UA testing face recognition boarding
#91
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: IAD/ARN
Programs: UA Plat/*G, Marriott LT Gold, Global Entry
Posts: 164
I've personally only seen it in use at IAD, never at EWR (was also an IAD-FRA flight). I don't get it though. It means you can leave the US and get to Frankfurt (or wherever) with no physical passport in your hand. There's almost no way Germany (or most other countries) are letting you in without your passport. The airline is responsible for transporting you back to the departure country if you fail to show a passport on arrival; and the airline likely gets fined as well. Seems like a recipe for disaster.
The GAs should at least be making sure you have your physical passport with you before letting you board, even if they don't have to check it.
-RM
The GAs should at least be making sure you have your physical passport with you before letting you board, even if they don't have to check it.
-RM
#92
Join Date: Jan 2005
Programs: SQ, QF, UA, CO, DL
Posts: 2,953
My guess is that for international flights, soon enough you'll no less be able to opt out of the facial recognition as opt out of having a photo in your passport. The goal of the program is to do a positive match to track who leaves the country. Most other countries have exit passport control, the US is an outlier, but obviously doesn't have the infrastructure or funding to create such a formal system with desks and passenger separation. This is a technology solution to that.
I am OK with this now that I have read about it but I wish UA had emailed in advance. I think it is great the global entry kiosks no longer require fingerprints, much faster and fewer touch points.
As for the comment that the Federal Government knows more about us than we think, facebook knows more!
#93
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: 4éme
Posts: 12,073
IAD is the only US airport I've flown through in recent months (I am EU-based) but I first saw them doing it back in August and have seen it on every ex-IAD flight since. It didn't seem any faster than scanning passports to me - each person still has to stop, line up w the camera, remove their mask if they are wearing one, etc - but I guess it makes sense if this is just a beta. Good point on the lack of passport check though.
#94
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 11,522
IAD is the only US airport I've flown through in recent months (I am EU-based) but I first saw them doing it back in August and have seen it on every ex-IAD flight since. It didn't seem any faster than scanning passports to me - each person still has to stop, line up w the camera, remove their mask if they are wearing one, etc - but I guess it makes sense if this is just a beta. Good point on the lack of passport check though.
I think the face machines have improved. I first encountered one at IAD 2019, and it was slow and finicky. Now I have had it at several hubs, and it is pretty quick and robust.
They still make me a bit uncomfortable (posted previously about this), but I gave up trying to avoid it. This is the modern condition, I suppose. 🤷♀️
#95
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: San Francisco/Sydney
Programs: UA 1K/MM, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Something, IHG Gold, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 8,165
As others have said this is in use at SFO for international departures. I've hit it seen it multiple times over the past few months. Seemed to work for 100% of people using it, with the exception of one person carrying a small child where they didn't use it for either the adult or the child. (In fairness I boarded relatively early in both cases so it's not a great sample size)
If you're a US citizen, they have your passport photo (plus your Global Entry card photos, and potentially others). If you're not a US citizen, they have a photo of you from when you entered the US, and/or the copy of the photo from your passport (either the bio page, or more likely the e-passport chip) and/or visas. Remember, they aren't having to match it against every person they know - just a few hundred records max as they already know who is on the flight. In the terms of facial recognition, it's a "one-to-few" match rather than the "one-to-many" style matching that normally concerns people.
Another thing is, how do they know the picture belonged to me. I fly out of DFW a lot and recently I have seen that using my driver's license is the only thing needed to get through TSA precheck. I wonder if they have linked my picture to the one on my international flight.
#96
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Upstate NY or FL or inbetween
Programs: US former CP Looking for a new airline to love me
Posts: 1,674
Ehhh... I can absolutely see this being the way for non-US-citizens as a condition to being granted leave to enter the US, but I can see all sorts of arms in air for US citizens, particularly if this is the official rationale, because as citizens we have no obligation to inform the CBP of our departure (granted they do get the API from the airlines anyway but this feels like an overreach.
Personally I don't really care because my biometrics and travel plans are in enough places anyway but others have a greater level of concern
Personally I don't really care because my biometrics and travel plans are in enough places anyway but others have a greater level of concern
"All U.S. citizens and nonimmigrant aliens from Canada, Bermuda, and Mexico departing from or entering the United States from within the Western Hemisphere at air ports of entry are required to present a valid passport, NEXUS card (if utilizing a NEXUS kiosk when departing from a designated Canadian airport), Merchant Mariner Document (for U.S. citizens traveling on official business), or Military Identification Card (for members of the U.S. armed forces traveling on official orders). Note that children are also required to present their own passport when traveling by air.Requirements for lawful permanent residents of the United States are not changed by the implementation of WHTI. Lawful permanent residents must continue to present a valid Permanent Resident Card. A passport is not required."
Source: https://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citize...ocs-air-travel
It's passing strange to me that air travel exit requirements can come under a different legal structure than boats, trains, auto, kayak or foot travel, but I suppose that's why IANAL.
Of course nothing, despite the 4 document options outlined by the US government above, ever stopped my friends at UA from demanding passport, passport and nothing but passport. (Unless and until they're distracted by the whiz-bang facial recognition technology they're currently struggling to implement.)
#97
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Upstate NY or FL or inbetween
Programs: US former CP Looking for a new airline to love me
Posts: 1,674
No doubt there's some truth to this, but as usual with airlines in general, the threat of having to transport a pax back at their cost results in the application being amplified to the point of bizarre. Recent case in point; Travelling MCO-EWR-YYZ. Staff at MCO demands to see my passport before they will allow me to board MCO-EWR. No confirmation that my passport is with me at check-in, instead they wait until I'm literally at the gate to turn me back out of the boarding line to the gate counter to show my passport. For a domestic leg. And no, Nexus is not acceptable to UA for whatever their mysterious purpose is. Of course, I'm able to enter Canada and then return to the US by land without ever once showing my passport to government/immigration entities, but UA trudges on, blithely demanding passports be produced and inspected for domestic flights.
