Biometric boarding soon to become a reality at Boston airport

JetBlue is trying to ease travel woes and make boarding flights smoother than before. Biometric boarding trials are soon going to be initiated as the airline is set to partner with aviation technology company SITA and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency for conducting tests using facial recognition to screen queued passengers waiting to board their flights at departure gates of Boston Logan International Airport.

Media reports said that the passengers when traveling this summer from Boston Logan International Airport to Aruba’s Queen Beatrix International Airport will only be required to show their face for boarding the flights. They won’t have to provide any other identification proof except their face.

The passengers presently have to furnish a digital or paper boarding pass for travel to their destination. This is now going to change during the periods of trail at Boston Logan. The passengers will now have to present themselves at a camera station for getting their face photographed. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency will then verify the identity of the passenger after the digital image is transferred. The passengers will be informed through a lighted sign that they have got clearance for boarding the flights. The boarding process will be managed by JetBlue gate agents with the help of iPad Mini tablets.

Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue’s Executive Vice President Customer Experience, said, “The boarding process is undoubtedly one of the hardest things to solve. Even though, we are determined to make this process smooth and hassle free, and effective initiatives are being taken. It is expected that friction points can further be reduced in the airport experience. This will also be a great learning curve for us. If we are able to achieve this and the tests are successful then the need for manual passport checks or boarding pass scanning would be completely scrapped through self-boarding. The passengers will only have to look into the camera and they will instantly board their flights after identity verification through the use of facial recognition technology.”