By TripFactory Holidays
Starting Friday, six major airports in Thailand will allow travelers to board without needing a passport or boarding pass, using facial recognition technology.
The system will be introduced at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang (Bangkok), Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket, and Hat Yai airports.
Initially, the passport-free system is available only for domestic flights but will expand to international flights by December1.
The new system uses facial recognition technology, which matches passengers’ faces with their stored travel and identification data.
To use the system, passengers must authorize access to their identification data at the check-in counter or during self-check-in.
Once registered, travelers can move from baggage drop-off to boarding without showing a passport or boarding pass again.
Each registration is valid for one trip only, so travelers will need to go through the process for each journey.
This development follows a similar biometric identification system implemented at Singapore’s Changi Airport.
Experts predict that more airports globally will adopt contactless, biometric-based checks in the coming years
The new system aims to simplify and speed up the airport experience, reducing the need to rummage for documents at multiple checkpoints.