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\n <\/picture>So-called \u201cseamless travel\u201d facilitated by biometrics is on everyone\u2019s lips at Passenger Terminal Expo in Madrid. The idea that one\u2019s face can be pre-linked to a central travel document, and used as a passport, boarding pass and even a hotel check-in document is an enthralling one to many. To others, it\u2019s a dystopian nightmare. But what\u2019s the reality according to the people in the know?<\/p>\n
Amadeus is one of the largest players at the annual conference, and its literal centre stage booth was a showcase of its suite of biometric tech, from check-in to bag-drop all the way through security and boarding.<\/p>\n
According to Jeff Lennon, the company\u2019s VP of strategic sales, the tech is ready to go (even if he had some difficulties showing the facial recognition hardware when giving Airport Technology<\/em> a tour).<\/p>\n \u201cTechnically, it\u2019s completely available. There needs to be a handshake between governments as a provider, as a partner, we give them the tools,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n He\u2019s not alone in that viewpoint. Another provider of age and identity verification, John Vallis,\u00a0senior business development manager at Innovative Technology, tells Airport Technology<\/em> effective tokenised biometric facial recognition tech \u201cis already here\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could do it today. In fact, you could do it yesterday, even better. That\u2019s essentially part of the journey, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re here to promote,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n Others think the reality of truly seamless travel is possible, and even likely, but suggest there are more hurdles than the likes of Amadeus might admit to.<\/p>\n Loren Mathias at INFORM uses the example of bag tagging. While he says the idea of seamless bagdrops is sound, and the tech has brought us very close, challenges like interoperability of baggage management are yet to find a true solution.<\/p>\n \u201cI think bag tags are going to be with us for quite a long time. Even if one company gets rid of the need for a bag tag using things like baggage ID, like computer vision technology or something else, the minute that bag gets transferred to some other partner carrier, it needs a bag tag, right? Or you have to have that technology at all acceptance points, or it won\u2019t work,\u201d he tells Airport Technology<\/em> over a coffee.<\/p>\n The discussion on the future of passenger travel was accelerated by Amadeus\u2019s publication of a new white paper, \u201cFrom DCS to Delivery\u201d, at Passenger Terminal Expo.<\/p>\n While the near 30-page paper<\/a> discusses a multitude of changes to the airport experience the Spanish company hopes to achieve with a change from DCS technology to Delivery Management Systems, perhaps the most pertinent for the passenger experience is the death of airport check-in<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cTraditional check-in and travel document checks, e.g. visa checks at the terminal will no longer be needed, meaning travellers can drop their bag, using the baggage acceptance capabilities of delivery, and move smoothly to security. Even bag-drop can be avoided if the passenger chooses a door-to-door bag pick-up and delivery service from the airline,\u201d the paper claims.<\/p>\n While online check-in is widely available for many flights, and for short flights (and holidays or business trips) without checked baggage is widely used, there remain significant barriers to the \u201cretirement\u201d of physical check-in at airports.<\/p>\n Amadeus say its technology puts the \u201cchoice\u201d in the hands of airlines and their passengers.<\/p>\n \u201cIn many parts of the world, airlines will be able to retire traditional check-in if they choose. This can be achieved using a mix of continual engagement to understand the traveller\u2019s intention to fly and new abilities to track the passenger\u2019s location.\u201d<\/p>\n This wording is purposeful.<\/p>\n \u201cIn many parts of the world\u2026\u201d does not claim that seamless travel will happen everywhere. It seems to understand that regulations vary globally, as do the politics of liberalising passenger transport access.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s important, because as others point out, it is not realistic to imagine seamless global travel in the next decade or even further ahead.<\/p>\n \u201cThe challenge with this is nothing to do with technology and everything to do with policy. And it\u2019s policy at a local level, then it\u2019s about aligned policy at an international level,\u201d explains Martin Bowman, chief of strategy at Smarter Airports.<\/p>\n The issue according to Bowman is the pace of geopolitics.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you are telling me that the world is going to align its policy at an international level to make seamless travel happen everywhere in 15 years, I say no.