GB2418511A - Automated passenger handling system - Google Patents

Abstract

A check-in desk 105A, 105B, 105C has an input device for entering information from a passport, an image capture device for taking an image of the passport holder, and a printer for printing a boarding pass including a unique identifier for the passport holder. A storage device 102 stores the information from the passport in conjunction with the image of the passport holder from the image capture device and the unique identifier. A departure station 109A, 109B has an input device for accessing the unique identifier from the boarding pass, and a screen for display of the image of the passport holder, thereby allowing staff to confirm that the boarding pass has been presented by the correct passenger.

Description

AUTOMATED PASSENGER HANDLING SYSTEM

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an automated passenger handling system for use at airports and other international travel facilities, such as ports and cross-border railways.

0 Background of the Invention

In an airport, it is important to prevent a passenger who has passed the control check for a given flight from exchanging boarding passes in the departure lounge with another passenger, since otherwise a person could then board a different flight from the one that they are supposed to be on. Checks at the destination would not necessarily reveal this deception, as the travellers would have the correct passports with which to identify themselves upon arrival. At a busy airport, there would be the potential to board one of many departing flights without the control authorities knowing which one the person concerned had actually departed on. This is a serious threat, which could for example, allow terrorists and other criminals to conceal their movements.

There are various strategies that can be adopted to prevent this problem. One option is to segregate passengers immediately after check-in, for example by having different departure lounges for different outward flights. However, this involves numerous logistical problems, and also greatly reduces the ability of the airport operator to provide facilities to the passengers, such as restaurant services, duty free purchases, and so on.

A more common approach is to perform a second check on a passenger's passport in combination with the boarding pass at the departure gate itself. In other words, a passenger initially presents his or her ticket and passport when checking in, and then presents both the passport and the boarding pass again at the departure gate when boarding the plane itself. However, this can delay the boarding process, since it is time- consuming for airline staff to have to (re)verify both boarding pass and also passport. In addition, there can be waits while passengers seek to retrieve their passport from their hand luggage, clothing, or wherever it has been placed. It will be appreciated that delays at the departure gate are particularly detrimental to efficiency, since they increase turnaround times for aeroplanes. This has a negative impact on the airline, since the aircraft is spending longer on the ground rather than travailing between destinations, and also on the airport operator, since fewer flights can be accommodated at any one lo departure gate.

Summary of the Invention

Accordingly, the present invention provides an automated passenger handling system comprising at least one check-in desk station including an input device for entering information from a passport, an image capture device for taking an image of the passport holder, and a printer for printing a boarding pass including a unique identifier for the passport holder. The system further comprises a storage device for storing the information from the passport in conjunction with the unique identifier and the image of the passport holder from the image capture device, and at least one departure station. The departure station includes a read device for accessing the unique identifier from the boarding pass and a screen. The unique identifier is used to retrieve the stored image of the passport holder for display on the screen.

Such a system provides a clear linkage between the boarding pass and the passenger, in that the stored image of the passenger is retrieved using the unique identifier provided on the boarding pass. This then allows the identity of the holder of the boarding pass to be confirmed without requiring further presentation of passports after the check-in station, and so simplifies and quickens airport operations, especially at the departure gate. At the same time, the ability to confirm the identity of the holder of a boarding pass at the departure gate ensures that passengers can be allowed to intermingle in a common departure lounge (i. e. one shared between multiple destinations).

Furthermore, the saved images provide a visual audit trail of the people who actually made a particular journey, even if the documentation used to support such a journey turns out to have been stolen or forged. Such a system is especially suited to airports, but can also be applied at other establishments with similar passenger control concerns, such as maritime ports.

In one implementation, the input device for entering information from a passport comprises an optical character recognition system. This allows the information from the lo passport to be rapidly read by machine for entry into the storage system. The system also allows a check-in operator to enter the passport details by hand, for example for older passports that do not have machine readable data. In addition, some passengers may be using documentation other than passports, for example identity cards, to support their travel. Such documentation may be amenable to optical character recognition for Is entering the passenger details into the storage system, although in many cases this data entry will again have to be performed by hand.

