AOT confirms facial recognition for international flights

[snoop1130]

Image courtesy of Pattaya News

 

By Ryan Turner

 

Airports of Thailand Plc (AOT) yesterday announced that the state-owned enterprise will implement facial recognition services at six major airports for international flights starting December 1.

 

The biometrics-based system will be deployed at Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Don Mueang, Hat Yai, Phuket, and Suvarnabhumi airports. AOT anticipates the new technology will significantly streamline the passenger experience, reducing checkpoint processing time for registered travellers from three minutes to just one minute.

 

Travellers can register for the automated biometric identification system through two primary methods: by working with airline staff at traditional check-in counters or by using common-use self-service (CUSS) check-in counters.

 

During registration, passengers will have their faces scanned into the system.

 

 

After completing registration, travellers will be able to use Common Use Bag Drop (CUBD) machines to check their luggage without needing to present their boarding passes or passports.

 

In compliance with the Personal Data Protection Act, AOT has committed to erasing all stored biometric data within 48 hours of registration.

 

The facial recognition service was initially introduced for domestic flights on November 1 and is now expanding to include international travel, reported Bangkok Post.

 

Source: The Thaiger

-- 2024-11-28

 

 

[bkknirvana]

Start of global communism .

[bbbbooboo]

hmmm… this facial recognition certainly makes the process quicker. Sometimes it used to take 2-3 hrs to get through , waiting forever in the queue that snaked back and forward towards the IO

[hotchilli]

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Travellers can register for the automated biometric identification system through two primary methods: by working with airline staff at traditional check-in counters or by using common-use self-service (CUSS) check-in counters.

Might want to re-name that one.

[Muhendis]

1 hour ago, bkknirvana said:

Start of global communism .

I think you may have a problem.

[sungod]

1 hour ago, bkknirvana said:

Start of global communism .

I'm sure there will be a much longer queue checking manually if you dont want to use this system.

[Patjqm]

yesterday it tooks 3 minutes... and again fingerprints and picture😁

[bkk6060]

Went thru a couple weeks ago they had the system up for Thai air international departures.  It did not work, I had to go thru the officer queue.    Good luck.

[KannikaP]

Doesn't the system in other countries eg Dubai, take a photo and compare it with that on your passport.

[KannikaP]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

During registration, passengers will have their faces scanned into the system.

Again?

[Bday Prang]

2 hours ago, bbbbooboo said:

hmmm… this facial recognition certainly makes the process quicker. Sometimes it used to take 2-3 hrs to get through , waiting forever in the queue that snaked back and forward towards the IO

and it hasn't even  started yet

[AAArdvark]

If the data is deleted after use that would mean you would have to queue up at the airline counter every time. That would seem to take a much longer time than before. 

My last trip was  Airasia dmk to sai. I bypassed the airline all together with my boarding pass on my phone. Then 5 minutes at passport control. 

Can't be much faster than that. 

[koolkarl]

Another loss of privacy.  And soon a digital currency, the ultimate politicians dream. 

[mikeymike100]

27 minutes ago, Bday Prang said:

and it hasn't even  started yet

Wait until it does start, the it has a glitch and stops again!

[khunjeff]

The responses all seem to be about immigration, but the system is meant to be about check-in, baggage drop, security, and boarding, in addition to immigration.

 

Since this is an AoT press release, they fail to mention that the only part of that process that AoT controls is security. Immigration will decide who can or can't use FR to pass through their gates, and the airlines will decide who - if anyone - can use it for check-in and at the gate. Since airlines are responsible for checking visas and passports for entry to destination countries, they are generally not as open to using fully automated systems for international flights as they are for domestic trips.

 

Still, if it speeds anything up, sure, why not. (If you entered the country legally, and especially if you ever got an extension of stay, the Thai government already has your picture, so don't fantasize that they're grabbing your soul by saving your photo.)

