American Airlines is introducing new onboard amenity kits for premium cabin customers in partnership with Shinola and D.S. & Durga.
These thoughtful and creative partners will help keep memories of customers’ travels top of mind, even when customers aren’t flying 35,000 feet in the air.
Clarissa Sebastian, Managing Director of Premium Customer Experience and Onboard Products for American Airlines, said
American often seeks brands that are rooted in creativity, especially those that celebrate travel before, during and after the actual journey. D.S. & Durga and Shinola underscore what we value in our partners at American — the ability to inspire connection with people or places that matter and experiences that enrich us.
Founded in Detroit, Shinola is a luxury design brand with an unwavering commitment to crafting products that are built to last, including world-class watches and premium leather goods. The new amenity kit bag was meticulously designed exclusively for American to get customers from place to place in style, while also offering the functionality to be repurposed post-flight to collect keepsakes or organise essentials for future journeys.
New York-based D.S. & Durga are perfumers known for ‘transportive’ fragrances with rich narratives. The amenity kits include aromas Rose Atlantic and Radio Bombay in lip balms and lotions. Rose Atlantic is inspired by summers on the New England coast with aromas of wild rose and the salty sea. Radio Bombay is described by the perfumers as a journey to the old days of Mumbai as ‘hot copper tubes warm the soft wood releasing the blooms of musk, cream, peach, ambrette, coco and cedar distillates’.
The new amenity kits, which are pouches of personal care items wrapped in sustainable packaging that American provides for premium customers on long-haul international and transcontinental flights, begin rolling out flights operating between the United States and Heathrow. This includes service to Heathrow from Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, Charlotte, New York City, Philadelphia and Seattle.
The kits will roll out across other long-haul international and transcontinental flights throughout the summer.
Shinola has a reputation for assembling world-class clocks with an affinity for unique design. As an extension of AA’s partnership, Shinola is creating a desk clock featuring a dial made entirely from the original metal of American’s iconic, but now retired, fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft.
The MD-80s were the long-time backbone of American’s fleet, carrying customers for more than 35 years before it was retired in 2019.
Each dial is unique and bears small markings from the aircraft’s decades of service. Clock dials are hand-cut and re-polished under the watchful eye of Moto Art in California, with final assembly in Shinola’s Detroit factory.
Shinola is creating a limited 1,000 desk clocks, and later this summer, Shinola wall clocks will be featured in select Admirals Club lounges.
As the humanitarian crisis in India worsens, British Airways has announced it will fly a Boeing 777-200 aircraft loaded with emergency aid to Delhi to support the Indian government as the country continues to battle rising Coronavirus cases with dwindling oxygen supplies.
1,349 items of aid will depart on an aircraft specially chartered by British Airways and supported by volunteers from the airline to ensure life-saving supplies reach the country urgently. British Airways Chairman and CEO Sean Doyle says the airline has offered the support free.
Khalsa Aid is an international NGO with the aim to provide humanitarian aid in disaster areas and civil conflict zones around the world
The airline commissioned a special project team to organise the flight, due to leave on Wednesday 5 May at 5pm, landing in Delhi at 5.45am (local time) on Thursday 6 May. The aircraft is loaded with more than a thousand items from the High Commission of India and charities including Khalsa Aid International and the largest Hindu Temple outside of India, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, in Neasden, London.
The load includes hundreds of urgent life-saving oxygen cylinders and shipments of oxygen concentrators, respirators and blood oxygen saturation monitors. British Airways is also donating care packages for families in need.
While IAG Cargo and British Airways have maintained a vital air link
between London and India throughout the pandemic, sending aid on
scheduled flights, this air lift is a special charter, fully funded
by the two companies.
Captain Minesh Patel, commanding the relief service, is a member of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir temple
Sean Doyle, British Airways’ Chief Executive and CEO, said:
The British Airways family has been deeply affected by the terrible scenes in India of the deepening humanitarian crisis that has impacted the lives of many of our people. We are fortunate to be in a position to help transport aid and I am so proud of the volunteers from across the airline and IAG Cargo who have stepped up to make this happen. We continue to stand with our friends in India as the country endures one of the worst crises it has ever known.