In one implementation, the unique identifier is generated using flight ( gurney) information and the check-in time for the passenger. This makes it difficult to predict in advance the unique identifier assigned to any given passenger, and so reduces the risk of fraudulent boarding passes. The unique identifier is printed onto the boarding pass in the form of a bar code, since bar codes are easy and cheap to produce and to read automatically using various commercially available scanners. However, other technologies could be used instead of a bar code to encode the unique identifier onto the 2s boarding passes, for example based on optical character recognition, magnetic strips, radio frequency ID tags, and so on. The unique identifier can also be printed onto baggage labels to assist with tracking bags through the departure and destination locations.

30In one implementation, the check-in desk station further comprises a device for capturing biometric data such as fingerprints or retinal scans relating to the passport holder. The biometric data is then stored in conjunction with the information from the passport, and so provides a further mechanism for confirming the identity of a boarding pass holder. The system may also comprise a link to a control authority database, such as the police national computer system in the United Kingdom. This then allows the s information obtained from the passport or other travel documentation to be cross-checked against listings of missing people, suspected criminals, stolen passports, and so on.

Another embodiment of the invention provides a method for the automated handling of passengers. The method comprises reading information from a passport, capturing an image of the passport holder, and printing a boarding pass including a unique identifier for the passport holder, all at a check-in desk station. The method further comprises storing the information from the passport in conjunction with the image of the passport holder and the unique identifier. The method further comprises accessing the unique identifier from the boarding pass at a departure station, and retrieving and viewing the image of the passport holder based on the unique identifier at the departure station.

It will be appreciated that the method embodiment of the invention may utilise and benefit from the same particular features as described above in relation to the apparatus embodiment.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Various embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail by way of example only with reference to the following drawings: Figure 1 is a schematic diagram depicting the architecture of a system to provide automated control of passenger check-in and boarding in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a check-in desk station from the system of Figure I in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating the high-level operations of the system of Figure 1 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; and Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a departure gate from the system of Figure 1 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

Figure 1 illustrates the architecture of a system 10 to provide automated control of passenger check-in and boarding in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

lo In the current implementation, system 10 is referred to as the PaxScan system. The system includes a server 100, which may be implemented by one or more machines, depending upon processing requirements, redundancy requirements, and so on. Server includes folder storage 102 which is used for storing images, as described in more detail below.

Associated with server 100 is database 1 10, which again may be implemented by one or more databases depending upon particular requirements of any given installation.

In addition, in some implementations, the folder storage 102 may be included within database I 10, especially if database I 10 provides support for images.

Database 110 is used for storing flight information and passenger information, and can be regarded as having two tables, shown schematically in Figure I as Table I (Tl) 11 IA and Table 2 (T2) 111B. The first table 11 IA is a flight table that contains a listing of all flights from the airport, while the second table is a passenger table that contains a listing all the passengers passing through the airport. Each passenger in the passenger table 111B is associated with a particular flight in the flight table 111A. In one embodiment, each entry in the passenger table is associated with one and only one flight.

Therefore, if the same passenger passes through the airport again for a different flight, a new entry is created in the passenger table 111B for the passenger. This entry is distinguished from the previous entry for the same passenger by referencing a different flight number and date. In one embodiment, the passenger table is archived on a monthly basis.

As shown in Figure 1, server 100 is linked to three check-in desk stations, 105A, s 105B and 105C, and to two departure gate stations lO9A, lO9B. It will be appreciated that this number of check-in desks and departure gates has been selected for convenience of representation only, and that the number of check-in desks and departure gates will vary considerably from one airport to another (and will generally be greater than shown in Figure 1).

Server 100 is also linked to control point 108. This control station is used by authorities such as the police, the immigration service and so on for performing their relevant duties. Accordingly, control point 108 is not part of the check-in and boarding process from a passenger perspective, but is nevertheless an important presence at most airports. Again, it will be appreciated that any given airport may have multiple such control point stations (rather than the single control point shown in Figure 1), depending upon the particular circumstances at the relevant airport.

The check-in desks 105A, 105B, and 105C, departure gates IO9A and lO9B, and control point 108, are generally linked to server 100 by some form of local area network (LAN) (not shown in Figure 1). In addition, server 100 is also linked to an external or wide area communications network 150. This wide area network may be the Internet, a secure intranet or extranet, and so on. The use of network 150 by system 10 will be described in more detail below.

