In almost every part of the world, delayed and lost luggage poses a perennial worry for the airline passengers. In the 2015 baggage report of air transport, IT specialist SITA revealed that the rate of mishandled luggage last year was set at 7.3 bags per 1,000 passengers. Although down from the 18.88 bags recorded in 2007, this was still a major concern that airlines have to address.
What travellers demand?
According to SITA’s 2014 Passenger IT Trends Survey, 27 percent of respondents wanted a “significant improvement” in the collection of baggage at destinations, citing it as the “most frustrating travel step” for passengers.
Global airline passengers demanded a credible luggage handling system and probably a technology that can help them track their luggage while they travel.
Here comes BagJourney
With the introduction of a new-fangled technology, tracking one’s bags along the journey is now possible. Through BagJourney, an end-to-end baggage tracking service powered by SITA’s Air Transport Industry Cloud, airlines can now monitor passengers’ bags in the duration of the travel, which would help reduce delays.
Etihad, a leading airline from the Middle East has implemented the technology and revealed that they can now provide the latest baggage tracking information to crew while they are on the move via CrewTablet, a tablet application for crew operations.
How BagJourney works?
BagJourney is integrated with SITA’s WorldTracer, the only global lost baggage tracking service, and uses the baggage information messages (BIMs) that pass through SITA’s BagMessage distribution service. This integration provides the full picture of a bag’s location.
By using a configuration engine based on business rules, BagJourney converts legacy messages for integration with mobile devices.
In the new tracking innovation, baggage data is being transmitted through a message and distribution service, which is then provided to airlines by a web application programming interface. While the service applies only to airport crew and staff, developers said future developments may allow airlines to extend technology to passengers through a mobile phone application.
Features
• Uses existing TCP/IP, MQ or Type B message structures and networks
• Status update delivery over a representational state transfer integration method (RESTful) web API on the Internet
• Customized messages for specific baggage processed message (BPM) tracking locations
• Web interface for user creation, business rules configuration and data viewing
• No double charges even when communicating with BagMessage and using both services
• This product is available through SITA’s ATI Cloud
With BagJourney, airlines will be able to track passengers’ bags no matter where they are in their journey. So, even if bags are delayed, they can easily see the bag status and can proactively notify passengers. At present, around 200 airports and 500 airlines in the world have been using the new tracking technology. It is important that all airlines continue to invest in baggage technology, especially as rising passenger numbers put more pressure on baggage operations.
