Bye Bye Boarding Pass! We May Soon be Travelling at Indian Airports Without One!

If you remember, a while ago, hand baggage tags were done away with at a few Indian airports, making security checks faster. Now boarding passes in Indian airports are all set to become a part of travel memory too. And it’s only for the better, for Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which guards 59 airports across the country, is looking to replace boarding passes with biometric check-ins at the airports and is already testing biometric enabled access. A part of CISF’s well thought-over plan to introduce integrated security solutions at airports, this move is aimed at introducing express check-in service, hence elevating the ease of air travel.  

Currently, Hyderabad Airport is the only airport in India that is completely biometric. The airport recently saw the launch of express check-in. Domestic passengers at this airport can now walk straight to express security check lane without getting into the check-in area, after printing a boarding pass from self-service kiosks at departures forecourt area, outside the terminal building. They can then head to the boarding area. However, the objective of introducing biometrics is to do away with the boarding pass altogether.

If one was to look worldwide, a lot of action is indeed happening towards creating fully biometric airports. For example, the Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport, the busiest airport in the world, has been testing biometric scans for a few months now. From fingerprints and digital imaging stored on e-passports, to iris scanners set up at airport immigration, to face-reading check-in kiosks, biometrics is here to change the traveller experience completely. And we are truly rejoicing as India gets set to board this biometric bandwagon.

So next time you transit through Indian airports, don’t forget to save those boarding passes because, who knows, soon they may become a collector’s item.