Figure 2 illustrates a check-in desk station 105 in more detail in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. The check-in desk includes a workstation 201, which in one embodiment is implemented by a conventional desktop personal computer.

Associated with workstation 201 are a passport reader 208, a printer 205, and a CCTV camera 210. Printer 205 is used to print boarding passes 206 for passengers, as well as luggage labels, plus any other relevant material. Passport reader 208 is an optical character reader (OCR) and is used to read information that is printed in a passport. In most passports, the details about the passport holder are provided twice, firstly in a format that is easy for humans to read, and secondly in a specific machine-readable format. The skilled person will be aware of various commercially available passport readers that can be used at check-in desk station 105.

The CCTV camera 210 can be used to capture a still image of a passenger at the check-in desk. It will be appreciated that in other implementations, this image capture functionality may be implemented by a web-cam or other appropriate imaging device. A 0 further possibility is that passport reader 208 includes a scanner to scan in the photograph from the passport itself, rather than taking a separate image of the passport holder (although a separate image from camera 210 will generally be of higher quality).

Figure 3 is a flowchart depicting high level processing within system 10 in IS accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Processing can be considered as divided into two phases. The first phase is check-in 301, performed at a check-in desk station 105, and the second phase is departure or boarding 302, performed at a departure gate 109.

Processing commences when check-in is started for a flight. A staffmember at a check-in desk 105 selects the flight to check-in from the available flights in the flight table 11 IA. When a flight is selected, the system 10 determines whether any passengers have previously been checked in for this flight. If not, the system creates a new folder 102 in server 100 for this particular flight. This folder is used to store the images of all as the passengers for the flight.

It will be appreciated that check-in for a single flight may be handled by multiple check-in stations 105 open at the same time, and this is accommodated by system 10.

There may also be multiple flights undergoing check-in simultaneously. In this case, it is common practice to assign different flights to different check-in desks. Nevertheless, system 10 also permits a check-in station 105 to handle multiple flights at the same time, by switching between flights as appropriate for each new passenger to be checked in.

As part of the check-in procedure 301, the check-in operator uses passport reader s 208 to access automatically the details about the passenger from the passenger passport (310). The check-in operator may instead have to enter the relevant passenger details by hand into workstation 201 for passports that do not have machine-readable information (this might be the case for example for older passports that do not have passenger details in a format suitable for OCR). In addition, there is no requirement for a passport on UK lo internal flights (or between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) and hence some other form of identification may be presented instead of a passport for check-in onto such a flight. Again, this will generally imply that manual entry of the passenger information (analogous to that obtained from a passport) has to be performed.

The system 10 can now perform validation and other forms of verification on the passport. This processing may be performed on server 100 andlor workstation 201. In particular, the system 10 can confirm that the passport has not expired, and can also be used to flag if there is less than six months remaining on the passport (this can cause problems for entry into certain countries, such as the USA). In addition, the scanned passport information can highlight whether the person travelling is a minor. This alerts the check-in staff to ensure that the minor is accompanied by a suitably authorised, responsible person, thereby helping to avoid the situation where a minor travels (willingly or unwillingly) with an inappropriate person. The system also performs a check-sum validation associated with the machine-readable passport information. 2s

The CCTV camera 210 at the check-in desk 105 is used to capture an image of the passenger being checked in (320). The CCTV camera 210 is therefore physically located at some appropriate point on the check-in desk to ensure a good view of the passenger who is checking in. The image taken by the CCTV camera is visible to the check-in operator upon the screen of workstation 201. If the image quality is not satisfactory, then the checkin operator can take one or more further images with CCTV camera 210, until an image of acceptable quality is obtained.

The system 10 now generates an identifier for the passenger based on the flight s number and date that the passenger is travelling on, the time of check-in (to the nearest second), plus the identity of the check-in desk that is being used to check-in the passenger (330). It will be appreciated that this uniquely identifies any passenger travelling through the airport, since it is not possible for two people to check-in at a single desk within one second of each other. Note that in other implementations, a different form of unique lo identifier might be used. For example the system may simply generate identifiers on a sequential basis by counting upwards for each new passenger. However, one advantage in generating an identifier in the manner described above is that it is very difficult to forge an identifier in advance, since in general the check-in time and check-in desk will not be known beforehand to a potential adversary.