British Airways works in partnership with the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which is organising the UK’s humanitarian response. Saleh Saeed, Chief Executive of the Disasters Emergency Committee, said:
The DEC brings together 14 leading UK aid charities to respond quickly and effectively to disasters, with the fantastic support of partners in the corporate sector, including British Airways. We are hugely grateful to British Airways for springing into action to support our emergency appeals, enabling us to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance to people in India and elsewhere across the world when disaster strikes.
Captain Minesh Patel has been instrumental in helping to organise the flight and is commanding the relief service. He said:
It seemed natural to connect British Airways with the wealth of aid and relief material amassed by BAPS in the UK to enable the medical supplies to reach the organisation’s volunteers in India who can provide relief, medical and social aid to the victims in the worst affected regions.
The airline’s people have also raised several thousand pounds for the DEC’s appeal through internal online donations.
https://gtm.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Copy-of-Web-Global-Travel-Taskforce.png312820Davehttps://gtm.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Smarter-Better-Fairer-GTM-logo_02.pngDave2021-05-05 18:22:452021-05-05 18:24:33British Airways is flying 27 tonnes of medical aid to Delhi
Finnair will start accepting a Covid-19 vaccination certificate from the first vaccination dose as an alternative to a negative test result or a certificate of a previous Covid-19 infection, on Finnair flights to Finland from 11 May, 2021.
Since late January 2021, Finnair has required that all passengers travelling to Finland – excluding transfer passengers – present either a negative test certificate or an immunity/recovery certificate as a prerequisite for boarding, in line with the recommendation by the Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare.
In addition, from 11 May, there is no requirement for children under the age of 16 to present a health certificate, but Finnair recommends children between 12 and 15 years of age arrive with proof of a negative test result. This is to speed up the arrival procedure at Helsinki Airport, where passengers with a negative test result are exempt from testing on arrival.
Kimmo Ketola, Finnair Medical Director said,
Vaccines have proven their power in fighting the pandemic, and vaccination certificates will play a key role in the upcoming EU Digital Green Certificate to ensure the health and safety of travellers.
The likelihood of a vaccinated person being infected and transmitting Covid-19 is very small.
Finnair will accept vaccination certificates for all Covid-19 vaccines approved by the World Health Organization or the European Medical Agency. The vaccine needs to be administered at least 21 days before the travel date. The certificate needs to include the customer’s name, date of birth, the name of the vaccine producer, the time and place the vaccine was administered, as well as the issuer of the certificate.
As an alternative to the vaccination certificate, customers can present proof of a negative Covid-19 test result or a certificate of a previous Covid-19 infection.
Paul Baker, Sales Director of GTM explained what this can mean for UK-based business travellers,
Finnair specialises in traffic between Europe and Asia, because the fastest connections between many European destinations and Asian megacities fly over Finland. Finnair’s requirement of a Covid-19 vaccine certificate as an alternative to a negative Covid-19 test will be useful for British business travellers, since the vaccine rollout has been so successful in the UK so far.
Finnair closely follows the development of health and safety measures in travel, and regularly updates its own procedures. Finnair flights have comprehensive health and safety measures in place, including a requirement to wear a mask during the flight. Measures are also in place when boarding and disembarking the aircraft, as well as during the flight.
Passengers will need to be sure of the travel restrictions in place between the UK and Finland and should check with GTM before travelling.
https://gtm.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Finnair-Covid-vax-certificate.png312820Davehttps://gtm.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Smarter-Better-Fairer-GTM-logo_02.pngDave2021-04-26 11:51:232021-04-26 11:51:29Finnair to accept Covid-19 vaccination certificate as an alternative to negative test result or an immunity certificate when travelling to Finland
Airports Council International (ACI) World has published its preliminary world airport traffic rankings – covering passenger traffic and aircraft movements for 2020 – showing the dramatic impact of Covid-19 on what are ordinarily the world’s busiest airports.
Global passenger traffic at the world’s top 10 busiest airports decreased by 45.7% in 2020. Overall, passenger traffic at the world’s airports decreased by 64.6% which shows that the impact of the pandemic and the early stages of recovery in air travel has not been uniform around the world.
