A technology demo can be both incredibly cool, while still having significant negative implications. 16-year old me dreamed about this sort of tech. Current me has seen Minority Report and is not comfortable with faceless corporations unilaterally deciding they want an intimate, personal relationship with me.
Technology is a tool, neither intrinsically good nor evil. Unfortunately the tech industry has, as a whole, shown a stark disrespect for the needs or desires of individuals. Tech culture values monetization over individual autonomy, and that shows little sign of changing. Unfortunately, without a dramatic culture shift, it will continue to be the case that otherwise amazingly incredibly cool tech like this gets subverted to force more "personal" interactions.
It adds the utility of normalizing controversial uses of technology and tracking that are usually hidden behind the scenes out of fear of upsetting people.
Now, if laws on facial recognition are proposeded that keep this from working, there will be an army of millions of commenters protesting the government overreach that is restraining innovation.
I'm not arguing that it's crucial, but I think it's a neat convenience. Everyone has spent time scanning through that list trying to find their flight to see what gate it's at and whether it's leaving on time, information that can change and may not be up to date on the boarding pass.
