Airports Introduce 'FaceBoarding' for Faster Travel
You probably have your own list of the most frustrating things about airports.
Perhaps it's all the standing in line, the expensive food or taking everything out of your pockets when you go through security.
How about having to show your passport or boarding pass every time you move into a new part of the airport? It feels like everyone wants to see your documents!
But travelers at two Italian airports can now keep their documents in their pockets for much longer.
That's after the airports — Milan Linate and Catania in Sicily — introduced something called "FaceBoarding."
It might sound like an unusual sport, but no, it's just an easier way of getting through the airport!
Travelers don't have to use it, but adults who want to can go to a FaceBoarding "kiosk" when they have checked in.
Here, they scan their passport and boarding pass. Then, a picture is taken of the passenger's face.
This means they can get through security, through gates and onto the plane just by showing their face.
Scanners use facial recognition technology to let passengers pass, although for now only ITA Airways and Scandinavian Airlines passengers can use it.
The airports hope FaceBoarding will help reduce waiting times for passengers.
From June, people will also be able to register to use the technology, which was developed by French and Swiss companies, on an app.
Milan Linate airport said the images of passengers' faces will not be stored.
Facial recognition is also being tested at other airports to make travel faster and easier. For example, travelers have been able to use facial recognition at Japan's Narita Airport since November 2022, and for some flights at Haneda Airport since November 2023.
