What is IATA One ID, and will travelers still need a passport?

On October 28, at its World Passenger Symposium in Macao, IATA named the first two holders of its One ID Certification: Air New Zealand and Hong Kong International Airport. Hong Kong's face-based checkpoints have already served more than 93 million passengers. Your travelers will meet this kind of airport soon, and the documents in your profiles are what make it work.

What is IATA One ID?

A set of industry standards for using digital identity and biometrics across a trip. The idea is simple. A traveler confirms their identity and travel documents before reaching the airport. After that, cameras recognize their face at each checkpoint, so the passport and boarding pass stay in the bag.

IATA checks organizations in four areas:

• Digitalization of admissibility. Confirming before the trip that the traveler holds the right documents to enter the destination.
• Contactless travel. Moving through the airport by face.
• Biometric handling. How the face data is captured and matched.
• Privacy and consent. Who agrees to what, and how long the data is kept.

Airlines and airports can apply, and so can technology providers. IATA plans a public trust registry listing every organization that passes.

What did Air New Zealand and Hong Kong do to earn it?

Both met the standards in every area that applies to their operations. Hong Kong's system is called Flight Token. It launched in 2021, and more than 80 percent of departing passengers can use it at every departure checkpoint.

Air New Zealand ran a digital identity trial on its Auckland to Hong Kong route earlier this year. Its certification covers the admissibility step: checking before departure that a traveler can enter the destination.

Will travelers still need a passport?

Yes. One ID cuts down how often a traveler shows the passport. The passport itself still travels with them. IATA says the next step belongs to governments, which need to issue and accept digital travel credentials before a phone can stand in for the booklet at a border.

IATA is open about the pace. IATA's Nick Careen told reporters in Macao that adoption is moving more slowly than IATA would like. He named the differences between countries' rules on identity checks and data sharing as the biggest obstacle.

How do travelers stay in control of their data?

Through consent. Under the approach IATA described, a traveler agrees for each journey and each organization, and the data is deleted after a set period. Privacy is one of the four areas an organization has to pass.

Travelers care about this. In IATA's 2026 Global Passenger Survey, 78 percent said they would share biometric data to skip showing documents at checkpoints. Many also named data breaches as a worry. Both can be true of the same traveler, so explain the consent step plainly when you brief them.

What about travelers flying from US airports?

The US runs its own program today. TSA PreCheck Touchless ID lets PreCheck members at 65 airports pass security by face with six participating airlines. Careen said he expects the US to take part in One ID over time, step by step.

TSA's rules show the pattern One ID follows. The traveler opts in through their airline profile. The photo is deleted within 24 hours of departure. And the traveler still carries a physical ID. We've written a separate guide on setting up Touchless ID.

What should agencies do now?

Every version of biometric travel starts from the same place: accurate documents tied to the right traveler. That data already lives in your profiles.

1. Check your profiles. Make sure each frequent traveler has a current passport number and expiry on file. Spell the name exactly as printed.
2. Brief travelers on consent. Tell them biometric lanes are opt-in and explain what they agree to.
3. Keep the passport on the packing list. Say it in every pre-trip note, whatever the airport offers.
4. Watch IATA's registry. When it opens, check whether the airlines and airports your clients use most are on it.

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