SkyTeam Hosts Baggage Tracking Summit
SkyTeam held an event in Amsterdam to talk about how the alliance’s development of technology is helping set industry standards for baggage messaging.The Baggage Tracking and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) Summit brought together representatives from SkyTeam member airlines and external vendors to explore the future of baggage visibility.
SkyTeam members and airports currently have limited visibility to transfer baggage due to of a lack of tracking capability, an absence of message storage, and limited information sharing between airlines.
SkyTeam’s innovative bag tracking technology is working to overcome these hurdles by increasing visibility between members and to minimize disruption should luggage not arrive at the same time as the passenger.
Digital bag tracking means every member airline can access information on a bag’s last known location, meaning baggage can be more quickly and easily located when things do not go as planned.
As well as being good news for customers, the technology will also reduce the cost faced by members for recovering mishandled bags, which averages more than USD $100 per bag.
Day one of the summit saw attendees from 13 member airlines learn more about how SkyTeam’s enhanced baggage message technology uses the Digital Spine to capture and store individual baggage data. All members present agreed additional data points are key to staying on track with customer demands. They also looked at the use of RFID in baggage tags, with Delta, Air France and China Eastern sharing implementation experiences.
External vendors joined the event on day two, with NXP Semiconductors giving a presentation on RFID chips, Avery Dennison explaining requirements for antennas and bag-tag printers, and Lyngsoe Systems explaining about the RFID-reading hardware and infrastructure that could be introduced airside. Herman Chung of the Hong Kong Airport Authority also gave a presentation on the benefits of RFID from the perspective of airport management.
SkyTeam’s bag tracker technology is another example of how the alliance is developing technology to meet member and customer needs. The solution will also enhance the customer experience and help improve SkyTeam’s customer satisfaction rating for service recovery.
Feedback from members and vendors has been highly positive. Prior to the summit, China Eastern and KLM became the first two members connected to the Digital Spine for baggage tracking.