facial recognition for boarding at LAX Gate 41 as of November 2018
Jan 29, 2019, 9:34 pm
#16
Join Date: Oct 2007
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Been in use at IAH by UA and CBP for tests for nearly a year or so (threads in Travel Safety forum). They test it on the Houston to Tokyo UA flight often. I always decline, which you can do as a US citizen but that then triggers a "manual" review by the CBP officer, as in he opens the passport and compares the photo to me and asks a couple of questions (similar to the targeted CBP outbound enforcement checks). Non US Citizens and Nationals are required to do the test. This is specific to CBP's stated policy at IAH not sure on the others.
Jan 29, 2019, 9:47 pm
#17
Join Date: Dec 2014
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How many "lanes" are there to go through? I could see this leading to slightly faster boarding in theory, if there were a bunch of lanes, so you weren't limited to one or two agents scanning boarding passes. It would really help if AA could do multiple jet-bridges like some foreign airlines do, or at least have people board from the middle of the plane.
Jan 29, 2019, 9:47 pm
#18
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: DFW
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It sounds like this is only for international flights where every passenger would be associated with a passport photo. I flew from gate 41 at LAX on a domestic flight Saturday. The GA scanned my boarding pass.
Jan 29, 2019, 11:17 pm
#19
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,546
They have much more than "one old photo." Every time you use an APC or GE kiosk, the photo it takes is fed into their facial recognition database to build up your profile. The actual photo is deleted within a week or so but the biometrics are saved.
Jan 30, 2019, 12:40 am
#20
Join Date: Jan 2017
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Jan 30, 2019, 8:18 am
#21
Join Date: Apr 2009
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Australia and New Zealand have been using facial recognition at their Smartgate Customs checks since at least 2013. Pretty sure all they have is the passport photo, and it works for some non-Australia/NZ passports including US. You have to take glasses off but I was surprised how consistently it worked, and that was five years ago or more. So I’m not surprised that the technology works well with just a passport photo on file.
They say for non-citizens they compare to the photo they took when you entered the US. But they don’t have that on record for everyone, do they? Pretty sure they’re not equipped to take photos of those who drive in, certainly not through the Canadian checkpoint I use routinely.
They say for non-citizens they compare to the photo they took when you entered the US. But they don’t have that on record for everyone, do they? Pretty sure they’re not equipped to take photos of those who drive in, certainly not through the Canadian checkpoint I use routinely.
Jan 30, 2019, 8:59 am
#22
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Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 1,186
They use facial recognition for domestic flights departing LHR T5. Passengers have their photo taken when they go through security (both for originating passengers and connecting passengers going through the Flight Connections Center), and then again at the departure gate.
And facial recognition is used at several Schengen entry/exit points for people who are EU passport holders.
It seems like by now they have figured out how to make it reliable.
And facial recognition is used at several Schengen entry/exit points for people who are EU passport holders.
It seems like by now they have figured out how to make it reliable.
Last edited by GFrye; Jan 30, 2019 at 9:08 am
Jan 30, 2019, 1:38 pm
#23
Join Date: Apr 2011
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Posts: 72
Just exited AKL last Monday using facial recognition at Smartgate Customs and I thought I entered The Twilight Zone after the experience.
We in the good old US of A have a lot of catching up to do.
We in the good old US of A have a lot of catching up to do.
Last edited by Nomorepretzels; Jan 30, 2019 at 1:39 pm Reason: spelling
Jan 30, 2019, 2:25 pm
#24
Join Date: Aug 2018
Programs: AA Plat Pro
Posts: 105
Now if only they'd realize that they need to provide audio instructions after instructing you to remove your glasses. Maybe some of these machines do have audio but the machine I used in Sydney did not and I didn't realize ahead of time that I was going to have to remove my glasses. It was a terrible experience for me. I couldn't see where I was supposed to look and I couldn't see any instructions that may have been on the screen. I had no idea when I was allowed to put my glasses back on. I ended up having to get processed by an agent and they only had one agent processing the people that were sent from the machines to an agent. It was quite obvious while waiting that most of the people that were sent to this line had issues that were not simply a result of not being able to see (maybe visa issues??) and the processing took a long time. Meanwhile, I could see the 'traditional' immigration/customs lines were nearly empty but I couldn't move to them. If I had never tried these machines I would've likely been through in minutes but instead it took over an hour. Lesson learned...these are not for the visually impaired.
