IDnow: Making seamless travel a reality with biometrics and reusable digital identity

IDnow, a leading European identity proofing platform provider, is working with IATA and its members on the shared goal of making travelling more seamless. Enabling a low-touch user experience from booking till boarding while simultaneously lowering fraud risks for airlines. Millions of users and hundreds of partners rely on IDnow’s trusted AI-based remote identity proofing, which will empower passengers to arrive ready to fly at the airport.

With over 30 million verified identities in 2022 and a document coverage of over 99 percent in its core markets, IDnow understands that in modern air travel, storing and reusing digital identities and biometrics have a huge potential to shape a whole new passenger experience. Digital identity and biometrics are key to reducing the risk of fraud for airlines, to creating a more seamless and low-touch experience for all passengers, and to providing a GDPR-compliant solution for storing and sharing biometric images for airports and other stakeholders.

To make seamless travel a reality, IDnow is providing its in-house expertise and regulatory know-how in the field of identity proofing and digital identity to solve three core issues that the travel industry is facing today, with the help of remote identity verification and biometrics:

1. Seamless travel: Airlines, hotels and mobility providers alike are looking to improve the overall travel experience and to relieve the operational pressure on their infrastructure by reducing queues and waiting times. This can be achieved by replacing manual document checks at the crucial touchpoints in the passenger’s journey, such as check-in, baggage drop-off, car pick-up or boarding a flight.
   During the pre-airport enrollment, IDnow’s AI-based solutions are capturing the biometric picture via a smartphone app and cross-check them with an official identification document. The biometric image together with the passenger's information can be stored on a smartphone creating a digital identity for later reuse. Connecting the passenger beyond the airport, digital identity can be used to also book a hotel, check-in to a hotel room or rent a car.
2. Counter fraud: In 2021 6.5bn Euros have been lost by fraud in the air travel industry. Therefore, it is crucial to introduce conversion-preserving but effective measures to counter fraudulent bookings and elaborate loyalty fraud schemes. Fraud can be made more difficult by leveraging verified identities in the booking process. IDnow’s solutions can easily be integrated into the air travel booking process to make booking faster while ensuring the customer’s identity is genuine.
3. Compliance: Airlines are facing calls by public authorities for improved data accuracy for Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Record (PNR) data. Relying on a verified digital identity or identity check early in the process enables airlines to share accurate data with public authorities. This increases security levels and lowers the risks of being fined for passengers not eligible to enter the destination country.

In addition to biometric authentication, digital identity can significantly contribute to a more seamless travel experience. It enables individuals to verify, store, and most importantly reuse verified identity information from their smartphone and allow passengers to store anything from government issued ID cards and driver’s licenses, to frequent flyer membership cards.

As digital identity and biometric solutions become more prevalent, the travel industry has the opportunity to leverage these technologies to improve the passenger’s journey even further and revolutionize the mobility and travel sector fundamentally.