Will Boarding Passes & Check-In Be Scrapped In Air Travel Shake-Up?

India already has had this for some time now, for domestic flights.
Look up DigiYatra.

The one I keep waiting for is passports to go fully biometric. The idea that I won't be allowed into/out of a country without a little blue book, in this era of digitization, is really anachronistic

Technology can fail and that point you need paper. Checking in at T-24 or less gives the airline an idea of how many passengers actually plan to show up for the flight. Given the large number of flights that are overbooked airlines need to have a gauge on how many passengers aren't going to take the flight There may be 2-4 passengers a flight that never check in and will change plans afterwards or in the case of a cheap basic economy ticket simply throw the ticket away.

Let's see how well Real ID goes in a few weeks. Even though it's been years in the making and there are signs all over TSA checkpoints, you think everyone will show up with the right docs on the 7th? Though I suppose showing up with your face when it's all wired that way is slightly easier.

My main issue with this is that I have had a couple experiences where I checked in for a flight and have a boarding pass, and then head to the airport at the last minute. The airline will then attempt to claw back the boarding pass because I haven't gotten to the airport within their inane timeframe. You can prevent this by taking a screenshot of your boarding pass, or having a physical paper one. I've timed it before so I can go straight from arriving to the airport directly to my seat on the plane.

In the new system, you'd be penalized for being a pro at travel and getting to the airport last minute because they'd give your seat away.

Passports need to go fully digital. I think they would stand to make even more money off them when they go fully digital

China has been using facial recognition technology for some years now for a variety of use cases. From picking up packages, to getting into your apartment building, to aprehending traffic violators. I could see this being used in travel but the timeline, at least in the US, is probably a lot further than 2-3 years. At least facial is being used by TSA, at least at my main airport.

As far as privacy, whoever has an issue, get over yourself. There are cameras in most places with the exception of bathrooms. No expectation of privacy in public. If anyone or any agency wants to locate information about you or your face, trust that it can be found. We are all, all over the internet. Addresses, phone numbers, spouse's name and CC numbers. It's out there.

"Given the large number of flights that are overbooked airlines need to have a gauge on how many passengers aren't going to take the flight..." Unfortunately, I think the major lobbying will be for this system for exactly that reason. Airports are essentially giant malls with a side business of travel, so the more they can force everyone to show up as early as possible and sit in their malls for hours on end, the more they profit.

Curious how this will work for people with multiple passports

Curious how this will work for people with multiple passports

I still want a paper boarding pass. I don't want everything dependent on the phone. If the phone breaks or runs out of battery, all life would end almost.

This in theory is already in place at some US airports. In my experience I’ve flown through ORD, did faceless ID at TSA, and proceeded to board my INTL flight using my face. I love the convenience behind this.

What I don’t like is being dependent on technology, when possibly I always get my physical boarding pass. And the logistics of knowing whether or not someone has checked in can become a pain for gate agents when it comes to processing, and I feel it could lead to more no shows. So yes I love the technology, but no we should not be solely dependant on this.

I've gone through Customs in OHare without showing one thing but the guy saying have a nice day. He didn't even ask a question.

What about documentation verification for visas ?...I'd hope there would be a functional back-up for when the system crashes for any of a multitude of reasons....
Timeline totally unrealistic, and we all know who will pay for this massive undertaking !

On the topic of ORD, of particular interest to me as an Illinois is how this will intersect with Illinois’s nationwide best privacy law - the Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”). Notably, large tech companies have paid substantial sums to settle breaches of the BIPA, so there would need to be material modifications made to the BIPA to prevent e.g., United from violating the BIPA every time I go to the airport for my flight.

As of now, CLEAR requires me to accept proactively their terms when using their service. That might not scale well when everyone at ORD or MDW is presented with lengthy legalese about biometric privacy.

And for fully-flexible tickets in premium cabins (a large proportion of revenue, if not of seats) the airlines understandably need a process of "Are you travelling on this flight or not"

Very good point.
It has always been sensible to enter and leave on same passport, and of the country if one has it, but UK is now copying the US requirement that that is mandatory, so this is now a hard requirement.

You get over YOURSELF. Privacy is a fundamental human right. Without it, you don't have freedom. Whoever has the information has control, and I believe in having control over my information and life. The idea that the government already knows everything is false. There's plenty they don't know and shouldn't. That's why we have encryption that the government can't break (though there are always unscrupulous companies that will put in backdoors under government pressure). The situation is far from hopeless or a forgone conclusion as people like you would have everyone believe. Facial recognition is one of the most dangerous threats to freedom humanity has ever faced, and if we continue down that road we'll all end up regretting it. You reference China's widespread surveillance as if that's the standard, but I doubt many freedom-loving people would want to live in a communist police state. I always opt out of the TSA facial recognition and get through security just as fast as everyone else... Just a 3 second look at my passport. Never any problems. And I always get paper boarding passes at the airport, even though I check in online. I work in tech so know how unreliable technology is and I'm certainly going to have a paper backup.

