Under the slogan “Flying. Reimagined,” Lufthansa is providing its passengers with increasingly customized products and service offers along the entire travel chain. Now, the airline has further developed its digital luggage services. Passengers can use a link on their mobile boarding pass in the Lufthansa app to track where their luggage is currently located. Upon arrival at their destination airport, the app informs the guest of the specific baggage carousel and (starting in June) the exact time of the delivery of their luggage. That way, for instance, they can use any possible waiting time to get a drink in the lounge or to make purchases in the airport.
This service offer will initially be available in Frankfurt, Munich, Stuttgart, and Milan, and then gradually extend to include other airports. If, in exceptional cases, their luggage hasn’t all come on the same flight, the passenger receives a notification and can quickly and easily send a forwarding order via a filled out form over a link in the Lufthansa app. Wait time at the baggage carousel and the trek to the Lost and Found desk become unnecessary, as the luggage will easily arrive later at home or their place of stay.
Another innovation in baggage handling is Lufthansa’s cooperation with RIMOWA. The RIMOWA Electronic Tag is the first digital and fully integrated mobility solution. It makes flying with luggage faster, more comfortable, and more secure. While today’s suitcases and travel bags must still be checked in by hand and labelled with “paper tag”, with the RIMOWA Electronic Tag Lufthansa passengers will soon be able to also check their luggage from home or on the road with the Lufthansa app. Using their digital boarding pass, they can submit data from their smartphone with just one tap, via Bluetooth, to their luggage equipped with the RIMOWA Electronic Tag. The luggage data will immediately appear on the data module integrated into the case. The checked suitcase must then only be placed on the conveyor at the Lufthansa Baggage Drop-off desk. The luggage data displayed on the electronic display corresponds in size and appearance to current paper tags. Important information is protected from humidity, heat, cold, falls, and jarring, and cannot be torn off. After successful tests with customers since fall of last year, launch will begin on March 14, 2016.
In parallel, Lufthansa is introducing home- “printed baggage tags” as part of a test with the European Commission. Passengers for flights within the EU can print their “baggage tag” at home on standard paper and place them in a transparent sleeve attached to the case. Baggage handling at the airport then functions quickly and comfortably at the Self Bag-Drop machines or at the Check In desk.
