British Airways introduces contactless donation stations at Heathrow and Gatwick

• Customers can now more easily donate to Flying Start, its global charity partnership with Comic Relief
• The airline aims to raise £25 million for Flying Start by the end of 2020

LONDON, UK, 2019-Mar-18 — /Travel PR News/ — As it celebrates Red Nose Day 2019, British Airways, in collaboration with social start-up GoodBox, has introduced an innovative digital solution for customers to donate to Flying Start, the airline’s global charity partnership with Comic Relief.

Cashless giving

The airline has launched six contactless donation stations in its lounges at Heathrow and Gatwick. It has calculated that if just one per cent of the 14,000 British Airways customers who enjoy the airline’s luxurious lounges every day donated £10, an additional half a million pounds would be raised every year for Flying Start.

£20m raised so far

Last year British Airways thanked its colleagues and customers for raising £20 million for Flying Start since the partnership began in 2010. The airline hopes customers will use the tap and go system to donate even more money to Flying Start, which aims to help change the lives of vulnerable and disadvantaged people in the UK and around the world.

Holly Gray, British Airways Community Investment Manager, said:

“At British Airways we are always exploring new technology to improve the experience of our customers and colleagues and we are very excited to be trialling this innovative contactless solution to run alongside our more traditional onboard envelope collection.  Our customers are extremely generous, and I am confident they will embrace this easy way of giving to support us in our aim to raise £25 million for Flying Start by the end of 2020.”

British Airways’ digital innovation

Cashless giving is one of the many ways British Airways is implementing innovative digital solutions at the airport to improve the customer journey.

The airline continues to pioneer biometric and facial recognition technology to speedily board aircraft at Heathrow and in the United States, with further roll-out of the technology planned throughout the year. British Airways is the first airline to introduce remote-controlled devices to push back aircraft, reducing short-haul pushback delays by more than 70 per cent, with trials underway on long-haul aircraft. It also recently completed the installation of 72 hosted bag-drop machines at its home at Heathrow’s Terminal 5, with more than 3.5 million customers having used the new technology so far.

Notes to editors

• £2m of the funds raised for Flying Start between now and the end of 2020 will be specifically invested in projects which focus on early childhood development in communities that British Airways flies to. As part of this, eight community projects across the UK will be supported, focusing on early intervention by supporting maternal mental health and wellbeing, in turn supporting positive mental health and attachment into parenthood.
• GoodBox is a social impact start-up focused on building digital fundraising solutions that increase donation income in an increasingly cashless society.

Contact Details:

For more information please contact press.office@ba.com.

Source: British Airways

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