After the successful go live of the contactless biometric self-boarding solution at Los Angeles Airport, Finnair is the next airline to enable passengers flying out of the country to board without needing to show their boarding passes or passports.

A simple glance at a high-resolution face capture camera is enough to be recognized biometrically in a few seconds and be allowed to board the aircraft.

The Finnair flight from LAX to Helsinki Airport on April 9th was the first that utilized the biometric eGates. Since then, passengers have been enjoying a convenient, faster boarding process. No need to present their passport or boarding pass at the gate.

”Biometrics have great potential in enhancing both customer experience, speed and security”, says Sami Suokas, Ground Experience Manager, Finnair. “Customer feedback was very positive, and we are looking forward to having more stations to utilize biometrics in the future – including our home hub Helsinki Airport, where we plan to start biometrics tests with the airport operator Finavia and Vision-Box.”

The biometric self-boarding solution has been running since 2017 in the scope of the US Biometric Exit trial program, and following a partnership between Vision-Box, Los Angeles World Airports Authority (LAWA) and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

How it works
The passenger approaches a self-boarding eGate. A biometric-enabled camera ergonomically integrated in the eGate captures the passenger’s facial image.

The image is securely sent to the CBP TVS (Traveler Verification Service), which conducts a matching process with the stored digital facial token, captured at the initial immigration process.

Within a few seconds, the system reconciles the passenger and his flight, recognizes the passenger as eligible to enter that flight and opens the eGate door. The passenger may board the aircraft.

More security and efficiency

The solution is based on Vision-Box Traveler flow orchestration platform, enabler of quick, secure data exchanges and therefore of a speedy process. It provides unprecedented security by confirming with a higher degree of certainty the identity of boarding passengers and the authenticity of their documents via CBP Traveler Verification Service. Key component for interaction with the passengers, the self-boarding eGates were designed to offer an ergonomic passage, a friendly experience and high speed in passenger throughput. The eGates also offer a self-service method to change seat.

Miguel Leitmann, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Vision-Box explained: “This comprehensive platform connects passengers and all other journey actors together, within a productive trusted identity ecosystem. It relies on and is an enabler of unprecedented quality of biometric data and facial recognition matching performance. That’s what makes it so fast, accurate and secure at the same time. The result is a hassle-free experience for passengers at boarding – or possibly at any other check point. Having Finnair onboard was a straightforward process and one more confirmation that biometrics is becoming the new normal.”

Airlines Lufthansa and British Airways have also been using the solution, as part of their mission to offer hassle-free passenger experiences.