The Future of Air Travel Will Be Defined by Facial Recognition

You wait for your flight departure in a VIP lounge inside the boarding area. Again, no boarding pass, passport, or airline loyalty card is required. To gain access and benefit from biometric check-in, you only need to allow a facial recognition.

You pack your bag with everything you’ll need for your trip and prepare to check in early using your airline’s app.

You are required to take a photo of your ID as well as a selfie. This will be saved and registered in your app, giving you access to a new, smoother, and safer experience before boarding.

This registration can also be done at airport kiosks located in front of your airline’s terminal. This is referred to as biometric registration.

When you arrive at the airport, the check-in and screening areas are equipped with terminals and cameras that can capture an image of your face.

This will be validated based on the biometric record you created in your travel application.

Following that, biometric registration will allow your airline’s baggage drop-off point to use this face capture to display the details of your flight on the screen, print the label to stick on the suitcase, and place it on the band that will transport it to the plane.

Thanks to facial recognition, there will be no more long lines

You will identify yourself with the capture of your face when you pass through the immigration filter, just as you did in the previous point. The system will notify authorities of your destination and confirm the necessary information about your identity.

And what about the long lines to print your boarding pass, document, and validate your information? That’s because your data can be retrieved from the biometric record and your personal information was securely shared with the airport’s passenger system.

When you board your flight, a terminal camera at the boarding gate captures your face and displays your seat number as well as any pertinent messages.

The technology described in your unexpected trip and implemented by Thales as part of the Thales FlyToGate solution has made the experience leading up to boarding your flight more pleasant. Biometric enrollment and advanced data security solve a common issue in the travel experience.

two person standing under lot of bullet cctv camera — Photo by Burst on Pexels.com

Many airports in various countries now use biometric check-in solutions that use verified biometric information for each passenger.

A unique travel token associated with your face will accompany you at all check-in points throughout the airport until you board the plane. This benefits passengers, who are estimated to save up to 80% of their time waiting in lines inside the airport, ensuring the safe use of their information.

Biometric Recognition Technology

Thales FlyToGate, a new solution, will eliminate the need to present identity documents, passports, or identity cards, as well as the boarding pass, at multiple points before boarding the aircraft, and its validation at each end.

This improves people’s peace of mind by reducing waiting times and, as a result, the stress associated with going through security, immigration, and boarding.

Implementing these solutions is becoming increasingly valuable in air terminals around the world, where traffic is expected to increase in the coming years. Several analysts predict that by 2024, there will be more travelers than in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Thales, the Thales FlyToGate solution will leverage airport infrastructure to improve passenger flow while preventing identity fraud and ensuring the security of passenger data.

Given these facts, an increasing number of airports around the world are investing in automated border control, self-service check-in, and baggage handling solutions that improve speed and efficiency while maintaining high levels of security for their passengers.