And guinea pigs will fly, to paraphrase what is an accepted allegory for the absurd (rather appropriately).
One just did.
An unnamed passenger flew from London to Rome, without taking either their passport or the boarding pass out of their pocket.
It was done by arrangement by IATA and their partners to prove what is possible in this new age of biometric measurement.
Proving it can be done, alas, is very different from implementing it for a large number of passengers.
Convincing the airline authorities is one thing, winning an argument against the various layers of airport security and the immigration officials, never mind their, often paranoid, political masters, is a gargantuan task.
But when our passenger walked out of the terminal in Rome, a small step of that journey had been taken.
Willie Walsh the Glasnevin born CEO of IATA says “the items that are highlighted by customers as top priorities continue to be convenience and speed and what people want is to spend less time on going through various processes inflight but more importantly at the airport. Process like going through security and border control.
People are satisfied the convenience around the booking process. They’d like to have access to information in one single place do search for it and greater clarity around what is included and what is optional.
When offered the speed and the option of completing processes of airport like immigration 45pc pf people are willing to share their data to lead to a more convenient and faster process.
Nick Careen of IATA said: “In future, a smart phone storing a digital wallet that is loaded with your digital passport, loyalty cards and other verifiable travel credential, is all that will be needed to travel. Achieving that reality needs the kind of cooperation that we have demonstrated today with 11 companies coming together to facilitate the first fully integrated digital journey. Success, of course, is underpinned by interoperability and global standards—so the advantage of the digital travel conveniences are available to travellers throughout their journey and wherever it may take them.”
The companies involved in the project include Accenture, Amadeus, Australian Border Force, AWS, Branchspace, British Airways, IDnow, Aeroporti di Roma, SICPA, Trip.com, and Verchaska.
