Amadeus touchless bag drop technology is being trialled at Heathrow Airport.
The touchless bag drop technology uses proximity sensors to allow passengers to check-in their luggage without touching the screens on the kiosks.
The new contactless experience has initially been installed on six of Heathrow’s Auto Bag Drop units provided by ICM Airport Technics, an Amadeus company. The trial means passengers using any of the six trial ABD units can drop their luggage quickly, safely, and easily.
The Amadeus contactless solution sees an infra-red proximity sensor installed along the top edge of the bag drop screen, which detects the passenger’s finger as far as 3cm from the screen surface. This allows passengers to interact with the bag drop unit as usual but without the need to physically touch the screen.
Amadeus and Heathrow had been trialling several options for contactless bag dropping, including “screen mirroring” which would have allowed passengers to operate Auto Bag Drops via their mobile devices, but it was ultimately decided to move forward with the proximity sensor technology.
Heathrow’s Process Improvement Director, Mark Burgess said: “We’re preparing to welcome back more travellers, by looking for new and innovative technologies that will help to ensure the passenger experience remains safe and efficient in a post-COVID world.
That’s why we’re delighted to be working with Amadeus to trial these touchless self-service bag drop units. This is just one of many new measures that we’re implementing across our terminals, as part of Heathrow’s Fly Safe programme.”
