Self-boarding using facial recognition on certain JetBlue flights is set to take off next month, the company announced on Wednesday.
As part of the three-month pilot project, passengers headed to Aruba from Boston’s Logan Airport will be photographed at the gates, and the images will be compared to their passport or visa photos on file with Customs and Border Protection, the Boston Globe reported.
Those with successful matches will be permitted to board without showing a ticket, boarding pass or passport. Passengers will still need to be carrying their passports, however.
Airline spokeswoman Joanna Geraghty said the system could signal a new era of high-tech ticketing that ditches old-fashioned travel documents – from check-in and baggage drop-off to customs and boarding.
“The main advantage is customer ease,” Geraghty told the paper. “It’s foreseeable to have a situation in the future where a customer never has to take out a boarding pass.”
JetBlue will create a separate line at the gate for passengers willing to use facial recognition, which takes just seconds.
The three-month test run, which begins June 12, will test the accuracy and speed of facial recognition, Geraghty said, and the willingness of passengers to use a system that has sparked privacy concerns. If all goes smoothly, the program could be expanded to other destinations.
Other airports will test the technology, developed by tech company SITA, later this year.
Delta Air Lines plans to install a system at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport that allows passengers to check in their own luggage.
After verifying their identities against passport photos, they could check in their luggage without interacting with a human.
“It’s about taking the stress out of travel and making it a little bit easier from a tech standpoint,” Delta spokeswoman Ashton Morrow. “The more you can allow self-service, it’s going to enhance traveling for passengers.”
Meanwhile, Customs and Border Protection is using facial-recognition software to verify the status of non-US citizens traveling into and out of the US.
It is testing the system in Atlanta for passengers departing on two international routes, and has it in place at New York’s JFK Airport and at Washington Dulles Airport for arriving international passengers.
Those who are not accurately identified by the system can show their passport to verify their identities and status.
Privacy advocates are sounding a cautionary note.
Jeramie Scott, a lawyer with the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said facial recognition gives the feds more surveillance capabilities.
“We need regulations that provide transparency, oversight, and accountability over the use of facial-recognition technology,” he said.
Gabris, the Customs spokeswoman, said the agency deletes images that match US citizens at airports “after a short period of time.”