Workstation 201 saves the details from the passport and the check-in procedure into the passenger table 1 1 1 B of database 1 10 (340). In addition, the image of the passenger that has just been acquired by CCTV camera 210 as part of the check-in process is stored into the folder in folder storage 102 that is associated with the flight on which the passenger is travelling (350). The file name of the image within this folder is based upon the unique identifier just described.

Each passenger record in the passenger table 1 1 1 B includes a field identifying the folder in which the image of the passenger is stored and a field containing the unique 2s identifier for that passenger (generated as described above). It will be appreciated therefore that for any given passenger record, the combination of the folder and the unique identifier allows the image corresponding to that passenger record to be retrieved from folder storage 102.

The check-in operator now prints a boarding pass 206 for the passenger (360). As well as conventional information, such as seat assignment (not shown in Figure 2), the boarding pass Tom printer 205 also includes a bar code 207. This bar code represents the unique identifier for the passenger. Note that other forms of information encoding could be used on the boarding pass instead of a bar code, for example by writing the identifier using characters amenable to OCR, or by using a magnetic strip on the card. However, the use of a bar code 207 is especially convenient because it can be read automatically by commercially available scanning devices from a variety of positions and angles. Some implementations may store the identifier on the boarding card 206 in multiple formats, e.g. both as a bar code, and also as machine-readable characters.

lo The check-in operator also handles any luggage for the passenger who is checking in. Printer 205 is used to produce appropriate labels for this luggage. These labels may also carry the unique identifier in bar code format for the passenger, in addition to conventional information such as the destination airport for the passenger.

The check-in procedure 301 is now complete, and the passenger is able to pass through to the departure lounge. This will often involve passing through a control point 108, as described in more detail below. At some subsequent stage, the passenger arrives at a departure gate 109, which is depicted schematically in Figure 4, in order to complete the departure and boarding procedure 302.

In one implementation, the departure gate 109 is equipped with a bar code scanner 410 attached to a work station 450. As a passenger 430 presents his or her boarding pass 206 to staff et the departure gate, the bar code scanner reads the bar code printed on the boarding pass (370) to obtain the unique identifier contained in the bar code. This 2s identifier is then used to access the record for passenger 430 in the passenger table 111 B of database 110. The information stored in this record in database 110 can then be returned to the departure gate station 109, for example for display on the screen 420 of In addition, the folder information included in the retrieved passenger record can be used to access folder storage 102 in order to retrieve the stored image corresponding to the passenger (380). This retrieved image can also be displayed on screen 420, thereby presenting staff at the departure gate 109 not only with the passport details of the passenger (name, date of birth, and so on), but also an image of the passenger 430. It is easy for such staff to compare the image of the person who checked in against the appearance of passenger who is now at the departure gate in order to verify that they are one and the same person. Assuming that this is indeed the case, the passenger is then allowed to board the aeroplane, and the database 1 10 is updated to indicate that the status of the passenger has changed from checked in to boarded.

loIt will be appreciated that the above procedure avoids having to verify passports at the departure gate 109, thereby increasing efficiency and throughput at the departure gate. In addition, there is no need to segregate passengers in different departure lounges, since any swapping of boarding cards would be readily detected at the departure gates (the retrieved image would no longer correspond to the person who is presenting the boarding card).

Control gate 108 can be implemented in a similar manner to departure gate 109, by providing a scanner to read the bar code 207 from a boarding pass and a screen to view the passport details and image of the person associated with the boarding pass. This then allows the control authorities, such as the police, immigration service, customs, and so on, to confirm that the person departing on a flight is the same as the person who checked in for the flight.

The approach described herein has many benefits in addition to enabling faster 2s passenger handling at the departure gate. Thus it may be necessary to contact a passenger who is waiting for an aeroplane for some reason, perhaps because they have failed to show up at the departure gate for a flight for which they have checked in, or because there is a problem with their baggage (maybe a suitcase has come open). In such a situation, it is conventional to make an announcement over the airport public address system in order to contact the passenger, but the announcement may be missed, perhaps because a passenger is asleep or hard of hearing. The PaxScan system 10 allows an image of the passenger to be retrieved via the passenger table 1 1 1 B. This image can be distributed to the airport security staff, either on-screen or in printed format, who can then conduct a visual search for the passenger concerned. It will be appreciated that this provides an additional mechanism for contacting passengers, supplementing the public s address system.

