my passport,” says Partelow. “Once my identity is verified, it can be put on a blockchain, which will store an immutable record of who I am.” Once again, the idea is to use tokenisation. Any authority accessing the record will not see the passenger’s personal details. Instead they will see confirmation these details have been verified and a match to that confirmation using biometrics, such as facial recognition. Thorsen says blockchain-based iden- tification could also improve personal security. “You could not check into the airport unless you had a booking that gave you an ID matching a record that you would be at the airport on the day,” he adds. “When the trip ends, the ID is completely gone.”
It is impossible to know which of these ideas will prove sustainable and numerous questions remain unanswered. Commentators observe that blockchain removes the need for middlemen. There are plenty of those in the travel sector, including various payments players, expense manage- ment providers and TMCs. Could they be affected? This new technology, and its complex potential implications, need close watching.●
ALTERNATIVE CURRENCIES IN THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY
Blockchain is currently best known as the technology enabling digital currencies such as bitcoin. But other multinational or neutral currencies have been used in the travel industry for decades.
SPECIAL DRAWING RIGHTS (SDR) Under the Montreal Convention, compensation paid by airlines for damage to baggage is limited to
1,131 SDRs, and airlines are liable, regardless of culpability, for damages through injury or death of up to 100,000 SDRs. SDRs are an international reserve asset created by the International Monetary Fund in 1969. Today the value of an SDR is fixed against a basket of five currencies: the US dollar, Chinese renminbi, Japanese yen, euro and sterling. At the time of writing, £1 was worth 1.24 SDRs.
NEUTRAL UNITS OF CONSTRUCTION (NUC) A notional currency based on a set of exchange rates issued by the Interna- tional Air Transport Association (IATA) to record fare calculation information. NUC was launched in 1989, when it superseded the Fare Construction Unit.
UIC FRANC
The UIC franc was a virtual currency with a similar purpose to NUC used by the International Union of Rail- ways. It was withdrawn in 2013.
In association with BBT CORPORATE CARDS SUPPLEMENT 2017 27
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