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RFID Luggage Tracking at Jacksonville Airport
securitas writes "AP reports that the Jacksonville Airport permanent RFID luggage tracking system will be installed this fall in time for the Super Bowl. The article concludes explaining that when San Francisco and Seattle ended their RFID pilot programs, they 'switched back to bar-code systems, saying the radio systems were unnecessary.' Mirror at Globetechnology, with more at Computerworld ,a large article at Jacksonville Business Journal, as well as some history from RFID Journal and Computerweekly." Moving to an untested system... paying for it by firing the baggage handlers who could help you recover from problems if the system proves to have bugs... what could go wrong?
...that they'll lose my bags?!?
... they'd somehow misplaced it at an airport the size of a thimble.
i'm serious, folks, it happened again a few weeks ago
I'm a baggage handler at an International airport.
Here are the top reasons bags go lost:
1. Missed connection. Bags travel slower than you do. A 10 minute delay into the airport is enough to cause several bags to miss your flight.
2. Automatic Baggage System breakdown. This happens a LOT on all major airports. All bags are then routed to a central area for manual sorting and distribution. This adds to the time, and makes a lot of bags miss flights.
3. Automatic Baggage System sorting error (and subsequent failure of bagagge handler to notice the error). Bags loaded on wrong aircraft / destination. (This often happens if bags are missing from A to B)
4. Loss of baggage tag. Bags go to a tracking office, or arrival service for entering into the global baggage tracking system.
What happens when your bag is "lost":
1. You arrive at the airport, notice your bag is missing (or you're summoned over PA). Head over to arrival-service for the airline in question (the last airline you traveled on), state your details, show the tag receipt for the bag missing.
2. Details about your bag (tag number, colour/type, your address, phone, misc. delivery information, contents (rarely)) will be entered into the global baggage tracking system called World Tracer.
3.
- In case of missed transfer, baggage handlers *should* (depending on how much time they got) enter a "forwarding message" in World Tracer, in which arrival-service already knows when your bag will arrive.
- In case of wrong airport, the arrival service handlers for your airline will send a "forwarding message" to the destination for the tag. This may take a while, say, if your bag goes on a trip overseas.
This info is "matched" inside World Tracer (most prevalently: the tag number, but also all other info like colour/type, name, address, etc.).
IF YOUR BAG IS MISSING A TAG, AND NO NAME/ADDRESS INFORMATION ON THE BAG:
Arrival-service will enter details about your bag into World Tracer, as an "onhand file". This includes colour/type and contents list. If bag is locked, it'll take a few days until someone will bother to crack it open, in case colour/type/extra info will match to your "missing file".
Tagless bags take the longest time to re-unite with the owner. ALWAYS WRITE NAME AND ADDRESS ON YOUR BAG!
Last, when your bag arrives the airport in question, it's stored on one of the daily "lost baggage distribution" hours, and someone will call you for delivery information. Or, in case of many low-cost carriers, they'll call you, or wait for your call, to inform you to pick it up at the airport, at your own expense.
- Over 90% of "lost baggage" is really delayed baggage, and will be found within 24 hours.
- Pilferage is almost non-existing. There are bad apples everywhere, but most baggage handlers are honest people.
So, don't worry. The "forever lost bag" is an urban myth. Just LABEL YOUR BAGS, and you'll be just fine.
(strong info added for the RTFP people)