Biometrics are becoming increasingly popular in the airline industry, as a way to streamline the boarding process and increase security. Airlines are choosing to use facial recognition technology to make it easier for passengers to quickly and securely board their flight.
In Atlanta and Detroit, Delta customers now have a way to get to their gates without an ID or boarding pass, according to a recent article in Biometric Update. Via a partnership with Pangiam, travelers can check in using face biometrics using Delta Sync.
“Delta’s use of biometrics in easing check in and potentially boarding provide a unique parallel to efforts of college campus’s to connect biometrics to campus cards, as covered in Mercator research,” said Jordan Hirschfield, Director of Prepaid for Mercator Advisory Group. “Each of these deal with smaller and contained groups within their data base of either opted in travelers or students within a single campus and work to solve problems of timing and congestion at choke points.”
“For Delta, these choke points are at counters or at boarding, while in university settings it can be in a dining hall or at building entries, with each situation requiring users to typically find necessary identification or documents,” he said. “In each of these cases just reducing a few seconds per individual creates an entirely more efficient and friendly experience.”
There’s no doubt that biometrics are gaining traction in lots of industries. And there are several reasons why this technology is considered superior to personal documents or passwords for identification—it’s unique to each individual, whereas personal documents can be shared or stolen. Furthermore, biometrics can’t be forgotten, lost, or easily guessed. Biometrics such as facial identification, can also be quicker and require less staff than traditional methods of identity verification.