Trifter

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Overview

The RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) equation for tagging checked airline baggage is unique. RFID technology is far more accurate than the legacy barcode method of tracking, which often requires human intervention for accurate luggage sortation and routing to occur. The business case is solid, and the ROI is clear and short (roughly 1-2 years for installations). The industry’s worldwide trade association – the International Air Transport Association (IATA) – has established global UHF standards. The customer service needs are great, and public safety concerns in preventing terrorist attacks are paramount. The one missing element has been the financial health of the airlines themselves. Plain and simple, in the aftermath of September 11, US airlines faced unprecedented operational, financial, and security challenges. Thus, however good the charts and PowerPoints were in favor of moving to RFID from barcode technology for luggage tracking, airline executives simply lacked the capital necessary to take on the intractable problem of baggage handling by implementing RFID technology.

Surveys have consistently shown that misdirected, delayed, and lost baggage is a major headache for both the airlines and their passengers. Tales of airline customer service are often intensely personal (”I’ll never fly XYZ Airlines again, after they lost my bags for five days with all my skiing clothes and ruined my Colorado vacation!”). While they are anecdotal in nature, they quite often grow in magnitude as they are passed along, both in person and, nowadays, also via blogs and email.

Image via Wikipedia

Sometimes though, baggage woes are systemic, as was the case with the 2004 “Christmas nightmare,” when US Airways baggage systems were overwhelmed with holiday traffic and weather. Quite literally mounds and mounds of misrouted baggage – over 10,000 pieces – accumulated at the carrier’s Philadelphia hub and were broadcast over and over and over again on news outlets. After the 2006 air terror scare, when the US Transport Security Administration put in new restrictions on carry-on liquid items (the infamous “all your toiletries – 3 ounce maximum for each – must fit in a small plastic bag” rule), more and more fliers have elected to check their bags rather than deal with the new security procedures at airport checkpoints. This means that today, US airlines are handling anywhere from 10-20% more checked bags than in prior years, further exacerbating their baggage handling problems.