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Delta Air Invests $25 Million in RFID for Luggage
securitas writes "The New York Times' Barnaby Feder reports on Delta Air Lines' plans to invest $25 million in RFID luggage tracking hardware and software over the next two years. This sounds very similar to the Jacksonville Airport RFID plan. McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas and Hong Kong International Airport have also announced plans to use RFID technology in their operations. More at the Cincinnati Enquirer and the Boston Globe."
I am assuming the RFID will contain the same info as the current barcode. The 10 character IATA bag tag. and source/intermediate/destination airport. So baggage will be handled by new and existing systems. This code has a very short life. The data is usually deleted from the airlines database within a couple of days of the bag arriving at it's final destination. A some point the 10 digit IATA code is reused.
Having worked in this industry, reading the current tag is a big pain. If you get an 80% accuracy rate consistantly - you are doing good. Usually he bag goes thru a scanner tunnel, with up to six laser raster scanners attempting to find and read the label. Any errors and the bag goes to a manual station where some low paid & bored baggage handler manually enters the next destinaion info. RFID has got to be better.