According to the preliminary data, Guangzhou Bai Yun International Airport in China recorded the most passenger traffic in 2020, with Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in the United States just behind.
Seven of the top 10 airports for passenger traffic are in China with three in the United States. In most cases, domestic air travel is beginning a modest rebound while international air travel remained depressed because of travel restrictions.
Luis Felipe de Oliveira, Director General of ACI World said,
The impact of the COVID-19 on global passenger traffic pandemic brought aviation to a virtual standstill in 2020 and we continue to face threat. The data reveals the challenge airports continue to face and it remains imperative that the industry is supported through direct support and sensible policy decisions from governments to ensure that aviation can endure, rebuild connectivity, and fuel a global economic recovery.
The findings show that the impact remains uneven with different regions experiencing different challenges and requiring different policy decisions and support from governments to lay the foundation for recovery.
With some positive signs of recovery, especially in countries with high rates of vaccination, a sustained global recovery will only be realized with an escalation of vaccination campaigns, the continued development of digital health passes, and coordinated and cohesive policy support from governments.
Air cargo was less impacted by COVID 19, with volumes decreasing by only 8.9%, to an estimated 109 million metric tonnes in 2020, equivalent to 2016 levels (110 million metric tonnes).
For airports, revenues are tightly correlated to traffic levels but, like many other capital-intensive businesses, a large proportion of airport costs remain fixed and do not fall at the same level as traffic throughput and revenues during the crisis. Even with reduced operations, the closure of terminals and staff layoffs, this imbalance remains.
Airports in China occupied seven of the top ten positions in 2020. Atlanta slipped to second position, having seen a reduction in passenger traffic of 61.2%. Chengdu and Shenzen both moved up 21 places, Kunming 29, Xi’an 30 while Shanghai moved up 37 places. Dubai retained its position as the world’s busiest international airport in 2020. Amsterdam and Heathrow swapped places. Istanbul and Doha both moved up eight positions in the table.
https://gtm.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Airports.png312820Davehttps://gtm.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Smarter-Better-Fairer-GTM-logo_02.pngDave2021-04-23 15:49:082021-04-23 15:49:10Uneven effect of Covid-19 shakes up the lists of busiest airports
A framework to chart the safe return of international travel has been set out today (9 April 2021) by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
A traffic light system, which will categorise countries based on risk alongside the restrictions required for travel, will be set up to protect the public and the vaccine rollout from international Covid-19 variants.
Key factors in the assessment will include:
the percentage of their population that have been vaccinated
the rate of infection
the prevalence of variants of concern
the country’s access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing
The report, produced by the Global Travel Taskforce, shows how international leisure travel could resume from 17 May 2021 at the earliest, in an accessible and affordable way. This includes the removal of the permission to travel form – meaning passengers would no longer need to prove they have a valid reason to leave the country.
The risks posed by Covid-19 variants remain significant, and restrictions for inbound passengers, such as 10-day managed quarantine, home quarantine and stringent testing will remain in place, but will apply to people differently depending on whether the destination visited is categorised as ‘green’, ‘amber’ or ‘red’.
Green: arrivals will need to take a pre-departure test as well as a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on or before day 2 of their arrival back into the UK – but will not need to quarantine on return (unless they receive a positive result) or take any additional tests, halving the cost of tests on their return from holiday
Amber: arrivals will need to quarantine for a period of 10 days and take a pre-departure test, and a PCR test on day 2 and day 8 with the option for Test to Release on day 5 to end self-isolation early
Testing remains an essential part of protecting public health as restrictions begin to ease, with all arrivals who are not exempt required to book a pre-departure, day 2 and day 8 test before travelling.
Arrivals travelling from ‘red list’ countries should book a quarantine package before departure, and arrivals from ‘amber’ and ‘green’ countries will be required to book test packages before travelling from one of the government’s approved list of providers.
Testing post-arrival remains an important tool in wider measures to manage the risk of imported cases allowing the monitoring of positive tests and ensure people isolate, as well as identifing and genomically sequencing variants of concern.
