Widespread adoption of RFIDs by airlines could allow 99% of bags to be tracked successfully
By A.W. | WASHINGTON, DC
HAVING bags go astray on a flight is rare but infuriating. Indeed, according to a study by Skytrax, lost luggage was passengers’ number-one complaint last year, beating even flight delays and cramped seats. That frustration could become rarer still. The aviation industry is increasingly using radio frequency identification devices (RFIDs, pictured) to track bags. Airlines have begun to attach these RFIDs to luggage tags. Doing so could significantly reduce the number of bags that are mishandled.
Research by SITA, an IT firm, and the International Air Transport Association, an industry association, found that a widespread adoption of RFIDs could allow 99% of bags to be tracked successfully. Already, other new technologies have cut the number of mishandled bags in half since 2007. RFIDs could reduce that number by a further 25% over the next six years, even as volume continues to increase.
Currently, as the Los Angeles Timesexplains, airlines generally track bags using bar codes printed on luggage tags. Employees handling luggage must use handheld scanners to determine where the it is supposed to go and then direct it to the right plane. Naturally, that creates room for human error. With RFIDs embedded in the tags, conveyor belts could automatically detect a bag’s destination and stop it if it is on the way to the wrong flight.
A spokeswoman for Delta Air Lines, which has taken the lead in adopting RFIDs, told the Los Angeles Times that the accuracy rate with bar-code technology is about 90%. With RFIDs, she says, it will be more like 99.9%.
Airlines have a financial incentive to adopt the technology quickly. According to the study, adding RFIDs to luggage tags would cost airlines about 10 cents per passenger but save them more than 20 cents per passenger by reducing the number of lost and mishandled items.
So when might RFIDs become the norm? On Delta, the process is already well underway. The airline invested $50m in RFIDs this year and has equipped 84 American airports with the technology to add them to its tags; international airports are expected to follow soon. Delta has also launched an app that enables passengers to track their bags on a map, so they can confirm that their luggage is headed to the right place (or discover its whereabouts if it isn’t).
Other airlines are sure to follow suit soon. Until then, there are several “smart tags” that passengers can invest in themselves in order to recover lost items. And it’s never a bad idea to use one of the old-fashioned hand-written luggage labels with your e-mail and phone number.
The advent of RFIDs seems to be good news for both airlines and flyers. But there’s one party that stands to lose out: the Unclaimed Baggage Center, the huge warehouse in Alabama that procures and sells stuff lost by carriers. Shoppers there might mourn the decline in inventory, but it is a tradeoff most travellers will be more than willing to take.
