It’s finally spring, and changes are underway at the nation’s airports, including apps that allow travelers to order food and have it delivered directly to their departure gate, and the expansion of biometric boarding using facial recognition technology.

First, though, a change is coming for U.S. passports. Beginning Monday, the execution fee for a passport (which is in addition to the $110 application fee for a passport book) will increase to $35 from $25 for some travelers, including first-time passport applicants over age 16, children under 16 and people who are reapplying after reporting their passport lost or stolen.

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If, however, you’re eligible to renew your passport by mail (using an online form called the DS-82) rather than in-person at a post office or with a court clerk, you still pay the usual application fee ($110 for a passport book), but not the $35 execution fee. To find out if you’re eligible to renew by mail: travel.state.gov.

Now, for developments at the airports:

Gate Changes

In March, San Diego International Airport introduced an app called AtYourGate, a mobile ordering and delivery service that enables passengers to request food (from airport restaurants like Panda Express and Jack-in-the-Box) or an item they may have forgotten to pack (Dramamine, a phone charger, OK! magazine) through their smartphones and have everything delivered to them at their departure gate or elsewhere in the terminal. Before you check out through the app, you can get an estimate of the delivery time, and see the fee. For instance, on a Wednesday afternoon, while contemplating a foam neck pillow from the CNBC News airport store, I could see that delivery would take about 20 to 35 minutes, and that there would be $2.99 delivery charge.

Whether this sort of service will take off remains to be seen, though it’s not the only gate-delivery app. At Baltimore/Washington Marshall International Airport, for example, Airport Sherpa allows passengers to order food, souvenirs and travel sundries on the go.

Beyond premium conveniences, the bigger and broader change beginning to take hold at airport gates is biometric boarding.

Fingerprint biometrics has become routine for travelers who use expedited government screening programs like Global Entry (where members scan their fingerprints at a kiosk when coming back into the United States instead of waiting in a customs line). But increasingly, Customs and Border Protection has been working with airlines to integrate facial recognition technology with the boarding process. Already its been tested at a handful of airports, such as Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Kennedy International Airport and Boston Logan International Airport.

In late March, Lufthansa announced that it, too, was beginning biometric boarding using facial recognition technology at Los Angeles International Airport. The airline said in a news release that facial recognition cameras capture images of the passengers’ faces as they approach, then the image is sent to a Customs and Border Protection database for matching and verification; if successful, the passenger is marked as having boarded, no boarding pass necessary.

Lufthansa intends to expand the program to additional U.S. gateways. “In near time, biometric boarding, as well as other aspects of the air travel experience, will be widely utilized across the U.S. and beyond,” Bjoern Becker, senior director, product management ground and digital services for Lufthansa, said in a statement.

The use of facial recognition technology at airports has raised questions about privacy rights, including whether the process is invasive and how, exactly, the information can be used. Customs and Border Protection met with privacy rights groups earlier this year to discuss its plans involving biometrics, and its published privacy impact assessments are at dhs.gov.

Another thing that’s expanding? Low-cost, long-haul airlines

The model has been gaining steam in the last five or six years, according to the Centre for Aviation, a market research and data company, which expects to see some 25 to 30 such airlines by the end of the decade. Last year, for instance, Air France-KLM introduced a low-cost carrier called Joon that includes long-haul destinations.

Norwegian, among the leaders in the category, announced that it was beginning nonstop service between Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and London Gatwick Airport last week, making Austin the airline’s first nonstop in Texas. The flight will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays on Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.

Flying With Pets

United Airlines has suspended transporting pets in cargo, not in the cabin, until further notice. The halting of its PetSafe program, created to transport animals that are not allowed to travel in the cabin, came after one of its flight attendants told a passenger to put her French bulldog in an overhead bin during a flight from Houston to New York and the dog died. Shortly thereafter, the airline accidentally flew a German shepherd to Japan instead of Kansas (it was returned home via private jet), and mistakenly sent a dog to St. Louis when its destination was Akron, Ohio (the plane made an additional stop to drop off the dog).

“We are taking this voluntary action to conduct a thorough and systematic review of our PetSafe program and make improvements that will ensure the best possible experience for our customers and their pets,” the airline said on its website.

The review is expected to be completed by May 1.