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American Airlines trying biometric boarding at LAX
American piloting facial recognition at one of its fastest-growing hubs
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The Fort Worth-based carrier (Nasdaq: AAL) announced it will offer its first-ever biometric boarding pilot program at Los Angeles International Airport. Instead of scanning a boarding pass, the tech uses a one-step facial recognition process to scan and verify a passenger’s identify with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
So how does it work? As fliers begin boarding, a facial recognition program will scan their faces and send the images to a cloud-based CBP database. The system will then match the faces to passport photos on file and send back a decision on whether the passenger can board.
The entire process takes seconds, American Airlines said in a prepared statement. Passengers can opt out of the new system and choose to board with regular passes. Agents also will continue to make sure fliers have their passports before boarding.
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