Coordinated biometric registered traveller trials that took place at Heathrow, Hong Kong and Dubai airports, have received a positive response from passengers. According to a report released, the vast majority of people who participated in the miSense trials would recommend the service to their fellow travellers.

The comprehensive report evaluates the experiences and feedback of the 3,166 passengers who took part in the voluntary trials in Heathrow’s Terminal 3 during a sixteen week period. It is widely regarded as one of the largest and most comprehensive trials of biometrically-enabled access control ever to be conducted in an operational transport environment.

The report found that passengers not only accept the need for biometric technology as a means of providing increased levels of security, but also believe that it can significantly improve their journey through the airport. The quantitative and qualitative research found that passengers thought that the miSense biometric technology was easy to use and reduced waiting times at security screening and passport control.

Highlights of the report included:

* 87% of people thought the enrolment process was easy or very easy

* 66% of people found it took less than 15 seconds to use the gate

* 72% thought that the most important benefit was faster journey times

* 81% though the service was good or excellent

When asked which other countries they would like to be able to use the miSense plus service at, respondants said: 43% USA, 19% Europe, 8% Australia, 8% Canada.

Three linked services were developed as part of the trials. First there was miSense which captured traveller biometrics at airline check-in and verified the resulting identity at the entrance to security screening and aircraft boarding. Next there was miSense plus which was a trusted traveller scheme including the capture of thirteen biometrics, issue of RFID smart card and the use of self-service border clearance gates. Finally there was miSense all clear which simulated interactive Advance Passenger Information (iAPI).

 The use of a membership card was considered a success. Travellers preferred the ability to control access to their data - commenting that “if I don’t want to share my data I won´t show you my card”. It is also clear that the use of a card may facilitate greater international collaboration - especially where transmitting biometric data between countries is prohibited.

The self-service border clearance gate was used 307 times by miSense plus participants with a recorded average engagement time of 17 seconds and in some cases as little as 12 seconds.