Australia and New Zealand have been using facial recognition at their Smartgate Customs checks since at least 2013. Pretty sure all they have is the passport photo, and it works for some non-Australia/NZ passports including US. You have to take glasses off but I was surprised how consistently it worked, and that was five years ago or more. So I’m not surprised that the technology works well with just a passport photo on file.
They say for non-citizens they compare to the photo they took when you entered the US. But they don’t have that on record for everyone, do they? Pretty sure they’re not equipped to take photos of those who drive in, certainly not through the Canadian checkpoint I use routinely.
They say for non-citizens they compare to the photo they took when you entered the US. But they don’t have that on record for everyone, do they? Pretty sure they’re not equipped to take photos of those who drive in, certainly not through the Canadian checkpoint I use routinely.
Jan 31, 2019, 1:10 pm
#25
Moderator: Travel Safety/Security, Travel Tools, California, Los Angeles; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2009
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Also discussed in the Travel Safety/Security forum:
Jan 31, 2019, 5:33 pm
#26
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: SFO
Programs: AA,UA,AS
Posts: 319
Australia and New Zealand have been using facial recognition at their Smartgate Customs checks since at least 2013. Pretty sure all they have is the passport photo, and it works for some non-Australia/NZ passports including US. You have to take glasses off but I was surprised how consistently it worked, and that was five years ago or more. So I’m not surprised that the technology works well with just a passport photo on file.
They say for non-citizens they compare to the photo they took when you entered the US. But they don’t have that on record for everyone, do they? Pretty sure they’re not equipped to take photos of those who drive in, certainly not through the Canadian checkpoint I use routinely.
They say for non-citizens they compare to the photo they took when you entered the US. But they don’t have that on record for everyone, do they? Pretty sure they’re not equipped to take photos of those who drive in, certainly not through the Canadian checkpoint I use routinely.
Any foreign national, except Canadians, entering the US have their photo taken and stored. If entering through the VWP your photo is taken as you clear immigration. If exerting with a visa, well that requires a photo as well, that would be in possession of CBP.
The US and Canada have a special agreements when it comes to visa free travel, so it might be the case that the US and Canada are able to share more information such as passport photos.
Jan 31, 2019, 6:15 pm
#27
Moderator: Travel Safety/Security, Travel Tools, California, Los Angeles; FlyerTalk Evangelist
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They were using this system when I boarded a flight from LAX to EZE in early January. The passengers were instructed to have their boarding passes handy, just in case, and passports visible. I approached the camera and almost immediately my seat number popped up on the screen; it was quicker than it takes for the scanner to read the bar code on a boarding pass.
Jan 31, 2019, 6:32 pm
#28
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The original issue was that the manufacturer's system was able to process like 20 faces at a time (and might try to at times) and QIK couldn't even -remotely- keep up-- I think the biggest snag came up with a shorter person (like a kid) was in front of a much larger person. Was pretty rough the first couple weeks.
Feb 1, 2019, 4:06 pm
#29
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: The Indo Jungle
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I am pretty sure last time I left the USA, there was no exit immigration at all, so not sure what needs catching up?
Feb 1, 2019, 4:21 pm
#30
Join Date: Jun 2018
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I did similar at LAX back in August/sept 2018. At the gate, you scan your own boarding pass first on the machine. So they do know it's you. Then they take your picture. So, now they have your picture. Do that 2-3 times and they have enough pics to recognize you anytime they want.