Travel Update: No More Boarding Passes and Check In for Flights Soon
If you are one of those people who keep their boarding passes as a souvenir, we’ve got a travel update for you: soon, we will not be needing boarding passes…
SCHOENEFELD, GERMANY – JULY 19: Travellers wait at a check-in counter at BER Berlin Airport during an IT outage that has disrupted airline services here and worldwide on July 19, 2024 in Schoenefeld, Germany. Businesses, travel companies and Microsoft users across the globe were among those affected by a tech outage today. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
If you are one of those people who keep their boarding passes as a souvenir, we’ve got a travel update for you: soon, we will not be needing boarding passes or even check in for flights. As reported by the UK Times (via New York Post), the aviation industry is planning a major overhaul “within two to three years.”
How Will This Travel Update Work?
The International Civil Aviation Organization is planning to roll out a “digital travel credential.” With this new initiative, passengers only need to upload their passport and other relevant information to their smartphone. They could now go through all the pre-boarding and boarding procedures using their face for identification.
In an interview with the Times, Valérie Viale, director of product management at Amadeus, the largest company supplying the aviation industry with technology, said, “These changes are the biggest in 50 years. Many airline systems haven’t changed for more than 50 years because everything has to be consistent across the industry and interoperable.”
If the new policy is implemented, passengers will no longer be required to check in for their flight, either online or in person with airline personnel, once they arrive at the airport. The need for a boarding pass, traditionally used as proof of check-in and scanned at the gate before boarding, will also become obsolete.
With the new plan, passengers will only need to have a “journey pass” on their phones, which they’ll receive when they book their flight. This pass will automatically update if there are any changes to the booking. With no check-in required, a passenger’s face will be scanned upon arrival at the airport. Airlines will be alerted when passengers drop off baggage for check-in, while those traveling with only a carry-on will be identified at security checkpoints. Even if the pass is saved on travelers' phones, there will be no need to pull them, or their passports out, since all necessary details are already embedded in the journey pass.
For this to happen, airports need to be equipped with facial recognition technology. There are concerns about data privacy, but the Times also reported that, “There would be no storing of information.” Travel site One Mile at a Time said this is possible since there is a system “developed to wipe passenger details within 15 seconds of contact at a ‘touchpoint.’”
