(soft music)
- Facial recognition
is becoming ubiquitous,
from unlocking our phones to social media,
and now, even airports.
I'm in Atlanta to check out
new facial recognition technology.
It's supposed to allow
you to use your face
to get through the entire airport process.
We're gonna see how it works.
In December, Delta introduced
the first biometric terminal
in the U.S. at Atlanta's
Hartsfield-Jackson
International Airport,
promising to improve
the boarding experience
for Delta passengers.
Why are you doing this?
What's the advantage for the airline?
- Well ultimately, it's for our customers
and improving the experience for them,
and really, reducing
stress and travel friction,
save them time and make
the experience better.
- Can you look at this
as I will use my face
for identification instead of pulling out
my driver's license or passport?
- That's exactly it.
You know, your face becomes
your identification.
- I wanted to test this
technology out for myself,
so I am going to check in for a flight
to Narita Airport in Tokyo.
And I look at the camera,
and there it is.
I've checked in for my flight
and I've got my boarding pass.
While Delta says this is a time saver,
others are concerned about the accuracy
of facial recognition like this
and the privacy of
passengers who walked in.
What about accuracy?
We hear a lot about facial
recognition algorithms
have a difficult time
with people with dark skin
or women or short people.
How has it actually worked?
- Yeah, of course the CBP could
give you the actual numbers,
but from what we've seen,
the match rates are in
the very high 90% ranges.
The technology works,
it's safe, it's secure.
The experience is good on top of that.
- The process from curb through security
was seamless enough.
The last stop is the gate.
I was curious to hear about the experience
of my fellow travelers.
Are you comfortable with what
they're doing here today?
- Not really.
I just think it raises a
lot of privacy concerns.
- [Scott] So you will opt out?
- I will opt out, yeah.
- Yeah?
Is that an inconvenience?
Are you gonna be in
the slow line, or you--
- I would prefer being inconvenienced
and being in the slow line
rather than risking my privacy.
- You just came through for boarding
for the flight to Tokyo.
You used the facial recognition.
What did you think?
- It's great.
So easy.
Being paperless and digital
is so nice, so convenient.
- What about privacy concerns?
- The convenience that it provides,
to me, outweighs the risk
from a convenience standpoint.
- [Airline Worker] About
to board flight 877.
- It's a secure process.
It's optional.
There's no data that
we keep as an airline.
- And there's no additional
information you get out of this?
- We do not save any additional
information as part of this.
- And so far, customer
acceptance has been okay?
- 72% of our customers
prefer to use facial
over the current process,
and there's only a 2% opt-out rate.
- CBP says they save the
photos only about 24 hours
in case there's an issue with the flight.
In terms of privacy, they
already have your photo.
You give it to them when
you apply for a passport,
so there's nothing gathered
that they don't already have.
After trying Delta's new
facial recognition technology,
it did seem to speed up the process
and make my boarding
experience more efficient,
but occasionally, some people
may have to show their passports.
Airports are using this as a
replacement for your passport,
your driver's license, but
the privacy concerns are real
and there's still a lot of public policy
that needs to be worked out with this.
The potential of this technology
to make traveling easier is great.
And while the technology is here now,
the roll-out, it seems,
might take a little longer,
and so will convincing
all the traveling public
that their information
will remain private.
