IATA Travel Pass To Be Trialed By British Airways
A new announcement of another carrier, British Airways, begins to trial IATA Travel Pass, a digital travel solution on flights from Heathrow airport in London to Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland on Tuesday, June 1st. This technology aims at getting travelers safely back in the air, followed by an unstable year for the aviation industry.
This app can be downloaded directly from the app store. As soon as the application on the mobile device has been downloaded, the customers will be able to create a secure account, and they will be presented with the entry requirements for their destination. In addition, this app will have the results of the covid-19 test uploaded automatically, provided by an approved laboratory, further reducing the administrative burden.
The application will then check if the flyer will meet the entry criteria to their chosen destination and notify the user that they are ready to travel. British Airways parent company International Airlines Group (IAG) has been closely monitoring and working with IATA to co-develop the Digital Travel Pass app that has now been successfully operated by other global airlines, including the sister airline of British Airways, Iberia Airlines.
British Airways Chairman and CEO Sean Doyle said in a statement to Travel Radar that “We stay committed to exploring ways to ensure that the customer journey is as frictionless as possible and sharing our pieces of knowledge to help the travel industry take off again.
We know that digital travel passes are part of the solution, and those Travel Passes will also play a major part in offering those traveling the reassurance they need before they arrive at the airport. In addition, for every British Airways international flight route, we hope to be able to offer a customer-friendly digital choice that needs proof of government-mandated Covid status documentation.”
Currently, British Airways is also trailing the Digital Travel Pass app, VeriFLY, on the flight routes to countries including the United States, Canada, France, Barbados, Bahamas and Ireland, and other inbound international flights. Although at the moment, a customer has got their travel documentation certified through the app, they will be able to check-in either via the British Airways website or through the British Airways app and download their boarding pass before arriving at the airport.
What is an IATA Travel Pass?
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) introduced a Travel pass, which helps travelers store and manage their verified certifications of covid-19 tests and future covid-19 vaccinations. It is a mobile application built on credential technology, a new standard for digital identity verification that lets travelers control their data. Verifiable credentials allow travelers to hold their identity documents, including the covid-19 test results in the form of digital “credentials” around the secure smartphone “digital wallet” app and make them control when and to whom they should share the credentials. Unlike the usual identity models, the verifiable credential model is decentralized, which means there can be no data intermediaries and no sensitive data stored on a centralized database.
IATA says by using the Travel Pass, both the passenger and government will have confidence while traveling during the covid-19 recovery era in every individual’s verified covid-19 status. The system allows showing the certification results to multiple airlines, airports, and authorities to further harmonize the travel experience. IATA also released further information about the Travel Pass that will gain global acceptance as a means of safe travel.