How about we explore some possible uses for the smart card and electronic commerce technology that CLCK is picking up from ABN. Here is an article from USA Today from just 11 months ago:
Smart cards open doors for travelers.
By year's end, thousands of U.S. business travelers will be carrying a card in their wallet that promises to make travel faster and easier.
Smart cards - plastic cards with a computer chip embedded in them - are being used by a few hundred airline fliers and hotel guests now in a test led by American Express, IBM, Hilton Hotels and American Airlines. But thousands of business travelers will get smart cards the next few months in an expansion of the test.
''We're targeting our most frequent travelers. And you'll see us partnering with more hotels and airlines, even rental-car companies,'' says Pam Codispoti, director of smart card product development at American Express.
How the cards are being used:
At eight Hilton hotels, guests can bypass lobby lines and check in by swiping their smart card at a kiosk. On a computer screen, you can make changes to your reservation, record frequent-stay points, even get printed directions to your room. The kiosk dispenses a key but eventually the smart card will double as a room key, Codispoti says. Smart card users who fly American Airlines can go straight to the gate if they don't have baggage. At the gate, fliers insert the card into a gate reader and receive a paper receipt with seat assignment. A human agent is at every gate reader to ask security questions and provide help. Delta Air Lines also is testing smart cards on its New York-Washington shuttle. About 1,000 Delta frequent-business fliers use Delta's smart card to speed check-in on the shuttle. Lufthansa Airlines found its ''chip-in'' card so popular that 10,000 of its most frequent fliers are using the card today at airports in Germany.
''It's no longer a test for us,'' says Lufthansa spokesman Jim Freeman. Lufthansa fliers use the card to check in, credit frequent-flier miles, select seats, get boarding passes and make changes to flights. If you have luggage, you have to check in at the ticket counter, but ticket agents use the smart card to process you faster.
Smart cards are growing in popularity. Citibank and Chase Manhattan recently launched separate tests distributing 50,000 smart cards to customers in New York City, who will eventually be able to use them at 600 merchants in Manhattan.
Last year, worldwide sales of smart cards rose 30% from 1996 to 846 million cards, says Faulkner Gray's Card Technology newsletter. The majority - 79% - were used as prepaid phone cards. But the travel industry is quickly embracing the cards' use.
''Smart cards are like minicomputers. You can put a wealth of information on them,'' says Tim McGraw, project manager for airport automation at American.
McGraw is developing applications for American's smart card, including adding stored ''value'' or money on the cards so users can pay for drinks or reserve conference rooms at American's airport clubs.
Longer term, the travel industry aims to have one card that will function as passport, credit cards, tickets, seat reservations, boarding passes and customer loyalty points, predicts Jupiter Communications analyst Mildred Wulff.
Travel front page
usatoday.com
Regards, Jeff
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