#98
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA LT Plat 2MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 67,065
Let's stick to the use of facial recognition for UA flights in this thread. Larger, non-UA specific issues are best saved for
Travel Safety/Security
or Checkpoints and Borders Policy Debate
WineCountryUA
UA coModerator
Travel Safety/Security
or Checkpoints and Borders Policy Debate
WineCountryUA
UA coModerator
#99
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Northeast Kansas | Colorado Native
Programs: Amex Gold/Plat, UA *G, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Gold, NEXUS, TSA Disparager Unobtanium
Posts: 21,646
This was in use for IAD-GVA last Thursday evening at Gate C7. Granted we stayed in the Polaris lounge past the beginning of boarding, so we missed all pre-boarding announcements, but I saw no signage (digital or paper) in/around the gate area describing the process or what to do if you preferred not using it. I think the entire scan/approval to board took less than three-four seconds.
#100
Join Date: Jan 2023
Posts: 18
At SFO, I'd always been able to (hopefully politely) decline and scan boarding pass instead with no questions, until my last departure, when the GA gave me a sermon about how the government has all our data anyways and how he can't understand everyone being afraid. Then he told me biometric boarding will soon be mandatory. Is this true? Regardless of citizenship?
I told the GA I'll wait till it's mandatory to use it, and bizarrely even though he let me scan my boarding pass, he was brusque about it and shoulder checked me when he walked past. Seems to me like his job is in more peril if this becomes default.
I told the GA I'll wait till it's mandatory to use it, and bizarrely even though he let me scan my boarding pass, he was brusque about it and shoulder checked me when he walked past. Seems to me like his job is in more peril if this becomes default.
#101
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: CLE, DCA, and 30k feet
Programs: Honors LT Diamond; United 1K; Hertz PC
Posts: 4,206
At SFO, I'd always been able to (hopefully politely) decline and scan boarding pass instead with no questions, until my last departure, when the GA gave me a sermon about how the government has all our data anyways and how he can't understand everyone being afraid. Then he told me biometric boarding will soon be mandatory. Is this true? Regardless of citizenship?
CBP and its approved travel partners notify travelers through message boards and electronic signs, as well as audio announcements in some cases, that CBP or a travel partner, such as airline, airport, or cruise personnel, will be taking photos for identity verification purposes. The signage and announcements also notify eligible travelers of their “opt out” rights. U.S. citizens and select foreign nationals8 who are not required to provide biometrics and who wish to opt out of the new facial biometric process may simply notify a CBP officer, ...
(In California battery is defined in Penal Code section 242 as "A battery is any willful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another.")
#102
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Saipan, MP 96950 USA (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands = the CNMI)
Programs: UA Silver, Hilton Silver. Life: UA .57 MM, United & Admirals Clubs (spousal), Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,188
This was in use for IAD-GVA last Thursday evening [8 December 2022] at Gate C7. Granted we stayed in the Polaris lounge past the beginning of boarding, so we missed all pre-boarding announcements, but I saw no signage (digital or paper) in/around the gate area describing the process or what to do if you preferred not using it. I think the entire scan/approval to board took less than three-four seconds.
#103
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Latin America and USA
Programs: UA 1K, Marriott Gold
Posts: 459
Just experienced the face-recognition boarding on a recent IAH-PTY. It took quite a while. The purser made a few jokes about 'we'll take our time to board so we can use technology for the sake of technology.'
Worked fine for me when I pre-boarded.
Worked fine for me when I pre-boarded.
#104
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1K MM *G
Posts: 346
At SFO, I'd always been able to (hopefully politely) decline and scan boarding pass instead with no questions, until my last departure, when the GA gave me a sermon about how the government has all our data anyways and how he can't understand everyone being afraid. Then he told me biometric boarding will soon be mandatory. Is this true? Regardless of citizenship?
I told the GA I'll wait till it's mandatory to use it, and bizarrely even though he let me scan my boarding pass, he was brusque about it and shoulder checked me when he walked past. Seems to me like his job is in more peril if this becomes default.
I told the GA I'll wait till it's mandatory to use it, and bizarrely even though he let me scan my boarding pass, he was brusque about it and shoulder checked me when he walked past. Seems to me like his job is in more peril if this becomes default.
#105
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: CLE, DCA, and 30k feet
Programs: Honors LT Diamond; United 1K; Hertz PC
Posts: 4,206
As you approach the agent, your photograph will be taken and shared with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to compare your photograph to the image(s) associated with your passport, other travel documents, or prior border inspections.
If you are a U.S. citizen, CBP deletes your photo within 12 hours of being taken(1). For certain non-U.S. citizens, the photograph will be used as a biometric confirmation of departure from the United States as required by law (e.g. 8 U.S.C. 1365b).
If you do not wish to have your picture taken, please see an agent to request alternative procedures for identity verification and/or biometric confirmation of departure from the United States.
(1) A file is saved for 12 hours or less for continuity of operations
If you are a U.S. citizen, CBP deletes your photo within 12 hours of being taken(1). For certain non-U.S. citizens, the photograph will be used as a biometric confirmation of departure from the United States as required by law (e.g. 8 U.S.C. 1365b).
If you do not wish to have your picture taken, please see an agent to request alternative procedures for identity verification and/or biometric confirmation of departure from the United States.
(1) A file is saved for 12 hours or less for continuity of operations
If agents are stating that it is mandatory depending on how you want to play ask them to cite the USC, CFR, or CoC section that makes it mandatory or request a supervisor and/or CBP representative who can correct their misapprehension.