RFID Luggage Airport Trial
February 14, 2008 | by Christopher Nickson
London's Heathrow Airport is trialling an RFID tracking system that it hopes will reduce the amount of lost baggage.
Have you ever landed after a long flight and waited at the carousel for your baggage? And waited and waited, only to eventually find out your bag never arrived with you? With the number of lost bags it’s something most of us have experienced. But a new trial at London’s Heathrow airport might eventually make that a thing of the past.
The six-month trial with Emirates Airlines will tag each bad with radio frequency identification (RFID), the BBC reports. It means that luggage could be tracked all the way through the loading and unloading process, which should (in theory) reduce the amount of lost bags.
Those behind the scheme say that passengers offering a mobile number could receive a text message on landing telling them where their bags are. Of course, if you’re in London and your bag has somehow found its way onto a flight to Hong Kong, that’s little consolation, but at least you’ll know it’s having fun.
Emirates Vice President for UK and Ireland, Vic Sheppard, said,
"This trial enables us to embrace the latest technology for the benefit of our customers."
With a massive increase in lost luggage claims last year, it’s been more and more obvious that a new system was needed. Let’s hope this works.
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Bhawna on Mar 12th, 2008 at 9:29 PM:
Is there some thing of this sort happening in India?? Any Idea?