[Roundup] United Testing An App That Could Become Your New Covid Travel Passport

by Gary Leff

News and notes from around the interweb:

  • Cathay Pacific and United will trial an app that will turn lab-confirmed Covid tests (and ultimately vaccine certification) into a QR code that can be used as a contactless passport for travel.

  • I joined the Miles To Go podcast to lay out what travel will look like after the pandemic and answer listener questions.

  • Priority Pass adds new Baltimore Minute Suites

  • Waldorf Astoria New York auctions off 80,000 items

  • Joe Biden explains his airline policy.

  • Burger King promotes confidence in their restaurants as ‘Burger Kleen’ and wants you to think of air travel to give you peace of mind. Which is weird since people aren’t flying much these days. But, sure. (HT: Live and Let’s Fly)

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Burger King in France is managed by Quick restaurants.

    Fred, the captain at the end of the ad, is a famous french comedian known for his Air France captain funny short sketch.

    Fred has worked already in the past with Quick before Burger King came back to France.

    So they choose probably air travel because this is how Fred is creative about that and known as then funny captain in a way.

    I had not seen the ad before.
    Thanks to Matthew to have pick it.
    And thanks Gary to notice it also.

    I spend my evening viewing again lots of Fred’s videos.

  2. That COVID test rests on a flawed assumption…that the threat of COVID flying on airplanes is the main reason people aren’t flying anymore. I think it’s far more complex an issue involving a bunch of factors of which flying on airplanes is one.

    I don’t think this app is the silver bullet its backers believer. For one thing you have to go to a testing facility that’s partnering with this company to upload the results. There aren’t going to be a lot of those (at least in the beginning) and they most likely aren’t going to be of a “free test” variety that so many want. In actuality this could wind up being another impediment to travel resumption, similar to Hawaii’s alleged ‘re-opening’ rules, where going through and following the rules is too much a burden for people, particularly those on a budget, to want to attempt travel.

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