In this article…
- Biometrics is becoming the backbone of seamless travel
- Trusted identity connects every stage of the journey
- AI has the power to elevate travel experiences when grounded in real-time journey context
- True travel transformation depends on connecting stakeholders across the end-to-end journey
If you’ve recently opened a bank account it’s likely you didn’t visit a branch. Instead, you probably applied online and verified your identity with biometrics. The experience of opening an account has improved significantly for customers and become more efficient for banks.
The combination of digital identity and biometrics is poised to have far greater impact on travel. This combination not only reduces friction associated with travelers identifying multiple times during a journey, but it also ties the entire trip (digital and physical) together.
That’s why Amadeus has been investing in biometrics and digital identity for many years. It’s also why we intend to accelerate our strategy by acquiring IDEMIA Public Security (IPS), subject to closing. This is another step in how Amadeus is orchestrating seamless journeys end-to-end.
Amadeus’ strategy is to orchestrate the traveler’s journey – but what does that mean?
In practice orchestration is about coordinating a journey provided by several different organizations e.g. airlines, a hotel, a car rental firm, and a wide cast of supporting players like airports, ground handlers, border authorities, and payments companies.
The goal is ensuring information is available when and where it’s needed so the best possible decisions can be taken and an excellent experience delivered for the traveler. Amadeus doesn’t do this alone. Our role is connecting the travel ecosystem and supporting our customers to remove friction during the journey.
Identity: the trusted foundation that brings it all together
It’s hard to overstate the importance of identity in travel. When an airline knows who you are, it can personalize your offer and tailor your experience. If the gate agent knows you’ve completed security they can decide to delay departure until you board. If a government knows you’ll be arriving it can undertake background checks in advance so you can cross the border more easily. If the car rental firm is sure it’s you it can release the key automatically without a queue. The hotel can offer self-service check-in and personalize your stay.
Biometric touchpoints throughout the journey establish trust at every step. This infrastructure ties different stages of the journey together so we can remove friction and improve the traveler experience.
One example is our collaboration with Indonesia’s Directorate General of Immigration, where our Seamless Corridor is now live at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and Surabaya’s Juanda International Airport. For eligible travelers, this means a fully frictionless arrival experience, no stopping for border checks, no documents to present, no queues, with AI-powered biometrics verifying identities on the move.
Source: Amadeus