It is too early to predict which countries will be on which list over the summer, and the government continues to consider a range of factors to inform the restrictions placed on them. The government has committed to set out by early May which countries will fall into each category, as well as confirming whether international leisure travel can resume from 17 May 2021.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:
International travel is vital – it boosts businesses and underpins the UK economy – but more than that, it brings people together, connects families who have been kept apart, and allows us to explore new horizons.
The framework announced today will help allow us to reopen travel safely and sustainably, ensure we protect our hard-won achievements on the vaccine roll out, and offer peace of mind to both passengers and industry as we begin to take trips abroad once again.
The UK will also play a leading role in the development of international standards around a digital travel certification system. The Department for Transport (DfT) is working across government to consider the role certification could play in facilitating outbound travel, for those countries which have systems in place. Work also continues to develop a system that would facilitate travel certification for inbound international travel.
To give passengers more certainty when travelling, a ‘green watchlist’ will be introduced to help identify countries most at risk of moving from ‘green’ to ‘amber’. The watchlist will provide greater assurance for those who wish to travel abroad.
While the watchlist will warn travellers of potential changes in advance, the government will not hesitate to act immediately should the data show that countries risk ratings have changed.
The allocation of countries will be kept under review and respond to emerging evidence, with a particular focus on variants of concern.
Restrictions will be formally reviewed on 28 June 2021 to take account of the domestic and international health picture, and to see whether current measures could be rolled back. Further formal reviews will take place at checkpoints no later than 31 July and 1 October 2021.
To ensure the UK’s borders remain safe and efficient when passenger flows increase, the government has also announced plans to digitise the passenger locator form, integrating it into the UK border system and enabling checks to take place at e-gates ‘by autumn 2021’.
To further boost consumer confidence, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will be given additional enforcement powers to act on airlines that have breached consumer rights, with a dedicated consultation on how to use additional tools to enforce consumer rights expected later this year.
Global Travel Management will continue to provide updates to customers via this website, the GTM Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn pages and regular email notifications.
You can download the Global Travel Taskforce report here and access the appendix to the report here.
https://gtm.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Web-Global-Travel-Taskforce.png312820Davehttps://gtm.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Smarter-Better-Fairer-GTM-logo_02.pngDave2021-04-09 08:01:232021-04-12 15:35:06Global Travel Taskforce sets out framework
Almost all overseas business travel now requires the presentation of certification confirming a negative Covid-19 test. These tests are a government-mandated requirement prior to passing international borders – the absence of a test may mean boarding flights is denied.
On this page, we have provided links to three lists of Covid test resources. A searchable list from airline alliance Skyteam; a list of testing facilities located at UK and overseas airports; and the UK-based Covid testing resources provided by the UK Department for Health and Social Care.
Skyteam, trough a partnership with TrustAssure, has provided a searchable database of Covid-19 testing centres.
Global Travel Management has provided the following list of UK and overseas airports with testing facilities with links for further information, such as how to book:
The UK Department of Health and Social Care has produced this list of private sector, non-NHS resources in the UK which provide negative Covid-19 tests, prior to flying. The list contains email and telephone contact details:
British Airways has announced it will be protecting the Tier status of Executive Club members for a further year. This means that any member renewing in 2021 will enjoy their status for another year, irrespective of how many Tier Points they earn.
Eligible members will receive an additional 12 months on their Tier status expiry date which will be updated in their Executive Club accounts this week.
Niall Rooney, Head of the British Airways Executive Club, said:
As we await the Government’s decision in April and plan for the safe restart of travel as soon as possible, we want to thank our Executive Club members for their loyalty during the most difficult time in the airline’s history.
We know many of our members haven’t been able to travel, but today’s news means they can keep their benefits for longer and use them when they’re able to fly again. We hope this complements a number of measures we’ve already introduced, including our book with confidence commitment, which provides flexibility and reassurance for our customers.
No British Airways Executive Club member, including Bronze, Silver and Gold card holders will lose their Tier status in 2021.
The announcement means that qualifying members will have received two years of protection. It also means that no British Airways Executive Club member will lose their Tier status in 2021.
