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Air India breach compromised data for 4.5 million passengers
Air India has revealed that a data breach compromised 4.5 million passengers dating back to 2011.
Your face could be your ticket to fly on JetBlue (updated)
Airports are where hopes and dreams go to die. But JetBlue thinks that one method of how people typically pass the time could be used to speed up the boarding process. For some passengers, a taken-at-the-gate photo will suffice to get them to their sky-chair. It's part of a collaboration between the airline and the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) office, Jetblue announced today.
Hacking the friendly skies: creating apps for wearables at 36,000 feet
Few activities are as taxing, time-consuming and mentally draining as air travel, and there are hundreds of thousands of travel-related apps to help us get from point A to point B with as little hassle as possible. But there's always room for improvement, especially now that wearables like Android Wear, the Pebble smartwatch and embedded sensors are growing in popularity. While it's already possible to scan boarding passes or receive flight notifications on smartwatches, there are surely other use cases that would ease the burden of flying. Wearable World, which teaches wearable-related startups the ins and outs of the business, partnered with American Airlines to create what it's billing as "the first in-air wearables hackathon." Teams were asked to come up with the best travel app for wearables, and the finalists got to jump on one of the airline's newest planes to polish their app and show it off to real-life passengers.
Virgin Atlantic tries greeting its passengers using wearable tech
Forget tablets in the airplane cabin -- Virgin Atlantic thinks wearables are where it's at for improving your travel experience. The airline has begun trialing a greeting system that uses Google Glass and Sony's Smartwatch 2 to streamline the airport check-in process for Upper Class passengers. Staff at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 3 are using the technology to greet travelers by name, provide flight updates and translate any foreign language information. The test run will only last six weeks, but Virgin already has dreams of future software that lets staff know what food you like. Let's just hope that any potential wide-scale rollout accommodates those of us in the cheap seats.
France's Toulouse-Blagnac airport to conduct NFC field trials for BlackBerry smartphones
Navigating through airport security is hardly the most fanciful way of kicking off a vacation, but this summer, a handful of frequent fliers in France will take part in a field trial that aims to streamline the process and make it a bit more enjoyable. Fifty lucky travelers armed with BlackBerry smartphones will take part in a pilot study that tests the authentication technology recently developed by Orange and SITA. Upon their arrival at the Toulouse-Blagnac airport, the handset's NFC-capable SIM card will serve as an access pass to the car park, the premium access zone for departures and even the private lounge area. Smartphone integration will provide travelers with real-time flight information, and it's said that the handset will even remember the location of one's vehicle in the car park. As the system is hardware-based, the identity verification technology will even work when the smartphone is turned off. The Toulouse-Blagnac airport aims to have a broader NFC implementation available by 2013-2014, which may allow users to board flights and pay for goods with their mobile device. To learn more about the vision, you'll find the PR after the break.
SITA and Orange develop NFC-based airport check-ins, let you bump the TSA (video)
You've been there before -- fumbling in-front of a non-enthused security agent, trying to download your fancy mobile boarding pass over an uncooperative network. It's that kind of awkwardness that SITA and Orange are trying to avoid with their NFC-based check-in solution. In their joint proof-of-concept, the duo embedded ticket credentials into an NFC-capable SIM card -- meaning phones without NFC circuitry can also use the tech -- which enables airport plebes to check-in, get through security, board planes and even enter lounges with just a wave of your phone. And because you're not futzing with loading a webpage, nor relying on a fussy image-based scanner, the tech should mean less time spent waiting at checkpoints. Writing that info onto the SIM has other advantages, as it can still be read even when your device runs out of juice. So, next time you're jet setting into Geneva -- you know, to deposit something totally non-nefarious into your Swiss bank account -- peep the demonstration area at SITA's HQ. Or, if you're not the globetrotting type, a video explaining all awaits after the break.
Copenhagen airport tracks your every move using WiFi signals
Hello, Big Brother! According to the New York Times, Copenhagen International Airport is currently testing a new program that monitors passengers based on WiFi data emitted from devices like laptops and smartphones. Airport officials observe travelers from a remote computer, and can tell, within 10 feet of accuracy, where they spend their time -- those arriving and departing are represented by different colored dots. The program, created by Geneva-based SITA, also gives visitors the option to download an iPhone app that provides location-based information, like promotions from nearby restaurants. SITA's VP said the software isn't intrusive, as it follows devices, not individuals, but we're not sure we want anyone to know how long our Android spends in the bathroom -- and you thought those naughty-bit scanners were creepy.
