Travel

Goodbye to boarding passes and check-ins: This new digital travel credential will change the airport experience forever

Passengers will soon be able to upload passport details to their smartphones and pass seamlessly through airports using only facial recognition technology.

Passengers will soon be able to upload passport details to their smartphones and pass seamlessly through airports using only facial recognition technology.
Serhii Ivashchuk
Paul Reidy
Irish native who switched from the music industry to the world of sport moving from Universal Music to AS in 2017. A keen runner, soccer player and now discovering the world's fastest growing sport of padel. A fútbol fanatic covering LaLiga, MLS, Liga MX and other offbeat stories from the global game. Can always be found rooting for the underdog.
Update:

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is preparing to introduce a new “digital travel credential” that will allow travellers to store and verify their passport information on their mobile devices.

It’s planned that the traditional measure of checking in for flights, either online or at the airport is set to become a thing of the past as passengers will, in the future download a “journey pass” when booking flights, which will update automatically if flight details change.

Goodbye to boarding passes and check-ins: This new digital travel credential will change the airport experience forever
Delta Airlines passenger jets Mike Segar

Airlines will be alerted that passengers intend to fly once their faces are scanned at the airport as travellers with luggage for the hold will have their faces scanned at bag-drop points, while those with hand luggage only will be verified at pre-security gates before departure.

Valérie Viale, director of product management at Amadeus, the world’s largest travel technology company, told The Times: “Many airline systems haven’t changed for more than 50 years because everything has to be consistent across the industry and interoperable”.

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At present, British Airways, Air France-KLM, Finnair and Saudia Airlines are among the carriers currently studying the implementation of the new technology. British Airways said its “suite of digital experience tools” would allow it to “anticipate the needs of modern, digital travellers, providing them with exceptional experiences across their journey.”

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