[Yagoda]

The problem for me is that when they scanned my face, the gate swung open and it said, Welcome HanSum Man.

 

I have to head to the states and change my name.

[kimamey]

1 hour ago, khunjeff said:

The responses all seem to be about immigration, but the system is meant to be about check-in, baggage drop, security, and boarding, in addition to immigration.

 

Since this is an AoT press release, they fail to mention that the only part of that process that AoT controls is security. Immigration will decide who can or can't use FR to pass through their gates, and the airlines will decide who - if anyone - can use it for check-in and at the gate. Since airlines are responsible for checking visas and passports for entry to destination countries, they are generally not as open to using fully automated systems for international flights as they are for domestic trips.

 

Still, if it speeds anything up, sure, why not. (If you entered the country legally, and especially if you ever got an extension of stay, the Thai government already has your picture, so don't fantasize that they're grabbing your soul by saving your photo.)

A lot of hotels have my picture on my passport as well,  I don't know how long they keep them. The government has my picture and my wife in our bedroom, outside the house.  They have had dozens of copies of my signature, many in one visit to immigration. Most are unreadable but there are a few where they've asked me to do it like it is in my passport.

[AndreasHG]

2 hours ago, khunjeff said:

The responses all seem to be about immigration, but the system is meant to be about check-in, baggage drop, security, and boarding, in addition to immigration

 

AOT published an announcement explaining how the system works and what it simplifies.

The facial recognition eliminates 'the need to present a passport or boarding pass at baggage drop, security checks, and boarding.' Immigration will not leverage this new system.

 

The data are solely used only to ensure that the passengers boarding the plane are the ones whose names are printed on the boarding cards and on the airline manifest. This also explains why the data can be deleted after only 48 hours.

 

The benefit in terms of time saving will be greater the higher the number of passengers who use facial recognition.

 

AOT rolls out Biometric System to enhance passenger experience across six airports - TAT Newsroom

 

[jas007]

Don't they already take your picture when you enter the country?  Anyway, why not, if it makes for a smoother process at the airport? 

 

I've seen this at work in the Seoul Korea airport at the Delta check-in.  Look at the camera and your passport picture pops up.  

[AndreasHG]

4 minutes ago, jas007 said:

Don't they already take your picture when you enter the country? 

 

Yes, but this new system has nothing to do with Immigration. It is only intended for baggage drop, security checks, and boarding.

[NanLaew]

15 minutes ago, AndreasHG said:

 

Yes, but this new system has nothing to do with Immigration. It is only intended for baggage drop, security checks, and boarding.

 

The picture accompanying the OP shows immigration staff and the facial recognition and biometrics scanners at inbound immigration.

 

Outbound immigration has these scanners. If your passport is machine readable with a chip, you use these gates with no interaction with an immigration person required. If there's an issue and passing through is declined, the passenger will be referred to the few manned immigration booths that still exist. For info, the chip embedded in my passport doesn't work, so the scan was refused and I used the old fashioned way. From my observations yesterday mid-afternoon, the self-scan is very fast and trouble-free with few referrals to the manned kiosk. There was only a couple or three people queueing there.

 

With regard to the check-in, bag-drop to boarding system mentioned by AoT in the OP, this system is separate but runs in parallel with the immigration self-scan system.

 

The airline self-service kiosks are capable of taking your picture as part of this process. It is not fully implemented yet but when it is, the facial picture will be linked to the boarding pass QR code. When the passenger scans their boarding pass to go "air side", their face will be scanned and compared with the check-in picture. Once though immigration (as above), and while boarding at the gate, the QR code and face will be checked a final time for a match.

 

Earlier news articles talked about eventually eliminating boarding passes but since a lot of passengers can't even find their assigned seat while having a boarding pass let alone the correct gate, I don't see facial recognition as ever being the ONLY way to pass through airports.

[yumyai]

Great in theory but….

