Travelers are beginning to express their preference for biometric options for air travel, as speed and convenience continue to be top priorities. It’s no surprise that young people want their travel experience to be digital, even as they seek assurances of privacy and security. Not all travel is the same, and regional options for digital travel credentials (DTC) are emerging.
These results from the recently released International Air Transport Association (IATA) Global Passenger Survey 2024 point to an even clearer truth: biometric and digital identification technology is changing air travel. In the words of Alan Goode in a recent commentary for Biometric Update“from remote ID verification based on a selfie on your smartphone, to self-bag drop, accessing VIP lounges, going through security, concession shopping, and boarding your plane, train or cruise ship, biometrics is enabling the seamless travel experience.”
Young people prefer digital wallets for convenience, efficiency
“Passengers want flexibility and transparency when planning and booking travel, as well as speed and convenience at the airport,” says IATA Senior Vice President Operations, Safety and Security, Nick Careen, in a release. “There is increasing adoption of biometrics, digital wallets, and out-of-airport processes to do it.”
Among people under 25, 51 percent indicated a preference for a digital wallet as a payment method, and 90 percent expressed interest in using a smartphone with a digital wallet, passport, and loyalty cards for booking, payment, and airport navigation. These numbers exceed the world average. And they are likely to continue to rise, as the boomer generation ages and digital natives form the majority.
“Travellers expect the same conveniences when shopping for travel that they find in any other online shopping experience,” says IATA’s Muhammad Albakri, senior vice president for financial settlement and distribution services. “The industry is stepping up to meet the demand for a greater customer hub through IATA’s Modern Airline Retail initiative. Passengers will gradually have a positive impact in the near future.”
Among the same under-25s, 48 percent prefer biometrics to traditional passports and boarding passes. More people would be interested if data security declarations were more transparent. Experience may also have something to do with this: of the 46 percent of travelers who went through airport processes using biometric identification, 84 percent were satisfied and 75 percent said they preferred biometrics to passports traditional and boarding passes.
Europeans are unlikely to be happy with biometrics
Regionally, Asia Pacific leads the way in the use of mobile apps and digital wallets to book and pay for travel, and the likelihood of using biometric technology at airports. African nations show great interest in the digitization of travel but often face limited options. North American travelers actively use biometric identification for airport processes and report high satisfaction with it.” And Europeans are the most wary of using biometrics, and the least happy.
Specific nations are charting their own path on digital travel credentials. Australia recently announced that it is replacing its Incoming Passenger Card (IPC) with the Australian Travel Declaration (ATD), which allows travelers to share their details with airport security via a QR code on their smartphone. Pilots have begun on select Qantas Airways flights from Auckland to Brisbane, with expansion expected in the coming weeks.
Nigeria is keen on a digital identity for travel, and recently announced its intention to adopt DTCs, to streamline the air travel experience and reduce bureaucratic delays. It is assumed that up to 40 e-verification gates across multiple airports will be operating across the country, based on reports from early 2024.
Although cautious, the EU is also making progress on DTCs, planning a new EU Digital Travel app and a common framework for DTC use. It is hoped that digital credentials could alleviate some of the headaches arising from the EU’s Entry-Exit System (EES).
74% say digital wallets are essential for travel: PYMNTS survey
Survey results from PYMNTS go even further in the adoption of digital wallets for travel. Almost three-quarters (74 percent) of travelers tell the company that digital wallets are “essential” for travel, and it’s not just young people: affluent travelers show a strong preference (82 percent) for transactions using digital wallets.
They have normalized to some extent due to the entry of big, well-known names into the digital wallet space, and international standards bodies that can support the travel industry are helping to align digital identity and digital credentials to the cause as well.
The Phocuswire cover quotes Darrell O’Donnell, executive director of the Global Acceptance Network (GAN), who believes digital wallets will be most useful once the sector integrates different travel systems. “It would make my life so much easier if I could just say, ‘Hi, I’m checking in, here’s my rewards number,’ and have everything connected seamlessly,” he says.
That kind of frictionless, standardized experience is the dream – but there are still verification requirements on both the KYC and KYB sides of the equation.
GAN plans to “offer a trusted exchange to verify the user’s identity and the user to verify the seller, bringing together multiple travel ecosystems, including airlines, hotels, tour operators and loyalty programs, and ensuring privacy and security of data exchange.” He speaks of a “new digital layer to be a ‘DNS for Trust,'” like the Domain Name System (DNS) for the web.
The EUDI Wallet program will be a driver of interoperability
The EU’s digital wallet program (EUDI Wallet) and its current large-scale pilot programs are likely to drive progress in digital credentials and interconnectivity, as national wallet schemes in Member States are required to be interoperable in the European Economic Area. The pilots are testing travel use cases such as hotel checks, ferry tickets and boarding flights.
Per Annet Steenbergen, advisor to the EU Digital Wallet Consortium, “We are getting to a point where you can check into your hotel from your sofa, share your check-in credentials digitally and press your room key your previous wallet. you come But we are still a long way from being able to travel without a physical passport.”
Blockchain and a fuzzy digital identity path
Some see blockchain as a key enabler of reusable digital credentials for easier travel. But there is no consensus regarding its role. For Steenbergen, a secure identity based on the blockchain is a contradiction in terms. “Blockchain writes something in stone, which contradicts privacy, especially the right to be forgotten.” She doubts that it will join the EUDI Wallet ecosystem.
How soon can we expect to travel without a passport?
The biggest question in travel is when the industry can get rid of physical documents altogether. The tools are now available. But legislation moves much more slowly than innovation. “Technically, we can do all of this,” says Steenbergen. “The problem is that current legislation often says that a travel document must be physically checked.”
Alan Goode points out that DTC Type 3, which are digital credentials issued without the need to be linked to a Machine Readable Travel Document (eMRTD), will be introduced in five to ten years. His consulting firm also says the market for government- and commercially-issued digital travel IDs will generate more than $4.6 billion in revenue by 2029. Meanwhile, IATA, which recently published the findings from two proofs of concept on its One ID DTCs and a digital wallet scheme, claims “a fully digital seamless travel experience powered by digital identity and biometrics has moved from theory to proven reality.”
The engines are firing and the runway is cleared. Paperless travel could fly sooner than we think.
Articles Topics
Digital ID | digital travel credentials | digital wallet | facial biometrics | Goode Information | International Air Transport Association | interoperability | travel and tourism
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