On Thursday, American Airlines announced that it is now letting passengers declare their vaccination status for travel to three countries through its VeriFLY digital health passport app. Travelers on their way to the Bahamas, El Salvador, and Guatemala can now upload inoculation certificates and have their validity checked before arriving at the airport.
Helping customers travel with confidence
As more and more countries begin opening up to fully vaccinated travelers, there have been questions surrounding how US citizens will digitally prove their status as the government has said there would be no federal register of vaccinations. However, airlines and health app providers seem to be taking things into their own hands.
American Airlines announced earlier today that it is now allowing vaccinated customers to register with its COVID travel app-of-choice VeriFLY. Travelers can upload photos of both sides of their vaccine certificate to the app before they come to the airport. The VeriFLY team will then validate the documentation.
“VeriFLY gives customers peace of mind that they can meet their destination’s travel requirements and save significant time at the airport. As countries reopen to those who have been vaccinated, we are ready with VeriFLY to help our customers travel with confidence,” Julie Rath, Vice President of Customer Experience at American, said in a statement.
Thus far, the process is only valid for travel to the Bahamas, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Passengers using the app also have access to priority check-in lanes at most of American’s hubs.
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One of many digital health apps
More and more airlines are utilizing third-party health apps to help customers find the specific entry requirements of their destinations and upload their COVID test certificates. While there are several health passports in orbit, VeriFLY, developed by biometric and digital identity software company Daon, is the app of choice for American and several of its oneworld alliance partners: Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Japan Airlines, and Qantas.
The app is available to download for free via the iOS app store or Google Play and is currently available in English, Spanish, and Japanese. Customers then upload documentation of their fulfilled requirements directly to the app.
This then verifies that it is in coherence with the destination’s conditions and offers a simple ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ message. This is intended to streamline procedures at the airport without requiring any additional test verification. The app also notifies passengers when their travel window in relation to the documentation is closing.
How do you feel about uploading your personal medical data to a third-party app? Is it a small price to pay to move freely across the world or too much to ask? Leave a comment below and let us know how you feel.