Boston Logan Airport Debuts Amelia AI Guide for Access

Boston Logan International Airport has put a life-size artificial intelligence concierge named Amelia into service across its terminals, giving travelers a new way to get directions, parking advice and live security wait times without waiting for a staffed desk. The Massachusetts Port Authority introduced the pilot on September 8 with technology partners Proto Hologram and Holomedia AI, and detailed deployment reporting published September 16 confirms nine display units are now live, as reported by International Airport Review and AirlineGeeks.

The practical decision for travelers is simple: when you are lost inside Logan or lining up curbside, look for the nearest Amelia display before joining a queue for help. The avatar answers in several languages, points you to gates, shops, lounges and baggage claim, and sends a map to your phone. Logan is managing several terminal changes at once, so pair this guide with our report on how Boston Logan shifted Terminal E curb drop-offs on September 14 when you plan your arrival.

Nine Displays Cover Logan With Location Aware Directions

Each of the nine Logan units knows where it stands inside the airport and shapes its answers around the traveler in front of it, according to AirlineGeeks, which interviewed Proto founder and chairman David Nussbaum for its September 16 report. Ask where your gate is and Amelia gives directions from that spot, not a generic terminal map. The current knowledge base covers 400 points of interest, and Nussbaum said the target is 1,000 by the end of the year.

The Logan version is deliberately different from earlier Proto airport work. Other airports have used the hologram boxes mainly for marketing, advertising and entertainment, Nussbaum told AirlineGeeks. At Logan the character is a wayfinding avatar built to answer questions and act as a guide. Massport says Boston Logan is the largest airport to offer the service, and the partners describe it as a complement to existing customer service rather than a replacement for staff.

Forty Languages and Live TSA Wait Times

Amelia can converse in up to 40 languages, with English, Spanish and French included in the pilot, International Airport Review reported. That matters at an international gateway where arriving passengers scatter across terminals with different levels of English. Nussbaum framed the appeal plainly in the AirlineGeeks interview, saying the hologram works like an all-knowing person giving information even after work hours when no humans are immediately available.

The system also folds in live mapping and real-time updates from the Transportation Security Administration, so travelers can check current checkpoint waits and plan around them. The installation is self-contained with its own touchscreen and no external hardware, and Massport intends the concierge to stay available around the clock. For a tight connection, that combination of directions plus a live wait estimate is the most useful new fact in the pilot.

QR Maps and a Human Backup When Answers Run Out

To reduce wrong turns, each display shows a QR code that sends a map with step-by-step directions to the traveler’s phone. That handoff matters because airport directions fail most often thirty seconds after you walk away from the sign. When a conversation reaches a point the software cannot answer, the system contacts a human agent who calls the passenger directly on their phone, closing the loop instead of leaving the traveler stranded.

Early engagement has held up better than the company expected. Nussbaum told AirlineGeeks he worried usage would spike at launch and then fade, but members of the public have interacted with the Proto displays every hour of every day since launch. That sustained use is the clearest signal so far that travelers treat the avatar as a tool rather than a novelty, and it supports Massport’s case for keeping the pilot running through busy terminal construction.

Accessibility Built Into the Pilot Design

The pilot carries accessibility features that go beyond a standard help kiosk. International Airport Review reported high-contrast displays, closed captioning, mapping that meets Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and wheelchair-accessible positioning for the units. Those choices widen the audience to deaf and hard-of-hearing travelers, low-vision passengers and wheelchair users who cannot always reach a wall-mounted screen or hear a gate agent across a noisy hall.

Holomedia AI founder Glenn E. Smith said Amelia was designed to meet travelers where they are, in their language and at their pace, so they can navigate with confidence. For travelers planning assistance needs in advance, the practical read is that Logan now has an always-on option alongside staffed desks. It does not replace requesting wheelchair assistance or airline help for boarding, but it adds a backup source of directions at any hour.

More Airports Are Testing the Same Wayfinding Idea

Proto displays have also appeared at New York Kennedy, LaGuardia, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Dayton, Jacksonville, Louisville and Nashville airports, plus the Delta Flight Museum in Georgia, and the company told AirlineGeeks it expects to announce more airport partnerships very soon. Travelers who connect through those airports may meet a similar avatar, though each airport would likely get its own character designed with Proto rather than a copy of Amelia.

The company also separated its hologram software from the display-box hardware, so future versions could run on ordinary airport screens without the three-dimensional effect. For now the Logan boxes keep the full depth display. The trend to watch is whether wayfinding avatars spread from pilot curiosities into standard terminal equipment the way self-service kiosks once did, with Logan as the largest test case.