When asking UK residents specifically about their biggest grievances, more than two-thirds (68%) said they find long lines at check-in the most annoying thing about air travel, while 52% said that security checks were tiresome.
LONDON – As the summer travel season kicks off, many consumers are preparing to take to the skies to get away to relaxing holiday destinations. The only problem? Getting there.
A new consumer survey released by iProov, a world leader in biometric face authentication technology, found that 87% of Britons would consider using a service that enabled ticket and passport checks to be carried out from home, removing the need to show them at airports and travel hubs. This would streamline the process for consumers to go straight from their couch at home to the gate with as little hassle as possible.
What’s more, 87% said they would probably be more likely to choose an airline or travel provider if they offered a pre-check from home service, in order to speed up the laborious process.
The research, which is published in iProov’s travel report, polled 16,000 consumers across eight different countries, to reveal consumer preferences when it comes to overseas travel. When asking UK residents specifically about their biggest grievances, more than two-thirds (68%) said they find long lines at check-in the most annoying thing about air travel, while 52% said that security checks were tiresome.
Andrew Bud, Founder and CEO at iProov, said: “UK airports have been facing tremendous strain in recent months in the post-pandemic rebound. Huge queues have caused terrible inconvenience for travellers. It’s unsurprising our research has found a real appetite for the overseas travel experience to become more efficient and accessible.
“Secure verification technology enables travelers to complete their ticket and ID checks from the comfort of their homes, so they don't need to do it at the airport. Facial biometric verification and authentication are key to this process.
“Face verification has already proved to be a secure and accessible solution for many applications and processes – for example, nearly a third of UK consumers are already using face verification to access their mobile banking apps. We’ve already shown that online face verification can be applied to improve the consumer travel experience, making life easier for travellers and operators around the world.”
iProov’s Genuine Presence Assurance offers a brief, passive face scan on a mobile device or computer that confirms a remote traveller is the right person, matching the identity to a trusted identity document and ticket. The technology also verifies that the user is a real person and not a presentation attack using a photo or mask, and that they are authenticating in real time. At the airport, a traveller’s face is their ticket as they choose to pass through a biometric corridor to authenticate their identity.
This technology solution is not unique to the airline industry and can be applied to eliminate check-in bottlenecks for other forms of travel, including trains, cruise ships, car hire and more. Earlier this year, iProov partnered with Eurostar and Entrust on the successful trial of remote fast-track service, SmartCheck, showing that the future of travel is not so distant. SmartCheck enables passengers to complete secure ticket verification and UK exit check on their mobile devices prior to travel. At St Pancras International, passengers proceed through a dedicated SmartCheck lane which verifies via face verification that a customer has completed the ticket check. No sharing of paper or electronic tickets is needed.
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
