Virgin Atlantic first UK airline for IATA Travel Pass

A one-month trial of the IATA Travel Pass has begun on Virgin Atlantic Heathrow – Barbados services, supporting a frictionless customer experience for permitted trips alongside Covid-19 travel requirements.

The leading digital health pass solution offers a ‘one stop shop’ for customers to collect, store and verify documents on a secure smartphone app.

Effective digital proof of Covid-19 credentials, including test results and vaccinations, must be accepted at borders, with clarity needed from the UK Government ahead of international travel at scale from 17 May.

With the information and flight details already loaded on to their Travel Pass, customers’ experience at Heathrow is swift and efficient, removing paper-based Covid-19 documentation.

When implemented more widely, digital health passes will help reduce check-in times, make border checks more manageable and streamline customer journeys, with a Priority Virgin Atlantic Check-In lane in place at Terminal 2 for IATA Travel Pass holders in the trial.

The one-month trial of the IATA Travel Pass is being run in close collaboration with the Government of Barbados, which is leading the way through its active involvement in the trial.

Corneel Koster, chief customer operating officer, Virgin Atlantic, said: “When international restarts at scale; rapid, affordable testing and effective digital proof of Covid-19 credentials based on global common standards will make journeys easier and provide greater confidence to book. We urge the UK Government to confirm that our customers can use digital apps and that these will be accepted at the UK border. The current paper-only-based processes will not be viable as customer numbers increase.

www.virginatlantic.com

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