@Tom still recovering from your bender last weekend? You better hurry up and get to the store before you run out of gummies.

Now that's out of the way. What information and aspects of your life do you think someone couldn't find or locate? PI or government.

More generally if their system messes up or theydo somethign underhand, I want evidence.
In certain countries the airline might bump one to fit in a VIP, and without the paper boarding pass I cannot prove that I am IVDB.

I won't hold my breathe. Heck, I couldn't even get pre-check for a flight I took within 24 hours of booking (or even on the return leg 3 days later).

And how about the segment of the population that doesn't have a phone?

It's so cute that you think you have control over your data and privacy. Even at the most basic level, you give up those rights with each app you install and run on your mobile devices and every website you visit, etc.

This, or something similar, is already happening in Asia. North America is really behind in implementing this technology.

"Even at the most basic level, you give up those rights with each app you install and run on your mobile devices and every website you visit."

Not quite. That depends a lot on the settings, phone, software, privacy countermeasures, which app you're talking about, etc. You're both obviously clueless about how privacy and security work, which is evident by your ad hominem remarks instead of factual comments.

Who is this "someone"? There's obviously people who work at the bank or some government agency that have limited information that customers choose to give them or that they have access to from another source. That's a big difference from your false claim that all information about everyone is somehow available to anyone on the internet. It's not and shouldn't be.

And even if it were available to everyone, that doesn't mean it should be, or has to be, the case. That's not the kind of world any rational person would want to live in, and it shouldn't be promoted or championed by any of you. Go live in China if that's what you want.

In March, U.S. citizens on my flight into DFW from BNE all cleared passport control and customs with passports in pockets. We just had to do facial rec. This was all "regular" and MPC pax. Never scanned it or showed it to anyone (after showing it in BNE to get on the plane).

And who is paying for all these upgrades in technology? I doubt the current administration is up for forking over billions of dollars and we all know the billionaires aren't up for a tax hike.

Your phone and most of your electronics are made in China you frickin idiot lmao.

@Alonzo @Todd

Since you don't care.
Can you share SSN and DOB here please.

Who said hypocrites don't care about privacy.

If they're going to do it. Then do it right.

Just like everything else commercial aviation related. Everything is still based on the 60s.

Digitizing paper boarding pass doesn't mean you're improving the system. You're just changing a document format by eliminating paper in the old system.

Rethink and redesign the whole system from the ground up. That's what we need.

I don't want my face scanned and I think it's very presumptuous to expect everyone to own a phone.

Agreed

Would be great to force some airlines to require everyone to physically check in for a boarding pass. Recently flew Condor and was annoyed to do so even though my travel documents were submitted and approved and had already paid for extra carry on. Thankfully wait at JFK was non existent but imagine major pain at Frankfurt.

Slightly unrelated note but am I the only one sad to see passport stamps going away. Recently had my last passport stolen with my luggage and sad my new one won’t be collecting too many more in the future and won’t have old one for memories

This sounds like you wouldn't need your phone, just your face.

In the US, there's something called the "Plain Sight" Doctrine. If someone is in plain sight, there is no reasonable expectation of privacy. Walking down the street. In WalMart. In an airport. For over 25 years, casinos have been using facial recognition. Before you even step inside, they're tracking your every movement and (while they don't say it) you've been cross-matched to databases to know your life story and marked as to loss potential.

PS - While your cellphone app store tells you that your apps are safe, they're not. They piggy-back on other apps and your browser and scrape your personal and financial information. Your social media apps are hosing you. They sell it to information brokers. This ain't the government doing it to you. It's your own negligence doing it to you. I don't want to hear another complaint about privacy.

It sounds awful.

Its basically just china and middle east style tracking. Facial recognition and everything held digitally? Nah.

Mandatory face recognition: terrible idea. No smart phone, you are excluded ( second class citizen).

You don't realize how many times your face has *already* been scanned. Your driver license image has likely been propagated through a number of commercial and government databases.

And you completely took "plain view doctrine" out of context.

Of course the face recognition is new, but the scrapping the need for check in is old news. When I fly domestic in Japan I don't check in, I just scan my phone or credit card at security check, that is my check in.

Back in 2002 I was travelling on Scandinavian Airlines in Scandinavia (and some European airports) without the need to check in, I'd just swipe my Eurobonus frequent flyercard at security, and that would be check in. In 2010 or 2011 I was issued with a NFC chip from SAS to use for security, lounge, and boarding. Which of course quickly moved to the phone and the app.

But it would be great if more airlines and markets waken up to the lack of a need to check in.

Real ID in US came into law in 2005. 20 years later and it is barely functional. I won't hold my breath that "digital travel credentials" will happen any sooner.

@frrp any government around the world probably already tracks and maintains your data so you actually think it is just limited to certain countries?

Isn't that for search and seizure?