By Subramaniam Thiruppathi, Director of India sub-continent business, Zebra Technologies
Losing a suitcase or bag is a sure way for any airline to create a poor customer experience. It potentially creates hours or even days of delay with lots of emails, phone calls and unnecessary stress for holidaymakers as they desperately try to locate their belongings when they are supposed to enjoy a well-deserved break!
It was reported that airlines in India can lose up to 1 piece of luggage for every 72 pieces they handle. To minimise the chances of luggage being misplaced, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) mandated a four-point tracking regulation through which every checked piece of luggage has to be recorded. This begins at check-in, when the passenger’s hand over their bags to the airlines, marking the beginning of their journey. Here, a unique 10-digit tag number is applied. Following this, bags are once again recorded at the loading stage, when bags are delivered onto the aircraft; transfer, when custody of the bags changes between carriers; and finally, at arrival, when passengers receive their bags at arrivals.
There are various technologies that airport and passenger logistics teams can use to create a ‘triple lock’ approach to give passengers reliable service, and baggage handlers the tools they need.
Start with Barcode Tracking
Staff at check-in desks need to be equipped with printers, supplies, and scanners that will ensure quality printed barcode and alpha-numeric labels that will last throughout the luggage transit process. All staff along the luggage process need scanners that can reliably read alpha-numeric identification and barcodes, even from a distance. Quick and accurate scanning can save seconds per scan and keeps things moving. Barcode labels on luggage might seem familiar and obvious, but imagine the problems if labels fell off or could not be read properly. And, with the statistics cited above, the process needs more than just barcodes.
Add a Layer with RFID
Radio frequency identification (RFID) will prove a powerful solution and added layer to current barcode tracking systems. RFID uses radio-frequency electromagnetic fields to transfer data that identifies each piece of luggage. RFID does not require line of sight, so an RFID solution can identify multiple bags at once. RFID systems can work by printing RFID tags with information unique to that piece of luggage at the staffed or self-check-in desk.
As the IATA notes, the most common type of RFID used in the aviation industry is passive Class 1 Gen 2 Ultra High Frequency (UHF). This type of RFID only sends information when in range of a reader and emits a low energy signal. When not in range, the tag remains passive. This means that when tracking bags throughout airport processes, it is impossible to interfere with any aircraft systems. RFID can unlock new processing efficiencies and cost savings as well as reduce the occurrences of lost and delayed luggage for passengers.
Elevate with Fixed Industrial Scanning and Deep Learning OCR
Depending on the scenario, baggage along with air freight cargo might be palletised, meaning baggage and goods are bundled together on a pallet and wrapped in durable plastic. Alternatively, goods might be boxed together. Either way, this adds another layer of labelling to track the pallet or bulky boxed items. In these situations, fixed industrial scanning (FIS) and deep learning optical character recognition (OCR) can help with goods in and out of the warehouse or holding area before and after being loaded onto a plane.
FIS provides an accurate and automated way to read thousands of barcode labels on pallets, and alert workers when an anomaly occurs. OCR with deep learning is ready out of the box and ideal for reading serial number labels on boxes and pallets as well as serial numbers of individual items that might need to be separately scanned. We could envisage a solution where FIS or deep learning OCR is used to read luggage and pallets that are high speed, against an inputted list such as passenger details, destinations, and total number of luggage items.
Lost and delayed baggage costs airlines and airports, including the price of ‘corrective logistics’ to get the luggage to where it was supposed to be, and perhaps compensation for the customer. There is also a potential loss of reputation and customer loyalty and staff time taken up finding and returning the luggage – time that should have been used to keep efficient passenger and luggage processes moving along. The ‘triple lock’ above could give travelers the experience they deserve.