law enforcement

Airline Hopes to Use Facial Recognition Instead of Boarding Passes

JetBlue turns your face into your boarding pass at Logan International Airport.

The airline is welcoming passengers with a new technology, and all some flyers at Boston's airport will have to do is put their best faces forward.

Starting next month, travelers heading from Boston to Aruba on JetBlue will be able to take part in a pilot program testing face recognition technology.

Passengers will still have to show identification and boarding passes to get through security, but once they are at the gate, they will not have to take them out again.

Instead, a photo will be taken of each passenger's face and sent to a database to be verified before being allowed to board. The airline is working in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Travelers at Logan had mixed reactions.

"I think it will make it a lot easier and faster because the lines can get really crazy," Sahymi Ciprian said.

"I think it would be a bit of an invasion of privacy if you don't agree to it," argued Andrew Gonzalez.

Travelers will have the option to opt out and have their boarding pass scanned by an agent.

David Gerzof, Founder of BIGfish PR, is more than familiar with the face recognition technology, which is already being used by brands and law enforcement. Gerzof says seeing it at airports is just the beginning.

"It can be seen as being really good or potentially very big brother-ish," Gerzof said. "My feeling is its going to be a little bit of both and we, as society, have to come to terms with it as far as how to best deploy it and police it."

Mock flights are already underway at Logan to test a number of factors including accuracy. Customers on JetBlue flights from Logan to Aruba's Queen Beatrix International Airport can expect to see the technology in use starting June 12.

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