British Airways To Google Check Passengers

The debate about open data and its appropriate uses has taken a new twist with news that British Airways has revealed plans to use the internet to create "dossiers" on passengers. The "Know Me" programme is intended to enable the airline to provide a more friendly customer service and to this aim will use Google images to source pictures of high-profile passengers so that staff can greet them in a more personal manner as they arrive at the terminal or plane. The information gathering exercise does not stop there. The plan is to collect data from the airline's own systems, from Google and other sources in order to create a comprehensive passenger profile, of those select passengers, enabling service executives, senior cabin crew and check-in staff, to deliver a more personal touch.