How long does it take to clear customs at Heathrow? On average, it takes between 30 minutes and 1 hour to clear customs and immigration at Heathrow Airport..
The biometric technology that British Airways began using took a digital scan of passengers' faces as they went through security.
At the gate, after scanning their boarding pass, the biometric system would match the passenger's digital facial scan with the one taken at security..
Passengers use their faces to check-in and store the tickets on their phones, which are then used to authenticate the passenger's identity during each touchpoint within the airport..
Moreover, biometrics is helping to remove the hassle of multiple checks while in the airport.
Whether you're purchasing goods in duty free or about to board the flight, biometrics will eliminate the need for you to present your boarding pass or passport to verify your identity..
Heathrow biometrics could allow “greater personalisation of passenger services”, the airport said, which may be useful for passengers requiring additional assistance.
Looking for new ways to make it easier and quicker for passengers to travel through the airport and board aircrafts quicker, Heathrow Airport has commissioned dormakaba to supply and install self-boarding gates integrated with Heathrow’s biometric system.
An end-to-end biometric rollout is the natural next step of this process.
Now that passengers have the choice to be able to check themselves in, drop their bags and board at the gate, we’re exploring ways that these processes can be streamlined.
Facial biometricsare key to doing that.
At Heathrow, we’ve been using infrared facial biometrics for app.
One of the main challenges when it comes to passenger processing can be the bottlenecks that form in different stages of the passenger journey, i.e. at check in, bag drop and when boarding a flight.
Our self-service bag drops have helped to alleviate the queues at these points, giving more confident passengers the choice to check their bags in them.
Simon Wilcox, Heathrow Passenger Automation Programme Lead, wanted a way to make it easier and quicker for travellers to pass through the airport – without having to compromise on security.
As such, the automation programme required implementing biometric gates that would bring facial recognition to each point of the departing passenger’s journey.
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