UK airline British Airways has made waves with new plans to Google passengers so it can greet them upon arrival for their flight. Dubbed "Know Me," the scheme is supposed to provide passengers with a more personal experience when travelling with the airline. London's Evening Standard writes that British Airways staff will use Google images to find pictures of passengers so they can approach them as they arrive at the terminal or plane. "Know Me" will also check data held by the airline to determine if you've had problems on one of your previous flights (such as delays) so that the crew can apologise to you when they see you.
While some people appreciate the gesture (after all, British Airways is merely calling upon publicly available information to improve the quality of your experience with them), some aren't happy with the creepy factor. The Evening Standard cites Nick Pickles, director of privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, as saying customers shouldn't have to deal with their airline snooping around for information about them on the internet.
"Since when has buying a flight ticket meant giving your airline permission to start hunting for information about you on the internet?," he's quoted as saying. "If British Airways want more information about us they can ask us for it, rather than ignoring people’s privacy and storing data without us having any idea what data they are storing."
However, British Airways says it is 'entirely compliant' with the UK's data protection act and that it's merely trying to improve customer service. "Know Me is simply another tool to enable us to offer good customer service, similar to the recognition that high street loyalty scheme members expect." BA said the Google Images search app will help the company recognise high profile travellers. In an earlier statement, BA said it was aiming to recreate the same recognition you might get when returning to your favourite restaurant.
How would you feel about an airline gathering this kind of information on you? Are you okay with, since it's publicly available, or do you think that it's a bit creepy, regardless of that fact? Let us know in the comments below.
