If flying domestically in the U.S., a traveler needs a driver's license or acceptable photo ID. Internationally, he or she needs a passport. Passengers also need boarding passes. But what if they didn't? What if a person's face, eyes, or thumbprint could get him or her on an airplane? Traveling would be easier and a lot safer. A passport or driver's license can be forged, but it's difficult to fool biometric technology, such as facial recognition, retinal scans and fingerprints.
The travel industry's vision of the future replaces current documentation with verified biometrics. This would involve more than substituting biometrics for passports and boarding passes. Biometrics could negate air and rail tickets, as well as IDs for hotel check-in and car rental. Biometrics essentially would serve as a traveler's identification and documentation through all stages of a journey.
It's already beginning at a few of the world's most congested airports, where high volume is prompting a search for more efficiencies. In the U.S., for instance, airlines at John F. Kennedy International can leverage U.S. Customs and Border Protection facial recognition technology to expedite passenger check-in, baggage drop and boarding. Delta opened the nation's first curb-to-gate biometric terminal last year at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, offering optional facial recognition from check-in to baggage claim.
Until recently, nations have used biometrics to keep terrorists and others out. The U.S.'s facial recognition system analyzes more than 100 points of reference on each face. The Traveler Verification Service has become the aspirational standard for dozens of countries that screen people as they cross borders.
While groups like the International Air Transport Association see biometrics as an airport tool, the broader travel industry, through organizations like the World Travel & Tourism Council, wants to integrate biometrics, particularly facial recognition, across the entire travel experience, from booking through arrival, whether picking up a car, getting a hotel room or boarding a plane, train or boat. The innovation likely would encourage more people to travel while avoiding a significant increase in resources to accommodate the growth. But it also would make more efficient a system that currently emphasizes security over ease of travel.
Enhanced Encryption
The travel experience requires people to flash travel documents constantly, and the industry is investigating whether this information could instead be stored on travelers' smartphones. The traveler would be free to share his or her biometric markers with the travel suppliers they choose and no longer would worry about losing IDs and tickets.
Of course, there's the challenge of keeping information safe and limiting access to authorized users while enabling interoperability across suppliers. Increasingly sophisticated encryption systems are being developed to protect against hacks of biometric data. Encrypted tools also can act as repositories for travelers' preferences, encouraging suppliers to customize offerings. These tools also can monitor for delays. For instance, the system could alert a hotel and rental car agency of an airport delay affecting a trip.
Beyond Airports
Digital identity verification would become an enhanced safety net. Rental car agencies, hotels, trains, buses and cruise ships now have to verify travelers' identities on their own. A rental car agency, for example, must verify manually that the license presented at the counter is valid.
Yet, fears around data privacy and safety prompt officials and executives to move cautiously, despite the availability of the technology. The TSA recently announced it would not make biometric identity verification mandatory, though the agency has developed pilot projects to help make the technology more efficient. The announcement may be connected to the theft of almost 100,000 photos of travelers and license plates collected by Customs and Border Protection and stored on a contractor's database.
Public Versus Private
How will digital identity verification evolve? Some envision a government-controlled or government-driven model, and others see a private, subscription model. Every model will have to recognize that not all travelers will be willing to share personal information and will have to allow travelers to deny access.
The WTTC has identified 53 efforts already in play to implement biometrics. Deployed systems exist primarily to facilitate border control, in airports in the U.S., the EU, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. Pilot projects at a select few of those enable baggage processing, lounge access and boarding. Meanwhile, several suppliers plan trials to test whether existing systems could expand to integrate nonairport suppliers, as well. The goal is solidifying the business case for end-to-end, seamless travel and jump-starting global adoption.
No consensus exists around a particular one-size-fits-all solution, but the travel industry is pushing for collaboration across borders and among companies and governments to reduce the iterations travelers will have to deal with moving forward. The good news: Travelers already are getting sneak peeks of the benefits of biometrics-enabled seamless travel, and as they become more comfortable with it, so too may authorities.