Half of SAS’s domestic passengers travel with baggage, which means that millions of people in Scandinavia will use Precise Biometrics’ fingerprint recognition every year.  The solution was implemented to comply with a new directive stating that airline companies must verify that a passenger with baggage also boards the plane, while still offering SAS’ passengers an efficient baggage check-in and boarding process.

Satisfied customers
SAS sees several advantages with the fingerprint check-in system.

– Thanks to an economically efficient and qualitative system we are able to offer our passengers effective traveling when it comes to both baggage check-in and boarding. This means that we can continue to be innovative and simplify traveling through smart solutions in an environment where tighter security demands are constantly increasing, says Helena Traneus Bonnedal, Manager Airport Self Service at SAS.

In a press release SAS states that they are interested in expanding the system to include international flights as well.

Denmark and Norway as well
SAS is the first airline company in the world that has implemented fingerprint recognition at baggage check-in and boarding, in order to eliminate the need for manual ID checks. The project started during the end of 2006 and includes all domestic flights in Sweden together with several airports with domestic flights in both Denmark and Norway.

Self-service saves money
Precise Biometrics’ CEO, Thomas Marschall is very positive to the outcome of the project.

– The travel and flight industry is an expanding and interesting market segment that we have been working towards for some time now. We are very satisfied with the outcome of the SAS project and it confirms our belief that the acceptance of fingerprint recognition is wide. We believe that our solution provided to SAS will generate interest and business opportunities from other international airline companies that understand the financial advantages of self-service in combination with increased security. Fingerprint recognition offers enhanced security, efficient self-service and passenger flow, which in turn saves money, says Thomas Marshall.

This is how it works
Passengers can choose to check in at the SAS self-service kiosks or manual desks. At the kiosk the passenger specifies the number of bags to be checked in and baggage tags are printed. The passenger walks over to the baggage drop where she is asked to place her finger on a fingerprint reader. The baggage tags are scanned and attached to the bags. The system ties the baggage to the passenger's fingerprint.

When boarding the plane the passenger is again asked to place her finger on a fingerprint reader. The system verifies that both the passenger and baggage is on board the plane. When the flight is over the fingerprint information is erased. The solution replaces traditional tickets and boarding cards.

Read SAS' press release here