Amadeus creates new payment tool for airport ancillaries

Amadeus has teamed up with Ingenico to launch ‘Amadeus Airport Pay’, a new wireless payment solution that accepts card payments for ancillary services. The new system can be used by airlines to take payments from passengers at the airport for any additional product or service, such as excess baggage. Lufthansa has already rolled out the solution to its check-in desks.

Watson, IBM’s question answering computer system, is being employed to help educate visitors at Pinacoteca de Sao Paulo, the Brazilian art museum.  To celebrate its 100th anniversary, Pinacoteca will be hosting the “Voice of Art” project this month, with IBM’s cognitive assistant providing information about seven artworks via a smartphone app. Visitors will be provided headsets.

Carnival Cruise Line has introduced a new programme that allows passengers to pay for their holiday in monthly instalments with no interest. In a cruise industry first, Carnival EasyPay enables customers to split their payment into three monthly instalments, deducted from the provided credit card. This option is now available in the “How Would You Like to Pay” section of carnival.com.

Fiji Airways has completed the installation of more than 4,000 ultra-high-frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification (RFID) tags throughout its entire fleet. The tags allow the airline to quickly inspect hundreds of items onboard each of its 15 aircraft, including life vests, life rafts, oxygen bottles, fire extinguishers, extension seat belts, flashlights and oxygen generators.