If they delete the biometric data after 48 hours, doesn’t that mean we’ll need to re-register every time we fly? If so, this will make check in queues slower, simply transferring the problem to a different part of the process? 
Also if the law requires deletion of data, does that also apply to the requirement to be photographed every time we arrive or leave? In which case it’s a useless requirement
 

[Elkski]

Chinese software. 

[Burma Bill]

19 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The facial recognition service was initially introduced for domestic flights on November 1 and is now expanding to include international travel,

 

WRONG! I flew from Chiang Mai to Bangkok (DMK) on the 14th November and the facial recognition system at the Air Asia check-in desk was not working. All passengers were lined up checking as normal. In fact the camera was covered by a display placard informing of cabin baggage size and weight.

[khunjeff]

33 minutes ago, Burma Bill said:

WRONG! I flew from Chiang Mai to Bangkok (DMK) on the 14th November and the facial recognition system at the Air Asia check-in desk was not working. All passengers were lined up checking as normal. In fact the camera was covered by a display placard informing of cabin baggage size and weight.

 

But if AoT bragged about it, it must be true! 

 

Seriously, though, just because a system has been implemented doesn't mean it will always be functioning properly.

[jas007]

Like it or not, I think people are going to have to get used to all the facial recognition stuff.  It's everywhere. Even my condo has it.  By the time I reach the door of my building, the system already knows it's me and my picture pops up on the screen and it lets me in.  

 

Just the other day I read about some students who made an app to use with the META smart glasses. A person wearing the glasses and using the app could see the faces of those he was looking at, and get information about that person.  Spooky.  

 

In China, I think, people are already going around with masks on to keep from being recognized by the cameras.  In the UK, there are people going around trying to cut down all the cameras that have been installed.  

[stubuzz]

20 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Travellers can register for the automated biometric identification system through two primary methods: by working with airline staff at traditional check-in counters or by using common-use self-service (CUSS) check-in counters.

So you would have to register before every flight?  Queuing at check in counters takes a lot of time making the process useless!

 

Aloso, the self check in machines do not support all airlines.

https://suvarnabhumi.airportthai.co.th/service/airport-guide/detail/CUSS+CUBD_BKK1

[Gaccha]

As an aside, AirAsia's self check-in machines at Don Muang do not work for anyone with middle names. 

 

You can easily imagine that government-created machines will have more problems than machines created by commercial organisations. Let's wait and see...

[Guderian]

23 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

will implement facial recognition services at six major airports for international flights starting December 1.

 

Arriving at Heathrow T2 last August with a new UK passport I was annoyed to find that - yet again, as it had happened repeatedly with the old one - the e-gate facial recognition system didn't work so I was directed to go and queue to see a human being (only one on duty) at the arrivals counter. If it had just been me, fair enough, maybe my passport was dodgy or my face too weird for a computer to be able to process it, lol, but no, I reckoned that around 20% of passengers were being rejected, all of them with UK passports. I got chatting with my neighbours in the long and winding queue, and several of them were pretty irate as they also had brand new passports and were frequent flyers, so this nonsense was a regular event for them. I only hope the Thai system works better than whatever it is that the UK Border Force are using but, given the poor history of customer-facing Thai IT projects, I wouldn't bet on it.

[sandyf]

7 hours ago, khunjeff said:

The responses all seem to be about immigration, but the system is meant to be about check-in, baggage drop, security, and boarding, in addition to immigration.

Indeed. Check in procedures are being revised all over. I came back from Gatwick in June with Emirates and things were as they had been for some time.

When I came back about a month ago all different, well for economy, all the desks were self service. I said to the guy hanging about that i had checked in online but had no boarding card, he just sent me to one of the other desks where there was no queue.

I used to print off the boarding card but they always gave me another so I stopped doing it. Won't bother again if it means hassle free at a business class desk.

I don't think the OP has anything to do with immigration, facial recognition is already in place with the E-gates, if they can't be used it is manual facial recognition at the counter.