LAX progresses with biometric trial fully boarding an A-380 with 350 passengers in 20 minutes

• March 27, 2018
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LAX has progressed with biometric trials to board passengers through fully automated boarding gates.

After the successful go live of the new contactless biometric self-boarding solution at Los Angeles Airport end of last year, Lufthansa has joined the trial, boarding passengers flying out of the country using their face to be recognized at the gate.

The tests have been running in partnership between Vision-Box, Los Angeles World Airports Authority and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, in the scope of the US Biometric Exit trial program. The new technology offers a more convenient, faster boarding process as it allows travelers to board their aircraft in just a few seconds simply by looking into a high-resolution face capture system at the traveler-friendly flow-control gateway. No need to present their passport or boarding pass at the gate.

As passengers approach the self-boarding gates, biometric-enabled cameras capture passengers’ facial images. The image is securely sent to a system containing the digital facial token captured at the initial immigration process for real-time matching and identification. Within a few seconds, the system reconciles the passenger and his flight, recognizes the passenger as eligible to enter that flight and opens the e-gate door.

The solution provides unique security benefits for airlines by confirming with high degree of certainty the identity of boarded passengers and authenticity of their document. The effective human-factor centric design of the Vision-Box solution results in high passenger throughput and passenger satisfaction. The solution also fully supports boarding modalities with boarding pass scanning and accommodates for seat changes and other boarding operations.

Last week, around 350 Lufthansa passengers boarded an Airbus A380 in about 20 minutes without showing their travel documents. Facial recognition was enough to ensure their identity and speed their way through the boarding e-gates.