Biometrics take off for BA passengers on boarding

BA will become one of the first airlines to replace its boarding gate staff with automated biometric technology as it tries to speed up the more humdrum parts of travel through London Heathrow. Passengers will be able to board their flights at Europe’s busiest airport without staff interaction, using a facial recognition system that can instantly and accurately authenticate identity to remove the need for manual checks. The British group is the latest airline to adopt new technology to ease the chore of flying as automated processes are introduced in airports around the world. “Our customers have told us that they want the ability to simplify and speed up their journeys through the airport,” said Troy Warfield, BA’s director of customer experience. BA has activated three biometric gates at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 this week, and will equip 36 gates with the technology by the end of the summer. The facial recognition system will initially serve domestic airline passengers after a successful trial last year, with a plan to expand to international flights later in the year, according to BA. “There is a general trend towards this sort of automation technology, but we will be one of the first to implement this at boarding,” BA said. The system captures a passenger’s face via cameras at the security check. When the person arrives at their boarding gate, a second set of cameras will authenticate their face with their boarding pass by matching the data captured at the earlier security screening.<br/>