Lufthansa goes biometric
Thumb scan check-in trial
Posted in Enterprise Security, 7th July 2005 10:37 GMT
Hitachi IT Operations Analyzer: 30-day free trial
German airline Lufthansa and Siemens are testing fingerprint-based check-in and boarding procedures at Frankfurt Airport.
After getting tickets encoded with their thumbprint data, passengers can check themselves in by placing their thumbs on a machine.
The trial, called Trusted Traveler, will last for 14 days, but if all goes well, Lufthansa plans to roll out the system in 2006 for frequent fliers on a voluntary basis. The idea is to make airport handling processes faster, more secure and more efficient. Biometric procedures in air traffic control could be made mandatory by EU directive in the future. ®
Related stories
US biometric ID request raises ID concern in UK
Campaigners fight biometric passports
UK gov pilots passenger tracking in fight against terror

Systems management simplified
Total cost of ownership of Dell, HP and IBM blade solutions
Out-of-box comparison between Dell, HP, and IBM blade servers
Optimizing the data center for cost and efficiency
The easiest Siebel CRM installation on the market today