The PaxScan system 10 can also be used to associate luggage with the correct passengers both at the departure and destination airports. For example, the PaxScan bar code printed on a luggage label can be used to retrieve a picture of the person who lo checked in the bag originally. This therefore provides rapid confirmation that the bag is with its legitimate owner, and so can help prevent baggage theft at the arrival airport, and also bag swapping between passengers in transit, such as for smuggling purposes.

The PaxScan system 10 generates reports from the information in database 1 10 at various stages of the check-in and departure process. These reports provide information for display to operators at the check-in desks 105 (on workstation 201), the departure gates 109 (on workstation 450), and so on. For example, a report displayed at a check-in desk 105 may indicate the total number of passengers who have checked in on the flight, as well as the breakdown of this number into male and female passengers, and also into children and adults. This information might be used by the airline operator, for example, to determine how many meals to load onto the plane.

At the departure gate 109, the system 10 can determine the number of passengers who have boarded so far, and compare this with the number who checked in, to determine the number remaining to board. The system can also rapidly identify from table 111B any passengers who have checked in but have not yet boarded. This then allows any passenger who for some reason has failed to show at the departure gate to be tracked down and brought to the flight, for example by using the image of the passenger in the folder storage 102 to help locate the passenger, as described above.

Another report from the PaxScan system 10 represents the number of bags checked in for a flight. Baggage handling staff can then confirm that this number corresponds to the number of bags that they have loaded onto the plane. If there is a passenger who has checked in for a flight but who does not board the flight for any reason, then security requirements dictate that any bags on board from that passenger must be removed before the flight can depart. The relevant luggage can be identified in the aeroplane hold by scanning the bar codes on the various bags in order to find quickly the item(s) corresponding to the passenger who has not boarded. These items can then be removed from the aeroplane so that the aeroplane can depart.

The PaxScan system 10 can also be used to generate a listing or manifest of passengers who have boarded a flight. This manifest can be arranged in any appropriate order, for example by passenger name or by boarding pass number, and can be broken down if desired into various categories, such as by sex or by adults and children. The manifest may be forwarded to the destination airport for the flight, for example for inspection by the control authorities at the destination airport. The manifest may also be provided to a representative of a tour operator or holiday company who is to look after the passengers from the flight once they have arrived at their destination. Such a tour operator could be provided with the PaxScan images of the passengers that they have to meet, in order to provide a more personalised service.

The PaxScan system 10 may also be used in relation to duty free shopping at the airport by a passenger waiting for a flight. For example, a passenger who buys duty free goods may be asked to provide their boarding pass, which can be used by the shop 2s assistant to retrieve the image of the passenger associated with the boarding pass. This allows the shop assistant to confirm that the passenger is travelling on a flight that entitles him or her to a duty free purchase (e.g. not an internal flight), and also that the passenger is not a minor (in the case of alcohol or tobacco purchases).

The images of the passengers on a particular flight saved into file storage 102 can be retrieved at a later date (from an archive store if necessary). These images might be used, for example, to confirm that a passenger had the relevant passport at check-in for a flight (and so deter bogus asylum seekers who claim to have lost all of their documentation). It can also provide a visual record of the passengers on a flight, even if the information from the passport or other documentation used for identification purposes is in fact incorrect. For example, a relatively common mode of passport fraud is to replace the photograph in a legitimate passport with a new photograph, thereby enabling someone other than the original passport holder (but who matches the new photograph) to travel onthe basis of the passport. At least in this situation the PaxScan system 10 has a stored image of the person who actually travelled In one embodiment of the invention, the PaxScan system 10 is augmented with various further security features. For example, if a check-in desk 105 detects a problem with a passport, such as a failed check-sum that might perhaps indicate a passport forgery, then the system automatically alerts the control authorities. This may be done by Is various routes, such as by sending an email or other notification to control station 108, and/or by sending an SMS (mobile phone text) alert message to appropriate security personnel. In addition, the system 10 automatically checks the passenger details against a listing of wanted persons, for example, by accessing a police national computer database over external network 150, in order to detect if any such wanted person is checked in for the flight. For security reasons, this check may be performed via control gate 108 rather than at check-in desk 105. One possibility is that the check for wanted persons is performed using face recognition software to compare the image obtained at check-in desk 105 with an image of the wanted person (this would generally supplement a name- based check from the scanned passport details). 2s

Control point 108 or some other part of the Paxscan System 10 may also be used to confirm that the passport presented for check-in is not on the list of stolen passports.

