport Kiosk Check-In – TSA and CLEAR and Idemia

   • Focuses on TSA ID re‑verification and CLEAR integration with TSA machines.

   • https://kioskindustry.org/airport-kiosk-check-in-tsa-and-clear-and-idemia/kioskindustry

4. CLEAR Kiosk – BusinessInsider Benefits & AMEX deal – Also NRF

   • CLEAR expedited screening at TSA security checkpoints.

   • https://kioskindustry.org/clear-kiosk-businessinsider-writeup-on-benefits-and-amex-deal/kioskindustry

5. Biometric Kiosk category page

   • Contains posts on TSA CLEAR Plus e‑gates and biometric airport kiosks.

   • https://kioskindustry.org/category/biometric-kiosk/kioskindustry

6. Airport Kiosk category page

   • Aggregates airport kiosk content, including CLEAR/TSA-related posts.

   • https://kioskindustry.org/category/airport-kiosk/kioskindustry

7. Security and Compliance FAQ for Kiosks

   • Not CLEAR-specific, but covers TSA-relevant security/compliance context for kiosks.

   • https://kioskindustry.org/faq/security-compliance/kioskindustry

8. About Kioskindustry – 2026 Edition

   • Site overview; includes positioning related to airport and security kiosks (helpful as a context link).

   • https://kioskindustry.org/about-kioskindustry/kioskindustry

9. Airport Kiosks TSA Clear EVVE Pods (internal cross-link block referenced in EnVe article)

   • Listed within the EnVe Pods article as “Airport Kiosks Clear Related” content.

   • https://kioskindustry.org/airport-kiosks-tsa-clear-evve-pods/ (same article but often used as hub link for CLEAR/TSA content)kioskindustry

10. CLEAR Airport Kiosk – internal CLEAR tag hub (linked in EnVe Pods article)

    • The EnVe Pods article references a CLEAR airport check-in kiosk link that routes through CLEAR-tagged content.

    • https://kioskindustry.org/clear-airport-kiosk-update-on-tsa-and-idemia/ (serving as the main CLEAR+TSA hub on the site)

 

CUSS 2 Migration Plan and Phasing – Release January 2026

CUSS 2 Migration Plan and Phasing

With the upcoming implementation of the new CUSS 2 standard and the planned deprecation of CUSS 1.5, on
the 31st December 2025, this migration plan provides a clear roadmap for airports and airlines to transition
smoothly and benefit from enhanced solutions and technology.

Overview

The deprecation of CUSS 1.x standards does not mean airline applications will immediately stop functioning.

However, no further updates or new functionalities will be provided under CUSS 1.x. All future requirements and
enhancements will be managed exclusively under the CUSS 2 standard.

As part of the approach to support the industry, there is a CUSS 2 Testbed available. Application and platform
suppliers should reach out to IATA to get the details of the testbed.

To support a secure and efficient migration, the CUSS Task Force – reporting to the Customer Journey

Delivery Working Group (CJDWG) – has established the following phased milestones:

Migration Milestones

Milestone 1: Immediate Actions (Now)

• Recommendation: Airlines and airports should begin planning for the latest CUSS 2 compliance.
• Certification: Current application certifications are still conducted against CUSS 1.5, due to the limited number of certified CUSS 2 platforms.
• Early Adoption: Airlines with CUSS 2 applications may initiate certification with select vendors.
• Recertification: Any airline certifying a CUSS 1.x application now will need to recertify for CUSS 2 once their application is updated.
• Testing Tools: Airlines can access available tools to start testing for CUSS 2 readiness.

Milestone 2: Soft Transition Begins (End of Q1 2026)

• Platform Availability: Vendors will offer CUSS 2 platforms for testing and certification.
• Certification Shift: New CUSS application submissions will only be certified against CUSS 2.
• Soft Transition: Airports may configure some kiosks with CUSS 2 platforms, supporting both CUSS 2 and CUSS 1.5 applications for a defined period. Bridges may be used to maintain compatibility during this phase.
  2 CUSS 2 Migration Plan and Phasing – Release January 2026

Milestone 3: Mandate Compliance (End of Q3 2026)
• Requirement: Airports may begin mandating CUSS 2-compliant applications and platforms, discontinuing CUSS 1.5 alternatives.
• Burn-In Period: This phase allows for:

• Stress testing of platforms and standards.
• Clear timelines for airlines to demonstrate CUSS 2 compliance.
• Coordinated certification planning, considering vendor resource constraints.
• Sufficient vendor capacity to support certifications before the final cutover.

Milestone 4: Full Cutover (End of Year 2026)

• End of Support: Airports and airlines will no longer operate or support CUSS 1 platforms or applications.
• Deployment: All new CUSS kiosk deployments must be natively CUSS 2 compliant.
• Enforcement: Airports may remove airlines from kiosks if they are not compliant with CUSS 2 standards.

Next Steps and Recommendations

• Stakeholder Engagement: Airports, airlines, and vendors should collaborate early to ensure readiness for each milestone.
• Resource Planning: Allocate sufficient resources for testing, certification, and migration activities.
• Continuous Communication: Maintain open channels with vendors and the CUSS TF under the CJDWG for updates and support.
• Monitor Progress: Regularly review migration status and adjust plans as needed to meet deadlines.

Summary:

Transitioning to CUSS 2 is essential for future functionality, security, and industry alignment. By following this
phased plan, stakeholders can minimize disruption and maximize the benefits of the new standard.