What else is going on in the world of travel tech? A round-up of other stories from across the industry.
- Rough Guides has launched a Travel Survival Kit app for iPhone and iPod Touch offering advice on everything from how to survive a volcanic eruption to fending off a shark attack. The app costs 69p and flies in the face of rival's Lonely Planet's Wenzani app, which is free.
- HolidayExtras claims IT hardware spend has halved while customer response times have been reduced by 20% since moving to cloud-based technology. Travel companies are increasingly moving to the cloud to better manage peaks in business with Skyscanner announcing a similar move recently.
- With accusations flying that the US Transportation Security Administration officer strip-searched an 85-year-old woman at JFK, the agency plans to pilot a less obtrusive security tool using the Credential Authentication Technogy - Boarding Pass Scanning System from NCR. The technology detects verified and fraudulent security credentials embedded in boarding passes and passenger IDs. The TSA, incidentally, denies that it strip-searched the female traveler.
- TUI has promoted Sandra Leonhard to director of digital strategy and transformation. Her remit is to create a wide range of ecommerce activities for the group's travel, hotels and cruise divisions. She has spent 10 years with the company building up a web platform for Thomson in the UK as well as the now defunct Cheqqer user-generated content service.