By Julio Ojeda-Zapata

St. Paul Pioneer Press

Going through airport security can be wildly inconsistent. You never know if you’ll be line for just a few minutes, or for an hour or more.

Technology soon to arrive at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport could make this annoying process a lot more predictable and expeditious — while adding a touch of sci-fi pizzazz.

New York City-based Clear is installing terminals that use biometrics (think fingerprints or eyeball irises) to identify travelers in a jiffy. Five of these terminals are to be set up in the airport’s Lindbergh terminal, three at the southern end and two on the north side, by next month.

Such a fingerprint- or eyeball-scanning procedure looks to speed up check-ins for registered Clear users because they’ll get dedicated lanes that no one else can use. The Twin Cities airport will have two such express lanes.

In practice, Clear users could find themselves whipping through security time after time while others cool their heels in long, pokier-moving queues.

Clear users would still have to go through metal detectors and bag scanners but would hypothetically get to those much more quickly.

“Our customers love the predictability,” said David Cohen, Clear’s chief administrative officer.

The Twin Cities airport would be the 21st such facility to get Clear terminals; Los Angeles International Airport is due to get the technology shortly afterward. Clear recently deployed at airports in Atlanta, New York City, Washington, D.C. and Washington State. It equipped its first such facility, Orlando International Airport, in 2010.

The company, while authorized to operate by the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security, does not work with the federal government. Instead, it makes deals with airport authorities that include the Metropolitan Airports Commission, which owns and operates the Twin Cities airport.