Washington Dulles International Airport has a new greeter to meet international visitors.
Her name is Paige. And she isn't real.
Paige is a life-size, 3-D, surround-sound hologram that welcomes travelers to the airport's international terminal. The first such hologram in a U.S. airport tells travelers how to get through customs, helping people sort out what papers they need and where they need to be in hopes of eliminating the bottlenecks that often develop there, airport officials said.
Paige can't respond to travelers' questions, but an upgraded version of the hologram now in the works will be more interactive, said representatives from Tensator, the company that made Paige.
"It is very, very cool," said Dennis Hazell, the associate executive staff coordinator for the airport who arranged Paige's installation. "It is just kind of another level of providing a customer experience. ... This kind of 3-D image really gives it a personal feel. It actually looks like a real person."