Travel Narita airport trains to use facial recognition gates

On Friday, Keisei Electric Railway Co. will introduce facial recognition ticket gates for its Skyliner trains between Ueno Station in Tokyo and Narita International Airport. The AI-powered system aims to ease congestion caused by the increasing number of international travellers to Japan. Passengers must register their facial photo and pay for their tickets in advance through the railway operator's website. At the gate, travellers show their faces to a tablet, and the system automatically issues a reserved seat ticket for the next available train.

"Smooth boarding without waiting in line after arriving at the airport can be expected," a Keisei official said. "We hope customers will experience the convenience (of the system)." Passengers who wish to select a specific seat or board a different train other than the immediately departing train will need to purchase tickets at station counters or vending machines.

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The system will be available at Nippori Station on the line in addition to Ueno, Narita Airport Terminal 1, and Terminal 2 and 3 stations.

I think we and some other family members before and after us, transferred from the KS to hokuriku shinkansen at nishi-nippori. Much better than the long walk if the transfer is done at Ueno.

I'm not sure that I actually see this eliminating lines or being faster. What happens when the tablet doesn't recognize you for some reason? What happens if it mixes up two people who look similar? How will that biometric data be kept safe? Personally I consider most biometric security to be less secure as you generally don't need to be present or conscious for it to work...... Keeping a password or passphrase in your head is much more secure. Or requiring a combination of them.