Oneworld members Iberia and Finnair are adopting the global alliance’s new digital platform designed to make life easier for travelers by allowing them to manage multi-airline journeys online.
The alliance also revealed at the International Air Transport Association's annual meeting in Seoul on Saturday that it was working to add baggage tracking, full seat selection and the ability to pay for additional baggage to the digital platform.
Cathay Pacific and Qatar Airways earlier this year launched the platform that allows travelers to use their preferred airline app or website to check-in and receive boarding passes for connecting flights on either airline.
The only way of checking in via a single point of contact on a multi-sector journey prior to the platform’s launch was at an airport desk.
READ: oneworld expands with new link to airlines.
A new capability added during the year allowed the platform to deliver information and updates on connecting flights and Qantas became the first oneworld member deliver flight status information to its partners this way.
The giant alliance, which serves 1100 airports in 180 territories with 14,000 daily departures, said Finnair would offer the ability to check in and receive boarding passes for flights on Cathay and Qatar “in the coming days”.
Qatar and Cathay would also allow customers to check in and receive boarding passes for connecting flights on Iberia.
Finnair would subsequently enable the other three carriers to provide customers with connections to and from its flights to receive e-boarding passes via their Cathay, Qatar or Iberia app or website, it said.
The platform will grow to cover more airlines with the idea it will ultimately cover every journey involving a connection between two or more oneworld member airlines.
The alliance said eight million members made a journey that involved connections between different member airlines, generating $US5.5 billion in revenues.
“Our new digital platform brings our promise of seamless connectivity to life in the digital ear – delivering multi-airline, multi-sector journeys the way they should in this millennial day and age,’’ oneworld chief executive Rob Gurney said.
“Three-quarters of oneworld’s frequent flyers use at least one airline app. Half of them have at least three airline apps on their mobile devices, but there is a strong preference for using one single app to cover a journey involving a transfer between airlines.
“Yet until today the technology to support that has not been available. It is now -- and oneworld is on track to be the first alliance to offer this capability across its entire network.”
The alliance also revealed it is in advanced discussions with several airlines interested in joining Fiji Airways as oneworld connect partners and was close to finalizing the location of the first oneworld developed, managed and branded lounge.
Rivals SkyTeam and Star Alliance both have branded lounges and oneworld said talks were progressing with several candidate airports interested in hosting its facility.
The alliance is also working on adding its first new member in six years and the first from Africa, Royal Air Maroc, in the first half of 2020.
Steve Creedy traveled to Seoul courtesy of Korean Air and IATA.
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