Scan face, drop bag
A new-age technology that would identify passengers by scanning their faces is set for a test this summer at a major U.S. airport. Delta will use facial-recognition technology as it tests new self-service bag drop stations at its second-busiest hub in Minnesota.
The face-scanning station, which Delta says would be the first biometric-based bag drop system in the United States, would attempt to verify fliers’ identities by matching faces to their passport photos when they check bags at the self-service belt.
If successful, passengers using biometric-enabled self-check-in and the self-service bag drops could proceed to security all without interacting with an airline agent.
The effort is part of a broader roll-out of the bag drop machines at Minneapolis/St. Paul, where four such stations are being installed by Delta on a trial basis. At the three stations without the biometric capability, an agent must verify a customer’s identity before the automated bag drop will accept the checked luggage.
However, at Delta’s machine equipped with the facial-recognition technology, customers scan their passports at the machine, which in turn will take an image of customers’ faces to try to confirm the person matches the information on the passport. So far, the face-scan technology is only enabled for fliers with passports.