Check-in: aviation industry wants to digitize check-in and proof of travel

The aviation industry is working on replacing airport check-ins and boarding passes with a system of digital travel passes. Thanks to biometric recognition methods, the face of travelers will serve as an "open sesame". The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has developed the concept of digital travel credentials for this purpose. Following initial pilot projects with airlines, the service provider Amadeus is now preparing to turn the blueprint into reality. The Madrid-based IT group operates a global sales and reservation system for airline tickets.

In the future, travellers will no longer have to check in for flights in many parts of the world and will be "immediately recognized" at the airport, car rental office, hotel and other points during their stay thanks to automated facial recognition, predicts Amadeus in a recently published white paper on the planned delivery management systems. This eliminates the need to handle various travel documents, including official IDs or passports on site.

"Travelers arrive at the airport ready to fly after all visa and border controls have already been carried out digitally in advance," explains Amadeus. Instead of queuing at check-in desks, passengers could simply drop off their luggage and go to the security checkpoint at the airport. Staff could assist travelers in the terminal with tablets if necessary.

Do it yourself on the rise

Passengers could download a "passport" to a wallet on their smartphone when booking a flight, as the British Times describes the process. This would be updated automatically when changes are made to the booking. Airlines would be informed of a customer's arrival at the airport and their face would be scanned for the first time. This is followed by baggage drop-off or a trip to the security checkpoint. There and at the gates, another biometric face scan is carried out. Passengers currently still have to check in online or when they arrive at the airport. At the latest there, they receive a printed or digital boarding pass with a barcode that is scanned as they pass through the airport and before boarding.

At its core, Digital Travel Credentials (DTC) is an extended do-it-yourself concept. Lufthansa has already implemented this to some extent with its offer for biometric facial recognition using a special app. The instructions are as follows: "Take a photo of yourself that will later be used for identification at the airport. Please also take a photo of your passport for the one-off comparison of your data and, if possible, have the chip read out and then check the passport data for completeness."

"Instead of having to carry several paper and digital documents, a traveler's claims are linked throughout the entire trip," says Amadeus, promoting the new approach. Further bookings, for example with a car rental company or a hotel, can be included directly. It is possible to link the required information with a selected identifier such as biometric recognition or the passport. The obligation to "constantly prove your identity and present order documents" would then no longer apply. The digital travel pass is also dynamic: "If a gate changes, the traveler is automatically informed."

Biggest upheaval in the travel industry for 50 years

"In the event of disruptions, passengers will immediately receive a notification with an explanation of the alternative travel option recommended by the airline," writes Amadeus. Customers can accept or reject these digitally via their cell phone. Airlines are also able to offer "multimodal" options, such as rail and bus transportation.

The basis of the underlying ICAO DTC approach, which the UN organization described in June, is an encrypted digital file as a virtual component that contains the information from the passport, including personal data and biometric features such as the facial image. In addition, there is to be a physical component on which the virtual component is stored. This could be the chip of an electronic passport, a smartphone or another mobile device. Digital proof of travel is to be standardized globally to enable seamless recognition and verification by different countries and systems.

Biometric features are considered particularly sensitive data, and the recognition processes have various weaknesses. The ICAO and Amadeus assure us that they want to integrate data protection into the technology (Privacy by Design). Only the information relevant to them will be made available to the respective providers "using enhanced security measures". A system is being developed in which a passenger's data is deleted within 15 seconds of each contact with a recognition point. Valérie Viale, Director of Product Management at Amadeus, told the Times: "These changes are the biggest in the travel industry for 50 years. The EU Commission has already launched a legislative package to digitize passports and develop an EU travel app.

(des)