Automated Border Control: A Comparative Usability Study at Two European Airports

Abstract

ABSTRACT Throughout Europe airports are increasingly installing automated border control (ABC) technologies as they are expected to improve security, streamline the traveling process, and facilitate better passenger experience. Although these e-gates have been in use for years, they are still underutilized by travellers. This might be partly due to problems with the systems’ usability. This paper presents a usability analysis of ABC e-gates at two large North-European international airports and compares their ease of use. Our study shows that there is scope for a better designed, standardized system with a more intuitive interface. KEYWORDS Automated Border Control, e-gates, usability, passengers, biometrics. 1. INTRODUCTION European countries have been including biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) in their passports since 2004. It is likely that soon every European traveller will encounter biometric systems at some stage of their travel (Sasse, 2007). Airport operators are installing Automated Border Control (ABC) systems with biometrics to improve passenger clearance without increasing staff costs (efficiency), to make the process easier for passengers (convenience), and to enhance precautions at airports (security). Self-service technologies such as ABCs are defined as “technological interfaces that enable customers to produce a service independent of direct service employee involvement” (Meuter et al., 2000). As with any other self-service system, e-gates need to have user-friendly, intuitive interfaces, be easy to remember, give full guidance for the users, and provide universal access. Sasse notes: “We can assess usability in terms of three criteria: task performance, user satisfaction, and user cost” (2007: 78). Task performance is related to the effectiveness and efficiency of the user’s interaction with the ABC gate. The interaction is