Again such a check may be implemented, for example, by accessing an appropriate listing from the police national computer database over external network 150. It will be appreciated that this type of check is effective against the form of passport fraud described above, where a stolen passport is doctored to contain a photograph of someone other than the rightful passport owner.

The PaxScan system 10 can be supplemented by biometric forms of identification apart from a photograph. For example, a fingerprint of each passenger may be obtained at a check-in desk 105, with details of the fingerprint then stored in or linked to the passenger record in the same way as the passenger image. The biometric information can be used for various purposes, such as to check for wanted persons, to forward for review by immigration at a destination airport, and so on.

Although the present invention has been discussed primarily in the context of airport operations, it may also be utilised in respect of other modes of travel, for example at maritime ports, and also at stations for cross-border railway journeys. Thus while a variety of particular embodiments have been described in detail herein, but it will be appreciated that this is by way of exemplification only. The skilled person will be aware of many further potential modifications and adaptations that fall within the scope of the claims and their equivalents.

Claims (18)

1. Claims 1. An automated passenger handling system comprising: at least one

   check- in desk station including an input device for entering information from a passport, an image capture device for taking an image of the passport holder, and a printer for printing a boarding pass including a unique identifier for the passport holder; a storage device for storing the information from said passport in conjunction with lo said unique identifier and the image of the passport holder from the image capture device; and at least one departure station including a read device for accessing the unique identifier from the boarding pass and a screen, wherein said unique identifier is used to retrieve the stored image of the passport holder for display on the screen.
2. 2. The system of claim 1, wherein said input device for entering information from a passport comprises an optical character recognition system.
3. 3. The system of claim I or 2, wherein said unique identifier is generated based on at least flight information and check-in time for the passport holder.
4. 4. The system of any preceding claim, wherein said unique identifier is printed onto the boarding pass in the form of a bar code.

   2s
5. 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the read device for accessing the unique identifier from the boarding pass comprises a bar code scanner.
6. 6. The system of any preceding claim, wherein the check-in desk station further comprises a device for capturing biometric data relating to the passport holder, wherein said biometric data is stored in conjunction with the information from said passport.
7. 7. The system of any preceding claim, further comprising a link to a control authority database.
8. 8. The system of any preceding claim, wherein said printer is used to print baggage labels including said unique identifier.
9. 9. A method for the automated handling of passengers comprising: reading information from a passport at a check-in desk station; capturing an image of the passport holder at the check-in desk station; lo printing a boarding pass including a unique identifier for the passport holder at the check-in desk station; storing the information from said passport in conjunction with the image of the passport holder and said unique identifier; accessing the unique identifier from the boarding pass at a departure station; and is retrieving and viewing the image of the passport holder based on said unique identifier at the departure station.
10. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein said reading information from a passport is performed by an optical character recognition system.
11. 1 1. The method of claim 9 or 10, further comprising generating said unique identifier based on flight information and check-in time for the passport holder.
12. 12. The method of any of claims 9 to 1 1, wherein said unique identifier is printed onto the boarding pass in the form of a bar code.
13. 13. The method of claim 12, wherein accessing the unique identifier from the boarding pass comprises reading the bar code with a bar code scanner.
14. 14. The method of any of claims 9 to 13, further comprising capturing biometric data relating to the passport holder at the check-in desk station, and storing said biometric data in conjunction with the information from said passport.

    s
15. 15. The method of any of claims 9 to 14, further comprising providing a link to a control authority database.
16. 16. The method of any of claims 9 to 15, further comprising printing baggage labels including said unique identifier.
17. 17. An automated passenger handling system substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.
18. 18. A method for the automated handling of passengers substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.