AWS for Industries
Streamline your airport experience with Amazon One
Modern airports offer a wide variety of amenities designed to make your journey more enjoyable and productive before boarding your flight. You can stock up on last-minute essentials at a retail store, relax at an airport lounge, or try one of the many restaurants and bars that line the concourses.
While travelers routinely take advantage of these services, they’re not always as convenient as they should be. Too often travelers run into unnecessary frustrations and delays due to long checkout lines and wait times. It’s no surprise that in a recent study travelers increasingly cite “convenience” as the most important factor when they are shopping at retail stores at airports—overtaking “value for money”.
Meanwhile, IATA predicts airline traffic will surpass 2022 totals by 2025. This means airport retailers and lounges will likely get busier, putting more pressure on them to get travelers in and out the door efficiently. New technologies, like Amazon One and Just Walk Out technology by Amazon, can help airport retailers cope with the surge and offer busy air travelers faster, more convenient ways to navigate their travel journeys.
Adding a new level of convenience
Whether you’re visiting an airport store, a restaurant or bar, or an airport lounge, Amazon One adds a new level of convenience to the traveling experience. The palm-based identity and payment service by Amazon is designed to simplify everyday activities. It allows you to make a payment, enter a venue, or identify yourself, just by hovering your palm over an Amazon One device.
Using Amazon One means you can get in and out of places quickly, minus the delays, hassles or hold-ups. Instead of fumbling with cards or digital wallets while pulling your luggage, you can use your palm to:
- Pay for your items
- Indicate age eligibility to make age-restricted purchases
- Earn and redeem rewards
- Quickly gain entry to airport lounges
That means faster service, shorter lines, and a better airport experience. For businesses, it means increased operational efficiency, visits, customer throughput, and revenue.
How Amazon One works
Amazon One is a free, contactless service that lets you use your palm to pay, enter, or identify yourself. First-time Amazon One users can pre-enroll online with their credit or debit card, Amazon account, and mobile number. This part of the process takes about a minute. They can then complete the enrollment process in seconds by scanning their palm over an Amazon One device at a participating location.
Figure 1 – High-level overview of how Amazon One works
Pay faster at airport stores
When you need to grab a few essentials (or pick up a quick gift) before your flight, it’s tempting to stop by one of the many retail stores on the way to your gate. But when you’re boarding time is minutes away, you need to get in and out quickly. Amazon One lets you complete your payment in seconds with just your palm, so you’ll never have to pull out your wallet or phone.
Combined with Just Walk Out technology by Amazon, store operators can deliver a truly effortless retail travel experience. Just Walk Out technology—using a combination of computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning—offers consumers a fast, frictionless way to shop without the hassle of checking out. Guests simply come in, pick up with they want, and get going.
Travelers can enter Just Walk Out-enabled stores by hovering their palm over the Amazon One device at the entry gates. Once in the store, shoppers can grab all they need from the shelves and leave. The credit card linked to their Amazon One profile will be charged for what they take after they exit the store. That means faster service and one less thing to stress about on your travel journey.
OHM Concession Group, a foodservice and retail operator, recently launched Amazon One and Just Walk Out technology in stores across Kansas City International Airport.
“Getting concessions and last-minute travel items at the airport should be hassle-free”, says Milan Patel, President & CEO, OHM Concessions Group. “Just Walk Out technology and Amazon One make it easier than ever for travelers to get what they need through a quick and frictionless store experience. This experience allows us to serve more travelers, faster.”
The &Go store at Kansas City International Airport operated by OHM Concession Group
Streamline your dining experience
Airports offer a wide selection of restaurants and bars to enjoy a quick meal or drink before you take off. At peak hours, however, you’re likely to confront crowded dining rooms and less than speedy service. When you’re running late, waiting for an employee to process your bill can be frustrating. For restaurants equipped with Amazon One, paying for your meal is as simple as hovering your palm over the device and you’re ready to take the next step in your journey.
Verify your age with your palm
Airport bars and restaurants can be popular destinations at peak hours and often you need to pull out your driver’s license to show you’re eligible to buy your favorite adult beverage. The extra step can slow down the transaction and keep everybody around you waiting longer. That’s changing with Amazon One and the launch of its age verification feature. Once you’re enrolled and have linked your government ID along with a selfie, you can simply hover your palm over the device to indicate you are 21 and over. When you’re ready to pay, you simply hover your palm over the Amazon One device again, and you’ll be charged for your order. The whole process is fast and seamless. You no longer need to flip through your wallets searching for IDs and bartenders can serve more guests faster.
Access airport lounges faster
Pre-flight airport lounges can be an oasis of calm and civility for harried travelers. But standing in long lines and verifying your membership status before entering the lounge can be a painfully slow process. With lounges expected to be extra busy this year, the problem could get even worse. Amazon One can help travelers move through lounge entry gates faster than ever. For example, with Amazon One you can simply hover your palm to identify membership status, enter the lounge and purchase additional services while relaxing in the lounge.
Effortless lounge access, no-hassle age verification in bars, faster restaurant checkouts, and frictionless store purchases—these are just a few of the ways that Amazon One technology is making life more convenient for the growing number of air travelers.
Conclusion
Travelers already wait in many “necessary” lines for check-in, security, boarding and are sensitive to additional delays and friction-points. Which is why “seamless/frictionless shopping” is one of the top drivers of satisfaction for travel shoppers. Amazon and AWS are partnering with airports, restaurants, and retail outlets to help transform the traveler experience along every step of the journey.
Bring Amazon One to your consumers. If you’re a business that wants to provide its consumers seamless service, faster payments and a personalized experience, contact us to learn more about how Amazon One can help.