(Montreal) Air Canada deploys facial recognition technology at the boarding gate, becoming the first Canadian airline to voluntarily offer the technology in an effort to facilitate the boarding process.
Posted at 1:14 p.m.
Starting Tuesday, customers boarding most Air Canada domestic flights at Vancouver International Airport will be able to board the plane without showing physical identification, such as a passport or travel permit. to drive.
Participants in the program, which is voluntary, can upload a photo of their face and a scanned copy of their passport to the airline’s app.
Launched as a pilot in February 2023, the digital ID option was already available in Air Canada’s Maple Leaf Lounges in Toronto, Calgary and San Francisco, and the airline plans to roll it out to more other Canadian departure gates.
Canadian carriers have been slow to adopt biometrics, with facial recognition technology already in use by a number of U.S. airlines, foreign airports and government security agencies.
The software, which analyzes unique physical identifiers of a traveler’s face, has also raised privacy and ethics concerns, although Air Canada stresses the option has no connection to government programs.
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