On top of this Tier extension, in February, British Airways announced a six-month extension to all Executive Club vouchers, due to expire before 31 December 2021. This was the third extension that was applied, following similar extensions in March 2020 and October 2020 and included Gold Upgrade Vouchers and American Express Companion Vouchers. British Airways is also adding an additional six-months validity to all new Companion Voucher or Travel Together tickets earned between June 2020 and the end of December 2021.
Finally, British Airways continues to reduce the amount of Tier Points needed to reach each Tier by 25% for those whose Tier Point collection year ends before July 2022.
https://gtm.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/BA-Tier-Status.png312820Davehttps://gtm.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Smarter-Better-Fairer-GTM-logo_02.pngDave2021-03-09 12:01:592021-03-09 12:09:47British Airways protects Tier status for Executive Club members
Now more than ever, businesses are taking into consideration the relationship between travel and the environment. Corporates want to ensure they are acting ethically and responsibly, but at the same time, commercial pressures mean travelling remains a crucial fact of business life.
Catastrophe terminology like ‘climate crisis’, ‘#flightshame’, ‘climate emergency’ and ‘global threat’ are commonplace in media reports whenever climate summits or protests take place.
This is causing a change in consumer behaviour. Customers are now looking to do business with suppliers who take their environmental responsibility seriously.
Business is now won not just by competing on price and
product, but by demonstrating awareness and leadership in the sphere of climate
responsibility.
For this reason, small investments businesses make in order to demonstrate their climate leadership can produce returns in terms of publicity, goodwill and, of course, making a difference to the climate crisis.
Finalist: the GTM Carbon Offset Programme has been named as a finalist in the first ever Star Sustainability Initiative
With this in mind, Global Travel Management has set up its Carbon Offset Programme, enabling corporate customers of any size to participate in a sustainable, low-cost, high-impact scheme to remove carbon from the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide is added to the atmosphere by human activities. When we burn fuels like wood, coal, natural gas, gasoline and oil, carbon dioxide is released. During this burning, carbon from the fossil fuels combine with oxygen in the air to form carbon dioxide and water vapour.
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere then traps heat and makes global temperatures rise.
Earth’s global average surface temperature in 2020 was one of the warmest years on record. As temperature levels rise, floods, droughts, storms and crop failures intensify.
To reduce these levels, in order to restore the planet’s natural balance we must slow down our consumption, cut our emissions or draw existing carbon out of the atmosphere.
Power generation, deforestation and road transport are among the worst offenders. Drawing existing carbon out of the atmosphere is a priority. It will require massive efforts from many different sectors, with a combination of approaches.
Travel is a comparatively small contributor, however travel has high value transactions where offsetting is a relatively small percentage of the transaction value. That gives travellers a great opportunity to demonstrate leadership in the battle against unsustainably high carbon dioxide levels.
As trees grow, they absorb and store carbon dioxide emissions, then release oxygen into the air.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Ward Crowther is the chief scientific advisor to the UN’s Trillion Tree Campaign.
It is estimated that 12,000 years ago there were 6 trillion trees on Earth.
Today, there are only about, 3 trillion.
Yet, despite human activities, agriculture and urbanisation we still have 900 million hectares of tree restoration potential in the world.
Currently, tree planting is considered to be one of the most cost effective methods of offsetting carbon dioxide. Scientists know of no other current carbon drawdown solution that is quantitatively as large in terms of carbon capture.
Trees clean the air by absorbing harmful carbon dioxide; help to filter the water we drink; provide habitat to over 80% of terrestrial biodiversity; provide jobs to over 1.6 billion people; provide key ingredients in 25% of all medicines; provide fruit, nuts, berries and leaves for consumption by humans and animals; and help support the welfare of local communities.
In short, planting trees is the best, most sustainable, effective way for humans to counteract the damaging effect of carbon dioxide emissions.
Each time you travel on business, we calculate the carbon dioxide emissions from your flights.
We use a combination of calculations, based on three protocols.
DEFRA The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – UK. The government conversion factors for greenhouse gas reporting are for use by UK and international organisations to report on greenhouse gas emissions.
GHG Protocol The Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard provides calculation tools, requirements and guidance for companies and other organisations preparing a corporate-level GHG emissions inventory.
