The introduction of an advanced facial recognition service at Berlin Brandenburg Airport will expel boarding passes from the travel experience for some priority customers.
Premium passengers can enjoy the streamlined service, BER Traveller, which is available now in collaboration with Lufthansa Group. With boarding passes being discontinued from essential travel, the modern passenger’s expectations for security, experience and ease has transcended all thanks to biometrics.
Additional touchpoints in the airport will leverage BER Traveller and process passengers faster to the priority security lanes.
Heike Birlenbach, who is Head of Customer Experience Lufthansa Group said:
“We are improving our passengers travel experience in the long-term through contactless, biometric services since they make airport processes simpler and more efficient. I am pleased that we can now also offer this innovative service to our HON Circle Members and Senators in Berlin. Our customers greatly appreciate this new service at all locations where biometric checks have already been introduced.”
Biometrics adoption
Countless airports and airlines have endeavoured to deliver a “golden age” for travel. In May Emirates Airline announced it will be launching biometric check-in to simply passenger processes while face recognition is being deployed in three international airports.
Delta Air Lines has tested broader modality deployments using fingerprint and iris recognition and seized biometrics as an option of identity verification for daily activities, including onboarding for travel and checking in on our mobiles.
Speaking to high-level influencers at FTE Global, back in 2018, Gil West said “having that option (of biometrics) is quickly becoming an expectation that we are working hard to meet through the Delta biometrics programme” that since, the Star Alliance and individual airports and airlines have replicated.
Travellers at Berlin Brandenburg Airport in 2023 must submit their biometrics and personal information in advance of travelling in an app called FastID. Although voluntary, Berlin Brandenburg and the Lufthansa Group are planning an expansion of biometric offerings over the following months to capitalise on the revenue opportunity and enrol future travel security.
With a long-term biometric entry/exit programme, the U.S. CBP has been one of the most forceful and committed aviation bodies to implementing biometrics and accurate face matching protocols across the U.S., comparing live passengers’ scans with the largest advanced biometrics database.
The biometric service at Berlin Brandenburg Airport will similarly take photos through cameras installed at touchpoints and match the profiles with passengers’ biometric data stored in the FastID app.
Deployments by the Lufthansa Group go as far back as 2018 at Los Angeles International Airport with newer projects including at Hamburg Airport. Lufthansa Group airlines, Lufthansa and SWISS, became the first to launch a new interoperable biometric identification platform developed by Star Alliance in November 2020.
