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Delta Air Lines Launches First Domestic Digital ID Test

Submitted 3 years ago

Delta Air Lines has announced the launch of the first domestic digital identity tests in the U.S., which will be made available to all Delta passengers at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport who are willing to use their passport number and their TSA PreCheck or Global Entry number as a digital ID. (airlinegeeks.com) More...

Winston Shek

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James Cox 3 years ago 18

This will come in handy for airlines when the minimum wage is increased to $15hr

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SkyAware123 3 years ago 11

for sure. Everything will be automated.

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Jim Smirh 3 years ago 13

Call me when the seating "touchless". I can handle talking to ticket and gate agents, it's sitting in those torture devices for hours that causes me nightmares! 8+|

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mdburd 3 years ago 11

Hmm.
So now using my phone, I check in and ensure seats are good, etc.
Using an automated kiosk, I tag my bag.
(In STT, where I fly out of normally) I carry my bag through and place it on the conveyors.
With Facial Recognition, I'm allowed to move from the landside to the airside area.

What's next? We're tossing our own bags into the cargo hold??

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StephenV 3 years ago 12

'Next' is moving those "checkpoints" out into the parking lot then into the street then into every public area for "Safety".

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mahayarf 3 years ago 4

No Sir, a Boston Dynamics Atlas will do it for you, may do a few flips on the tarmac to entertain a delayed flight. ;-))

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paul gilpin 3 years ago 1

what's next? something similar to this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx9i9TDiYdA

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Mark Jenkins 3 years ago 7

I don't understand why "facial recognition" technology is needed to make the airport experience more touchless. The last time I was screened in the airport, the screener did not reach out and touch my face. If the computer system has access to recognition data that is being used by the vision system to process me, why can't a human use that recognition data? This sounds more like an excuse to get "facial recognition" technology's foot in the door towards broader acceptance than it being the best tool for the job.

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SkyAware123 3 years ago 1

Too match with what your id says you are to check in.

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Mark Jenkins 3 years ago 3

In security terms matching the person to their "id" at check-in is the process of authentication - proving that a claimed identity is correctly matched to the subject in question. Authentication can be performed by people or by machines in a touchless manner. From my perspective, the main gain here isn't the touchless benefit touted to gain public acceptance (touchless is a desirable benefit when faced with COVID experiences) but the automated benefit that reduces cost. However, the automated benefit requires the use of a technology that has significant resistance to adoption - facial recognition. Conflating the provision of a touchless benefit (to the customer) with the use of facial recognition technology that by itself isn't needed for the touchless benefit is what I was questioning.

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Silent Bob 3 years ago 2

In order for a human to verify your ID (driver's license, passport, etc) they have to touch it. Right now when checking luggage at the airline counter they check your ID, and then of course TSA has to check it as well. This would eliminate those touch points. Boarding is mostly touchless these days, pretty much every airline has mobile boarding passes. With facial recog you wouldn't even need that it would just scan your face at the gate. So there is some benefit for those who want to minimize physical contact as much as possible. And lets face it the less you have to interact with airline employees the better!

I do agree in terms of the airlines they are looking for any and all ways to reduce headcount and therefore expenses, and automating the travel process as much as possible is one way to do that.

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Mark Jenkins 3 years ago 3

If a computer is going to verify who you are, you have to present something to the computer through an interface, and the computer has to have a record of you for comparison purposes, such as facial recognition data. Rather than use a facial recognition system, it is quite possible for you to present your "something" to a system that then pulls up your data including picture on a screen that the human then verifies. All perfectly touchless, but without the magic "facial recognition" technology.

Facial recognition technology is a very dicey technology, and it currently enjoys considerable consumer rejection pressure. The system in question can be built quite easily without "facial recognition", and have all of the "touchless" benefits touted. My perspective is that the "touchless" benefits are being used to gain acceptance of the facial recognition technology as if the one is dependent on the other.

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Silent Bob 3 years ago 1

I don't disagree, but I think a big part of the equation is the desire to eliminate the human(s). The system will become completely automated and the only time a human will intervene is if the system alerts or there is a special need that can't be served by the automation.

Facial recognition might turn out to be the limit most people won't go beyond, but remember people also took issue with programs like precheck and Global Entry because of the extra data they were volunteering to the gov. But in time as the technology becomes more widespread, and especially if there is a noticeable benefit in terms of shorter wait times and less close contact, there's no doubt it will become at least tolerated if not widely accepted.

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s s 3 years ago 10

Sheep will always willingly accept what sheep willingly accept. Speak up or speak out and you'll get cancelled.

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Amy Hussar 3 years ago 4

I'm not paying good money just to subject myself to this.

Flying stopped being fun after 9/11 anyways.

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SkyAware123 3 years ago 2

I fly to get places. fun ? nah

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Amy Hussar 3 years ago 6

There's nowhere I NEED to go that requires airplane travel.

But I used to enjoy vacations.

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WhiteKnight77 3 years ago 1

Next Delta will want to try an imbedded RFID chip similar to ones used in pets nowadays, but the issue is that they can be spoofed, and the battery will eventually die. What would happen if that happened on a trip somewhere?

As far as facial recognition? I am on the border on such technology. We are already caught on hundreds of cameras on a daily basis. I particularly dislike self-checkout at stores (and some WalMarts are now completely self-check out) and prefer actual human interaction.

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Bob Thompson 3 years ago 1

This is about reducing employee headcount for the airline. Don't see how one does facial recognition with a mask on. Airlines have reduced check-in cost with kiosks and tagging one's own luggage. Prior to Covid, lines at kiosks were often the norm. It didn't make anything quicker for the traveler just reduced employee cost for the airline. Honestly sometimes it was better just to go to checkin and do the ticketing and get rid of the luggage in one place.

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Delta Air Lines Launches First Domestic Digital ID Test

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