Amadeus and Star Alliance team up to make contactless travel more accessible

The implementation of digital identity in travel must work from start to finish so that travelers realize its benefits, not just at an airport or a specific airline, but at all stages of their journey. Although the travel industry has been working on the application of biometrics for several years, the many disparate initiatives from various providers mean that travelers have to fill in their identification details on multiple occasions.

At a time when it is crucial to reduce new travel frictions caused by responses to COVID-19, and increase traveler confidence, Amadeus and Star Alliance announce a historic partnership that will enable travelers to enroll in the Star Alliance Biometrics program or in the Amadeus Traveler ID program the benefit of accessing an increasing number of airports where identity verification can be used during your trip. By joining forces, Amadeus and Star Alliance create a more global, frictionless and contactless journey for the millions of frequent fliers enrolled in their respective member airline programs.

Star Alliance Biometrics, launched last month, allows passengers to pass through gate-to-boarding contact points within airports, such as check-in kiosks, baggage drop-off, and boarding gates, which traditionally require both passports such as the boarding pass, by using a secure identity management solution with facial recognition technology, which enables a contactless experience at airports, an important safety feature in times of COVID-19.

At the same time, Amadeus' secure and agnostic identity data verification and exchange solution, Traveler ID, enables a streamlined experience across the entire travel chain by connecting the passenger's digital identity document to any online portal. and biometric at the opportune moments of the trip. In the future, these passengers will be able to use their Traveler ID to also access existing or new airports that have implemented the Star Alliance Biometrics solution.

In both programs, travelers consent to sharing their biometric data with stakeholders of their choice, in accordance with data privacy regulations.

"The best part of this trusted partnership is the way we are building on our individual strengths and working together to deliver a more seamless and safe travel experience," said Christian Draeger, Vice President of Customer Experience for Star Alliance. "It increases our operational capacity by accelerating processes at airports and immediately benefits those who have already enrolled in our program." Through the collaboration between the Star Alliance Biometrics solution and Amadeus Traveler Identification, we have a winning proposal that will cover all aspects of the customer journey. "

"The Traveler ID solution is agnostic, which means all types of travel companies can work with us for a variety of digital identity needs, from traveler enrollment, to organizing multi-vendor collaboration to orchestrate the process. end-to-end identity verification. Ultimately, our goal with Traveler ID is to help the industry deploy frictionless travel across the entire passenger journey. We can only achieve this through collaboration with partners in the travel industry, so we are delighted to be working with Star Alliance to bring this vision to life, "added Monika Wiederhold, EVP Airlines Central & Eastern Europe, Amadeus.