British Airways has announced the successful trial of mobile health pass, VeriFLY by Daon, and its subsequent rollout across its network.
The airline has now signed a long-term agreement with Daon in an effort to make travel as hassle-free as possible for its customers. Travellers can upload any Covid-19 related documentation required for their destination, including vaccination records, negative Covid-19 results and government documents, straight into the VeriFLY mobile app so that they are verified before travel. This will allow customers to know if they have met the appropriate Covid-19 entry requirements for their destination before leaving for the airport, avoiding uncertainty.
Besides ensuring that a customer has the correct documentation for their journey, British Airways has further developed the technology to allow customers using VeriFLY to check in online on BA.com.
The airline initially started trialling VeriFLY in February 2021 on selected routes and has seen over 500,000 customers successfully verified before travel. VeriFLY is now available on all flights to North, South and Central America the Caribbean, Middle East, South Africa, Cayman Islands, Egypt and European destinations including Bulgaria, France, Croatia, Ireland and Switzerland, as well as on the majority of flights into the UK.
Anthony Allcock, British Airways’ Chief Information and Digital Officer, said: ‘We started working with Daon at the beginning of this year with one simple objective – to make it as simple as possible for our customers to understand and conform with different country entry requirements when they fly with us. Since then, we have worked with Daon to make it even easier, allowing customers to unlock online check in and automate approvals for digital documentation such as vaccination certificates or the Government’s passenger locator form, helping reduce complexity.
‘We know our customers rely on us to help them through their journey and we will continue to ensure our travel verification processes are the most advanced, reliable and easy to use as we help get the world moving again, especially as we prepare for US borders to reopen on November 8.’
Tom Grissen, Daon CEO, said: ‘British Airways and American Airlines were the first global airlines to truly understand what their customers would need to successfully navigate the ever-changing government travel requirements related to COVID-19. By making VeriFLY available early on, British Airways travellers have had the advantage of a seamless and confident travel experience. We are delighted to see our partnership with British Airways grow stronger. Other organisations and airlines have followed their lead.’
For all other countries that British Airways operates, customers can verify their COVID-19 documents through ‘Manage My Booking’ on ba.com -once verified they will be able to check-in online. Destinations include Hong Kong, Nigeria, Ghana, Singapore, India, Maldives and Pakistan, as well as some European destinations.
