JetBlue Wants To Use Facial Recognition For Boarding Instead Of A Boarding Pass

You may want to rethink wearing sweats for your next flight because it might be caught on camera. JetBlue is integrating facial recognition software with the boarding process to create a “self-boarding process.” The idea is that customers who use this option won’t have to keep out their paper boarding pass or their phones. They’ll be able to navigate to their flights easily after checking in.

The new feature will launch at Boston Logan Airport on flights headed to Aruba’s Queen Beatrix International Airport beginning in June, a press release from the company said. Customers using this new feature will opt in when they check into their flight.

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Passengers will need to check in and go through the TSA checkpoint as usual. For this part of the process, they’ll still need boarding passes, either physical or digital. After that, they’ll be able to have their photos taken to participate in the trial. That photo will be sent to U.S. Customs and Border Protection where it’ll be matched with a photo on file from a passport, visa or immigration photos. Flight information also will be verified at this point in the process to ensure the correct person is getting on the right flight. There is no prior enrollment or registration required to participate.

So instead of handing a boarding pass over when flights start boarding, customers will just be able to step up to a camera station. Those stations, where the photos will be taken will be wirelessly connected to Customs and will get the photo of the flyer immediately. Then once it is matched and approved, the flyer will be given the go ahead to board from a screen above the camera, JetBlue said.

The company providing the connectivity between the cameras and Customs is SITA, the same company that provides information technology and communications for border security for airlines and airports. The idea is that if it’s successful in Boston, it would be implemented elsewhere to speed up airport times.

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This process will help get crew members into a more interactive setting than the counter behind which they traditionally stand. Crew members will be equipped with iPad minis to help them monitor and manage the process as a whole, the release said.

In addition to diversifying crew member tasks, the company hopes this new process could help speed up boarding and make it easier for everyone involved. “We hope to learn how we can further reduce friction points in the airport experience, with the boarding process being one of the hardest to solve,” Johanna Geraghty, executive vice president of customer experience at JetBlue, said in the release.

The company has also tried to cut time in the check-in process. Last year the company introduced self-tagging for bags and self-bag drop in a redesigned lobby at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport. Based on positive feedback from that improvement, the company then brought the newly designed lobbies to other airports.