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This Airport Is Now Tracking Your Cell Phone to Calculate Wait Times

Bluetooth tracking beacons will help flyers better track line wait times at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Flyers traveling through Terminal Four of John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York will now have a more accurate line wait time displayed on each of the monitors, thanks to Bluetooth beacon technology. In an announcement on their website, Blip Systems showcased the launch of a time-tracking system at JFK using the beacons anonymously communicating with flyers cell phones.

According to Blip Systems, the system works when the Bluetooth beacons connect anonymously with a cellular device. The beacon collects the MAC address from the device, a non-personal unique ID that allows the system to track the phone as it moves through the airport. With the information, the system tracks the time it takes for the traveler to pass through checkpoint lines at Customs and TSA security without collecting any personal or identifying information. The total time is then averaged out with other sampled flyers to determine the actual average waiting time.

Executives for JFKIAT, the company that operates Terminal Four, hope that the new system will not only help flyers, but allow them to collect data to improve the customer experience. “This new system will help us manage and eliminate problem spots within the facility and sharing the processing time with our travelers will provide them with peace of mind so they may continue to expect a pleasant travel experience,” Gert-Jan de Graaff, JFKIAT president and CEO, said in a statement. “Additionally, data from travelers’ phones could eventually influence future airport design.”

The concept of utilizing Bluetooth beacons at airports is gaining in popularity around the world. According to Blip Systems, Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) also uses Bluetooth beacons to track line waiting times, while a group of British airports are experimenting with delivering advertisements to flyers through Bluetooth beacons.

H/T: Gizmodo

[Photo: iStock]

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K. Jaiswal August 31, 2015

HI, Blip System is simply a beacon or any other technology?, because as much i know beacon is a Bluetooth device that only emit signals and doesn't receive any information from other Bluetooth device. Thanks