IPCC The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change – 195 member countries.
This gives us a calculation showing the mass of greenhouse gas emission in kg.
We then show you how many trees would need to be planted in order to absorb that mass of greenhouse gas, over the course of a ten-year lifecycle.
We provide a cost per tree for sourcing, delivering and planting those trees. And we provide you with the details of the the trees you have purchased to offset your trips.
In this way, the total greenhouse gas emissions for each trip will be offset by carbon sequestration – that is, the absorption by the trees of carbon dioxide.
You can choose to offset the emissions for a single trip, or arrange to buy trips on a quarterly basis to offset all of your business travel over that period.
A typical hardwood tree will sequester (absorb) 163kg of carbon dioxide in the first ten years of its growth (source: Trees4Travel). Each tree continues to sequester carbon dioxide throughout its estimated 150-year lifecycle, creating an even more beneficial effect on atmospheric carbon.
Co-founders of Trees4Travel Nico Nicholas (top) and Elkie Nicholas
The Global Travel Management Carbon Offset Programme is provided in partnership with Trees4Travel Ltd.
Trees4Travel is a business set up by founders Nico and Elkie Nicholas who, together with their team want to do good and make a difference to the world.
The Trees4Travel team organises, manages and oversees the full project of buying, distributing and arrange the planting of saplings within carefully-managed forestry projects in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Australia and Africa.
The newly-planted saplings are watered and maintained and the Trees4Travel team visits, photographs and films them, on-site.
Contact Scott Pawley to find out how to offset your business travel carbon emissions Trees4Travel@gtm.uk.com
If you would like to start offsetting your business travel carbon emissions, or would just like to know how much it would cost, we can walk you through the process.
Global Travel Management managing director, Scott Pawley explains;
When corporate clients talk to me about offsetting their business travel carbon emissions, there are usually two questions they want answers to. First, ‘how much is it going to cost?’ And second, once I have shown them the costs, ‘how do I start?’
The first thing we do is analyse the last full year’s flights the corporate has taken. We look into the class, departure and arrival cities, type of aircraft… everything we need in order to ascertain a measurement, within the Defra guidelines, of greenhouse gas emissions.
Once we have analysed and produced that figure, we can show it as a total mass, in kilograms of GHG – greenhouse gas.
This figure is then used to determine how many trees would need to be planted to offset that amount of carbon over a ten-year lifecycle of the trees. And we show the cost to plant that number of trees. It’s as simple as that.
When a corporate agrees to buy the trees, our partners at Trees4Travel take over. They source, acquire, ship and arrange planting of the saplings. These are taken care of by the local forest management organisation. At the end of each year, Trees4Travel then provide a running total of the numbers of trees planted for the corporate along with the mass of GHG those trees have absorbed.
Scott explained an offer he can make:
I would like to show you how little it would cost for you to offset the carbon emissions from your business travel. Drop me an email on the address below and I will analyse your business travel carbon emissions and show you how many trees you would need to buy. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
To find out how many tress you would need to plant to offset your business travel carbon emissions, start by dropping us an email here Trees4Travel@gtm.uk.com.
Scott added:
We all need to leave a legacy of for our children’s futures. What better way than to make a significant, positive impact to the environment, so that we leave the planet better than how we found it?
https://gtm.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Totals-April-2024.png312830Davehttps://gtm.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Smarter-Better-Fairer-GTM-logo_02.pngDave2021-03-05 08:00:322024-04-03 10:01:29We plant trees to offset carbon dioxide
British Airways has announced customers can order discounted global antigen tests from Government-approved COVID-19 testing provider, Qured, at an exclusive price of £33.
The convenient rapid test kits are can be ordered to any UK address. Customers can take the kits, which are designed to be portable, with them abroad, in preparation for their return journey to the UK.
The test is remotely administered by a professional health advisor over a scheduled video call. The health advisor will guide the customer through taking a nose and throat swab and processing the sample. Verified results are available after twenty minutes, and the customer can download a ‘fit to fly’ certificate if the test is negative.
British Airways’ CEO Sean Doyle, said:
As we look forward and prepare for a safe return to travel, we remain focused on finding and offering the most convenient and affordable testing options for our customers.
