The airline Vueling has started the implementation of a pioneering system of voluntary facial recognition at Ibiza airport to be able to board just by showing your face. It is a more agile, comfortable and safer way to fly by plane thanks to biometric technology.
“Imagine arriving at the airport and not relying on your physical documentationboarding pass or how much battery your cell phone has. With facial recognition you can turn your face into everything you need (documentation, boarding pass) to get through airport checkpoints and move faster,” the airline explains on its website.
Vueling has started to implement this service in five airports in the AENA network. The service is available in Barcelona, Madrid, Menorca, Mallorca and Ibiza Tenerife, and in a second phase it will be available in Gran Canaria, according to Hosteltur.
In this first phase, the facial recognition will be available in the security filters and at selected boarding gates.
The facial recognition system allows the passenger to speed up the boarding process and go from the security checkpoint to the aircraft door “by face” without showing boarding pass or documentation.
To benefit from this system you must first complete the biometric check-in only once on the airline’s application.
For now the service is only available for direct flights, not connecting flights.
how to activate the facial registration?
In order to register the face it is necessary to use your own cell phone and the Vueling app. If you already have a reservation, click on the ‘online check-in’ and register your face and data with the Vueling app. In the ‘app’ of the company can be accessed from ‘Manage your booking” and then activate the option ‘Facial recognition’.
Despite not having a reservation with the company for any flight, the airline offers the possibility of registering data and face through the ‘app’. In this way, on the next flight, you will only have to activate the service.
Aena will be in charge of managing this data, although the registration is done through Vueling, the airline clarifies that these data will be used “only” for facial registration. The user will be able to unsubscribe from this service whenever he/she wishes by sending an e-mail to ocpd@aena.es.
The airline explains that passenger data will be kept for as long as this service is available at Aena airports or for a maximum of one year from the last time it was used.
A facial scanner at El Prat airport. JOURNALCan I travel without documents?
Vueling informs that, despite the implementation of this innovative system, passengers must travel with all documentation on them even if they do not need it to pass through the controls.
When traveling with minors and facial recognition is activated, children must go through the usual controls. If the traveler is boarding with an infant, the infant’s documents must also be validated at the boarding gate.
Is it safe to give your data?
Vueling claims that providing this data is “100% safe”. The data will be collected by Aena through the Vueling ‘app’for the sole purpose of allowing you to enjoy facial recognition and only after consent has been given.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.