Airports sometimes turn simple tasks into a mini obstacle course: find your terminal, keep the boarding pass handy, show your ID, clear security and check the gate number. Digi Yatra is designed to make parts of this journey smoother by using facial recognition instead of repeated document checks at participating airports. But before you sign up, it helps to know how the system works, whether you actually need it, and what your options are if you choose not to use it. Here’s a complete guide to Digi Yatra: What is Digi Yatra? Digi Yatra is a voluntary, app-based biometric system that uses facial recognition to verify the identity of domestic air travellers at particular airports in India. Developed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) and the Digi Yatra Foundation, Digi Yatra acts as a mobile-based ID storage platform where air travellers can save their IDs and travel documents. Instead of showing your boarding pass and ID at multiple checkpoints at the airport, now eligible passengers can use facial authentication to move through airport entry, security and boarding gates. How does Digi Yatra work? According to the Digi Yatra website, the platform is built on a decentralised digital identity architecture using open standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), along with technologies such as Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI), Verifiable Credentials (VC) and Decentralized Identifiers (DID). As outlined in the Digi Yatra registration process, passengers complete a one-time enrolment using Aadhaar verification and a selfie, following which a digital identity credential is created in the Digi Yatra app. For every subsequent journey, travellers upload their boarding pass and share the necessary identity and travel credentials with their departure airport between 24 hours and 60 minutes before departure. At the airport, you can scan your boarding pass at a Digi Yatra