Our teams were pleased to discover Qured, a unique new option which removes uncertainty and unnecessary expense for customers who may be concerned about sourcing a pre-departure test while away from home.
Qured’s CEO Alex Templeton, said:
Our accessible rapid testing service takes the hassle out of finding a test abroad. As a trusted healthcare provider we look forward to delivering an exceptional patient experience to British Airways’ customers and to working with them on a safe return to travel.
To find out more information on Qured, and all the other testing options and discounts available, customers can visit British Airways’ testing page on ba.com.
Rapid Covid-19 tests use a diagnostic lateral flow device to confirm the presence or absence of the virus. Qured’s rapid tests use a nose and/or throat swab to transfer the sample onto a lateral flow cassette. The lateral flow devices Qured uses have all been independently validated by Public Health England.
What is the Qured lateral flow test process?
Once a test is purchased, the customer will receive the test kit via next-day delivery.
Customers will be sent a unique link to sign up and book their virtual clinic slot.
Prior to the virtual appointment the patient will receive a link to access Qured’s secure video consultation platform. They will then be asked to enter their name.
The customer will enter the virtual waiting room and an expert health advisor will start the call at their chosen time.
The customer is then guided through the test procedure and the whole process takes around 10 minutes.
Result is available 20 minutes after the customer has completed the test. They will then email a photo of their ID and the LFD to Qured for verification.
The customer is notified via text and email that their test result is available, and if negative, they can download a ‘fit to fly’ certificate to be presented at the airport or uploaded to the VeriFly app.
British Airways has announced it intends to increase its trial of the VeriFLY digital health app across all its international flights operating into the UK.
The expansion, which comes in to effect from 15 February, is designed to help those eligible to travel to ‘navigate the changing entry requirements and facilitate a seamless journey’ by ensuring customers are ready to fly and have the appropriate documentation in place, before departing for the airport.
The use of the mobile travel health app is optional, and will not be a mandatory requirement.
The trial is part of the airline’s ongoing work to explore digital health travel wallet and document verification solutions which help customers and support the government in ensuring conformance with the UK’s entry requirements.
The news also comes as IATA’s Director General and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac reaffirmed that it was working closely with IAG, British Airways’ parent company, on its IATA Travel Pass app which is being developed to launch in the coming weeks.
Sean Doyle, British Airways’ CEO said:
We know that digital health apps and wallets will likely become commonplace when travel opens up again. We are exploring every available solution to support eligible customers and the UK government both during this period of limited travel and in preparation for a time when restrictions are eased, when we hope many more people will be able to resume flying again.
VeriFLY, which can be downloaded to a mobile device, is designed to offer peace of mind before travel by checking customers meet the entry requirements of their destination by providing digital health document verification and confirming eligibility.
Use of the VeriFLY app will be optional and customers will also continue to be able to show they meet a country’s entry requirements at check-in.
The app has been pioneered by private software company, Daon, which also works with some of the world’s leading banking and credit card companies. The software will allow people to combine travel verification documents and Covid-19 test results in one place, ensuring travellers are fully compliant with the entry requirements for their destination before leaving home.
Certified customers will be fast-tracked through the airport where specially designated desks will be available for check in.
British Airways had previously announced it would be the first UK airline to start trialling VeriFLY and customers have been invited to have the option of using it since 4 February on all flights from London to the US. Since then, the trial has been extended to offer customers on inbound flights to the UK from the US the option to use it.
American Airlines, British Airways’ joint business and oneworld partner, offers customers the opportunity to use VeriFLY when they are travelling to the US from all international destinations. British Airways is simultaneously conducting a testing trial with American Airlines and oneworld on some routes from the US to the UK. The results of the trial will be shared with Oxford University, the trial’s academic partner, and with governments on both sides of the Atlantic.
https://gtm.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Web_-BA-and-VeriFLY.png312820Davehttps://gtm.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Smarter-Better-Fairer-GTM-logo_02.pngDave2021-02-15 14:53:402021-02-15 14:53:42British Airways expands the use of VeriFLY, the digital travel health app