<\/p>\n \u201cNo chance. It will not happen. You might see point-to-point innovations. You might see reciprocal arrangements. You will not see global seamless travel.\u201d<\/p>\n And as the Scot points out, his understanding is not plucked out of midair. There are other parts of the airport ingress system that have faced the exact problem he predicts with wider \u2018seamless travel\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cThe simple analogy would be what\u2019s happening just now with the security scanners, right? We\u2019ve got the security scanner mandate in some countries. So passengers are leaving today and enjoying the fact that they don\u2019t need to take liquids out in the bag, enjoying the faster process time. But then they get to their inbound flight, and that mandate is not in place, and they have to do the old process again.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s exactly the same concept, unless there\u2019s an alignment at a policy level, you will not see this happen at an international level.\u201d<\/p>\n Security is certainly not forgotten in Amadeus\u2019s view of the future, and the example of scanner laws in different jurisdictions is a good one, albeit one the tech provider does not see as its problem.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a technology supplier, all the tools are available. Obviously we have to anticipate all kinds of scenarios. But then it\u2019s an airport or a government responsibility to prepare the operational procedure for when, for whatever reason, the country has an electrical outage, a network outage, they will immediately see that the system is not operating for a certain reason,\u201d Lennon opines.<\/p>\n \u201cSo they have to have a backup plan, a fallback scenario where people are taking over\u2026 a manual backup operation. They [airports] need to have a scenario that accommodates such a situation [as a power outage or terror attack].\u201d<\/p>\n While Amadeus says biometrics use can improve the passenger security experience, it comes with two problems: one technical and one human.<\/p>\n One key tenet of modern security is the identification of bag to passenger, and as Mathias says, the bag tag has been a simple and useful tool which airlines are unlikely to give up without considerable persuasion.<\/p>\n Experts at the intersection of baggage and security voice concerns about the use of data and the usefulness of seamless engagement.<\/p>\n Ken Mann, a senior manager at Rapiscan, expands on the potential political challenges that security firms would face if reliant on biometrics.<\/p>\n \u201cIn many countries, certainly most European countries, and a lot around the world, we cannot differentiate based on a passenger\u2019s identity. Maybe on the flight destination, but generally not on the passenger\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us, we don\u2019t really want to.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo whereas you might be able to at the sort of boarding card level and the passport level, just use someone\u2019s biometric identifier for us, we probably wouldn\u2019t want to,\u201d he puts it plainly.<\/p>\n Without regulation changes to allow for security systems to identify passengers and bag owners using personal data, it seems the use of traditional security techniques cannot truly become seamless.<\/p>\n But on the human side, even if regulatory challenges are overcome and governments sign an international charter recognising biometric security protocols, the aviation industry risks alienating significant volumes of passengers who do not trust the tech.<\/p>\n First encounter with the new facial recognition technology at an airport. No need to show ID or boarding pass, but having your face scanned and waiting for the green light is unnerving and feels invasive. I mean I get that paper passports and boarding passes are old tech but this feels Orwellian.<\/p>\n \u2014 paulseesequasis (@paulseesequasis.bsky.social)<\/a> 2025-04-12T07:00:26.054Z<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n The Amadeus view, Lennon expresses, is that trust and \u201can emotional connection\u201d can and will be built by the successful operation of the technology.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, the best feedback is when a passenger goes to the border officer when he crosses the border and he says, \u2018wow, that was amazing. Can I do it a second time?\u2019 That\u2019s the best possible return you can have, versus the stressful moment it\u2019s supposed to be at the border,\u201d he tells Airport Technology<\/em>.<\/p>\n How does this work if passengers don\u2019t trust biometric data collection, aren\u2019t constantly connected, or are travelling to a destination that doesn\u2019t have systems set up, either practically or legally?<\/p>\n The jury\u2019s out, and it\u2019s looking like a long wait.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n\u201cCheck-in is likely to disappear\u201d<\/h2>\n
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Biometric hurdles<\/h2>\n
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