Watch CBS News

Facial Recognition Software Testing At Logan Airport

BOSTON (CBS) - At Logan Airport, some passengers no longer need a boarding pass and instead they can simply use their face.

It's new technology that JetBlue hopes will make air travel faster and safer.

This is a trial of the technology by United States Customs and the airline.

"You're just gonna walk up and take a picture and that's it? It just amazes me the technology," said airline passenger Francis Sadowski.

The technology is supposed to be quick, it just snaps a photo, compares it to a government database of passport pictures. If you're approved you just board the plane.

"That is revolutionary in the airline industry, and Delta is right at the front of it," said Delta Senior Vice President Gareth Joyce.

With this new technology, passengers will also be able to check luggage without an employee verifying their identity.

The airline is also testing facial recognition at boarding gates in New York and Atlanta.

Facial Recognition At Logan Airport
Facial recognition software is tested at Logan International Airport. (Photo Credit WBZ-TV)

"You can literally go from, you know, curb to plane without having to interact with a human being if you so desire," said Joyce.

But even as the technology speeds passengers through the airport, some fear it's moving too fast.

"Implementation of the use of bio-metrics need to be scrutinized very closely," said Jeramie Scott of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

Jeramie worries about the use of personal identifiers that cannot change.

"Increasingly as we consolidate biometric data into big databases and we use it more and more those databases will become targets and the risk of data breach increases greatly," said Jeramie.

United States Customs and Border Protection reports it's not using these devices to store photos of U.S. citizens and insists privacy is a priority.

No matter how well it works, the TSA is not considering using facial recognition at security checkpoints. Although, they are looking at the idea of using fingerprint scanners instead of ID checks.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.