Features
BN Hot Topic: Your Face as Your Boarding Pass – Welcome Development or Creepy?
In 2017, airline JetBlue, in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), announced the roll-out of its first fully-integrated biometric self-boarding gate at New York’s John F.Kennedy International Airport (JFK).
“Customers flying to select international destinations from Terminal 5 at New York-JFK can now board even faster with a dual lane biometric self-boarding gate, which uses facial recognition technology to verify travelers with a quick photo capture,” the airline said in its press release at the time.
The airline said it has had successful trials in Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).
But a traveller found it uncomfortable and took to Twitter to air her views. The airline responded and the following conversation ensued:
I just boarded an international @JetBlue flight. Instead of scanning my boarding pass or handing over my passport, I looked into a camera before being allowed down the jet bridge. Did facial recognition replace boarding passes, unbeknownst to me? Did I consent to this?
— MacKenzie Fegan (@mackenzief) April 17, 2019
BNers, what do you think?
