Taking an international trip on Alaska Airlines?
We’ve all had those frustrating moments: waiting in a line, trying to access something, going through all the steps, and noticing others breezing past us with preferential access. You may have wondered how they got to be VIPs. For many airport fast-track, premium lanes, there is a significant financial cost and/or you’re forced to permanently hand over personal information in exchange for more convenience.
Today, Alaska Airlines is making it possible for international travelers with a U.S. or Canadian passport to verify their passport from home — free, and securely — thereby skipping the airport lobby (aka check-in desk), and passing straight through to the gate to enjoy a cool beverage before boarding. This unique self-service is the result of our new partnership. Airside, an Onfido company, is the first company to bring user-controlled digital identity to the travel industry. Airside’s shareable digital identity has been used by over 10 million travelers and is trusted by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Today we’re thrilled to help Alaska Airlines quickly and securely meet their requirement to verify passports prior to international flights.
This latest step in Alaska’s new lobby experience demonstrates Alaska’s commitment to developing seamless and streamlined airport travel while keeping data privacy paramount in their operations.
How does Alaska Airlines Mobile Verify work?
Before boarding an international flight airlines are required to verify all international documents and information. Previously this meant that you were required to stop at the lobby or gate, wait in line, and show the airline agent your physical passport. Why not set up all of this in advance on your phone, starting as early as the time you book your international flight with Alaska?
Alaska and Airside make it possible for you to prepare early for your international flight, verifying your passport days or weeks ahead of your flight in the Airside app. Alaska will even send you reminders to make sure your day of travel is as easy and smooth as possible.
Using the Airside App, guests on Alaska Airlines can verify and store their passport, then temporarily share it with Alaska for that specific flight. Enrolling your passport on the Airside app only needs to happen once, and then it’s stored and ready to be used again the next time you take an international flight on Alaska. Digitally verifying your passport is a nice improvement to the travel process, but making it reusable is a game changer.
Verify from the comfort of your home, then skip the line each time. It’s free, it’s private, and it’s secure. The only thing you’ll have to worry about is what to do with the extra time.
Why Airside?
The mobile boarding pass introduced us all to the value of completing the check-in process for our flights at home before the chaos of the airport. Adding digital ID verification to this process for international travel is the next step toward convenience, however, the challenge has always been how to protect the privacy of the passenger.
Alaska Airlines values the privacy and security of its guests. They want to offer a fast experience with the convenience of a digital process, but with guests’ privacy and security at the core. So they partnered with Airside, the first company to make user-controlled digital identity a reality in the travel industry.
Neither Alaska nor Airside store any of your data – the technology is created specifically so you hold it on your device and choose when to share it for a limited time. It’s a true user-controlled, privacy-centric sharable digital identity. Storing the information on your device not only keeps it private but also makes it easy to share on your return trip and future international trips. More time spent on the beach – less time in the airport or in the hotel room scanning documents.
With the U.S. Labor Day weekend here and international bookings up a jaw-dropping 44% over last year, the timing of this new service couldn’t be better.
