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."

Comments

ticket&rfid

[mirko]

I heard yesterday that people were now forced to label their cases while travelling using the French Railways, will it be possible that in a near future, they will be given RFIDs when purchasing train tickets ?
What about the Swiss who have the "Abonnement General" ?
Will they have to pre-order these ?

well, what do i trade for what

[rzuwik]

do i let them know where my _oh-so-private_ luggage is?

or do i prefer not having it lost every third flight across the atlantic and taking no responsibility for it?

hmm...

Re:well, what do i trade for what

[Azghoul]

Yep, I think this is a great use of new tech. Then, when you bag does get lost, there might be a prayer of finding it ("Wilson, go scan that pile of luggage over there, keep an eye out for ID# 123413241").

Or something like that. It's pretty cool if you ask me: Get more efficient and we're all better off; no security nonsense worries here.

Track the bags to its owner

[cOdEgUru]

I, just as anyone else here, is worried over the potential abuse of this system, but there can be improvements as well.

I dont know whether its such an issue here, but outside US, anyone or anything can walk in to a baggage terminal and walk off with someone else's bag with out being stopped. And Usually this happens when the owner of the baggage hasnt gotten to the baggage terminal from the gate. What if Delta has a counter where travellers once they collect their baggage and on their way out, can scan their RFID's, verify they were the rightful owner of the bag and then remove the RFID to go their own merry way? Someone trying to steal the baggage could get flagged since his RFID will still be in place when he attempts to leave..

This might lead to long lines again in the baggage terminal and can cost the airline more, but does this make sense?

Re:Track the bags to its owner

[afidel]

Why should there be lines, have "lanes" with RFID readers embedded in the floor with spaces between. The passenger gets an RFID tag to go with his boarding pass, then when you grab your bags you walk through a "lane" with your baggage and boarding pass. If a bag leaves without the accompanying boarding pass token having been read within x seconds then sound an alarm for the baggage personell. This way your personell can just deal with people who lost their RFID tag or flagged incidents that apear to be theft, and lost luggage, even if RFID eliminates 90% of problems (not likely) that still leaves millions of incidents per year.

ever been on a flight

[way2trivial]

where someone checked in with luggage- then missed the plane?

damn annoying.. they have to find the suitcase and offload it.. I'm sure this will make that a whole damn lot faster..

I often wonder what makes a person miss the flight at that point.... it's gotta be sex...

one REALLY nice use

[johnpaul191]

many years ago (before elevated security) my uncle had a dog in the dog-safe cargo area of an airplane..... in short they lost the dog and it somehow got diverted to a wharehouse. he was pretty much told there was no easy way to find the dog if someone didn't hear it bark by chance. after much yelling they let him search a wharehouse. by the time he found the dog it had been there for over 2 days with no water. in the end the dog recovered 100%, but i am sure this kind of situation would make you think they are not so bad. if the RFID tags are slapped on like the current barcodes, is it a big deal? you rip it off at baggage claim. it's not like your bag get's a permanant tag on it that will track its traveling history.

it has to suck if a passenger ends up getting bumped from a flight last minute and Todd the baggage handler has to find that one passenger's bags. Actually last night my brother's flight was super delayed because some guy in first class threw a hissy fit about something and was ejected from the plane. it was while first class was still boarding so well in advance of the plane being loaded. theys till had to go in and find his luggage and pull it out. that has to be a lot of digging......

Delta going bankrupt?

[Fulton Green]

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently asked some "what if"-type questions in response to speculation that Delta might file for a Chapter 11 reorg by the end of the year. I thought it kind of interesting when juxtaposed against their $25M proposal for RFID-bagtag thing.

track the crooks to their next haul

[zogger]

It's not "misplaced luggage" that's the problem, the industry is being coy and cute, it's more like stolen luggage, or luggage broken into, then purposely "lost" to hide evidence of the theft. Happens all the time, been a dodge they been underplaying for years now. Over the years in the US, you are more likely to have your luggage stolen and broken into by airport employees than from random people just taking luggage. Here's a recent example of some of the trusted "homeland security personnel" in action.

Re:Per airport

[stewby18]

Currently if a passenger disappears between checkin and departure, the plane cannot leave with their luggage on board. This proceedure predates recent security improvements.

In theory, that's true. In practice, I can tell you it isn't. A year and a half ago, I had to cancel the second half of a two-part flight and drive instead. So when I landed, I told a gate attendant that I wouldn't be getting on my next flight (for which I was already checked through), and I'd need my baggage pulled. She phoned down and put in a request, along with a description of my baggage. A couple of hours later, they told me that my baggage had gone on without me, because they were too busy to get it.

More recently, the plane for second leg of a trip never showed up, so instead of flying me to San Jose, they flew me to San Francisco. They happily put my luggage on the next plane to San Jose though, even though they knew I wasn't on it.

Gives you a great sense of confidence, doesn't it?