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British Airways Set To Bring Luggage Tags Into the 21st Century
Zothecula writes "Most people would probably agree that air travel still has plenty of room for improvement, particularly when it comes to actually checking in and getting on the plane. For its part, British Airways is now taking steps to speed up the whole process on its end and is even testing a digital alternative to the traditional paper luggage tag. The airline recently produced an electronic luggage tag that travelers can update themselves with a smartphone and re-use over and over."
Welcome to the 21st century...Qantas and a number of other airlines have already been doing this for some time, where is the news?
I'm a lot more worried about forged tags or rewriting tags to send bags other places.
One could steal luggage or could possibly redirect bags containing contraband, while the bag is already in-circulation and away from the passenger or courier, if there's a way to access the luggage tag via smartphone without having to physically touch or see the tag. The phone could be in the bag itself and could reprogram the tag remotely.
I simply do not trust an electronic system to be any more foolproof than a paper system, given the sheer number of infrastructure-grade compromised electronic systems. Being that, I don't see a reason to spend an inordinate amount of money on a new system that won't deliver any better results.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Qantas Frequent Fliers are given RFID tags for luggage tages. Results in very simply automatic loading onto conveyor belts where the tags are automatically picked up. The system results in extremely quick checkins - much quicker and smoother than any other airline I have ever flown. Its a brilliant system - however only works for domestic flights.
How will the tags be stolen when they're registered at check in? Another passenger couldn't use it to get another 20 KG on the plane at that point. They'd have to be stolen by handlers and this would be pretty stupid (although some are that stupid, they always get caught). Then what would they use it for? The person at the other end isn't going to pick up a bag that looks nothing like theirs.
Electronic tags will solve a few problems and speed up baggage sorting.
As long as you can still write your name on the outside (and better yet a LCD readout of your destination IATA code) it has all the same advantages of a paper system but can be machine sorted with near 100% accuracy.
I mean, who steals paper luggage tags? no-one because they're practically useless to anyone but the owner.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
So BA is making an electronic luggage tag ... and as some have pointed out, Qantas already has them.
Are they compatible? Will frequent flyers that use multiple airlines end up with 10 different electronic tags hanging off each piece of luggage?
A universal standard tag would seem a good idea...
We live, as we dream -- alone....
This is not an attempt to "innovate" or get rid of those stupid stickers...this is just another way BA wants to collect customer data for free.
Here's a real suggestion; I recently traveled with a Chinese airline and they had the unoriginal but highly effective idea of staggering passenger on-boarding.
It does not get much simpler to speed things up, fill the back of the plane first by batches.
It's amazing how 230 people can board in 15 minutes with luggage if 200 don't have to wait for one person blocking the rather narrow path.
Seriously how simple and efficient can it get to defeat long standing queues? 'passenger seat numbers 41 - 50 now boarding', then 30 - 40 etc. is this some form of misunderstood genius?!
Suggestion 2; make a security queue for people without handbags. this will cause more people to not bother with one just so they can get through faster.
If BA want to hire me as a consultant I'll save them loads of money, they can pay me half the difference. -brought to you by basic copycat logic.
A 'singular oddity' is an event that cannot be explained and only happens when you are alone.
The idea is to further move the burden of travel on to the passenger.
I fly BA a bit, 56 flights with them this year. I check a bag on almost all of them. There's rarely a queue. The current baggage tags work wonders, there's a secondary sticker in case the main one gets ripped off, and it has your name on it which is handy when checking you've got the right one at the carrousel.
I arrive at the airport, walk to the desk, drop my bag off, shove my passport over and smile. They give me a nice boarding card (which is often for a seat some rows in front of where I'd selected), put a label on my bag and send it off into the depths of the airport, issue me with a lounge invite (at some airports), and it gives me an opportunity to ask where the lounge is, as many airports I only visit once every couple of years.
It's simple, quick and cheap. If my bag does for some reason arrive at Baku airport instead of Changi, I'm confident they'll be able to read the tag and return it whence it came.
The company is hoping that upgrading to a high-tech version will shave a few minutes off the check-in process and get people to their flights faster.
No, they want to reduce the number of staff since their disastrous merger with Iberia.
Saving 2 minutes will make diddly squat when you've still got conformance at t-35, and close of bag drop at t-40.