RFID baggage tracking brings convenience to Traveler

Some airlines have tried passenger baggage tracking and notification many years ago. In the past, the form of baggage tags was an encoded barcode. United Airlines and Northwestern America scanned the tags when the baggage got on and off the plane, and Transamerica began to join the ranks in 2009. By 2011, Delta Air Lines experimented with real-time baggage tracking and notification services for passengers, after which US Airways also started the pilot. Although the idea of ​​real-time baggage tracking is great, it relies heavily on the reliability of tracking and scanning technology. Obviously, manual scanning of barcodes on luggage is not suitable for real-time tracking-airlines have long known that RFID is a suitable technology. Delta Air Lines even started testing in 2003, but RFID was too expensive at that time. Around 2000, the cost of each passive RFID was $1.

RFID（Radio Frequency IdentificatIon ）technology originated in the United Kingdom and was used to identify the identities of enemy and friendly aircraft in the Second World War. It became commercially available in the 1960s. RFID automatic identification technology is an automatic identification technology. The US Department of Defense stipulates that all military supplies after January 1, 2005 must use RFID electronic tags; the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that pharmaceutical manufacturers use RFID from 2006 Automatic identification technology tracks drugs that are often faked. The application of RFID radio frequency identification technology by retail companies such as Walmart and Metro has promoted the upsurge of RFID automatic identification technology in the world. At present, the price of passive RFID electronic tags in China is quite cheap. For example, the price on an e-commerce website is basically about RMB 0.65 per electronic tag.

The basic principle of RFID is to track objects through radio waves. Unlike barcodes, RFID automatic identification technology does not require a reading device (scanner) to face the target, which means that it can be obtained by using RFID radio frequency identification technology. Great flexibility and accuracy. Moreover, to passengers, the baggage address tag has not changed, and it looks like a normal tag, although the airline will add a small chip to the RFID baggage tag. It is not the first time that airlines have used RFID automatic identification technology. Air New Zealand, Qantas and Alaska Airlines have all provided permanent travelers with RFID electronic luggage tags for permanent use. Although the price of passive RFID electronic tags is very cheap, adding one to each baggage tag is not a small cost.

Delta Air Lines officially announced the use of RFID automatic identification technology baggage tracking technology, becoming the first airline in the United States to provide passengers with real-time baggage tracking services for all passengers. Delta Air Lines handles 120 million pieces of luggage each year, and RFID will replace the manual scanning method of bar codes—an industry standard that has been used since the early 1990s. The RFID baggage tag printer writes passenger and baggage information into the RFID electronic label, and obtains it efficiently, accurately and automatically through the UR6258 electronic label scanner. By the fourth quarter of 2016, Delta Air Lines passengers can use the “FlyDelta” mobile app to know the location of their luggage at any time.

Mr. Bill Lentsch is the senior vice president of Delta Air Lines Airport Passenger Services and Cargo Department. “Our goal is to accurately control the information of every piece of luggage on each flight,” he said. “Delta invested $50 million in this. 344 stations around the world have been transformed.” In the terminals that have been transformed, the overall accuracy of integrating RFID technology into baggage handling has reached 99.9%, including the baggage sorting and transfer process. The original barcode-based scanning accuracy is only 97-98, and it requires a large number of people to scan manually. For passengers, RFID means better service. “Similar to passengers’ demands that they can know the flight schedule changes through the’fingertip’ operation, passengers also want to know the information about checked baggage,” said Mr. TIm Mapes, Delta’s chief marketing officer. RFID automatic identification technology to achieve interactive baggage tracking may become a new industry standard.”

Delta’s team deployed a total of 4,600 scanners, 3,800 RFID luggage tag printers, and 600 station-level readers, making the entire baggage handling process fully automated, and it can be completed on all Delta’s main routes and connecting flights. Baggage tracking. In the 84 major airports of Delta, UR6258 electronic tag readers are installed on 1500 baggage conveyor belts-if the baggage is in and out of the plane correctly, the green light will be on, otherwise the red light will be on, indicating that the baggage needs other processing .

At present, if a passenger misses the connecting flight, the ground service personnel need MT5000 to manually scan all the luggage to find out the luggage of the passenger and attach the luggage tag of the new flight. With the UR6258 electronic tag scanner, the staff can quickly find the corresponding luggage. “We have carefully studied every step of baggage handling and improved them to reach the advanced level of the industry,” Lentsch said. “RFID is a tool for Delta to widen the lead gap.” In the past 10 years, optimized processes and technology have been improved. Helped Delta Air Lines reduce the baggage error rate by 68%, making Delta a leader in baggage handling among American international airlines. In 2015, the U.S. Department of Transportation selected Delta Air Lines’ baggage handling performance to be the best in six months and the year. Although the overall investment is huge, Delta and its travelers have indeed benefited from it.

Due to the high labor costs in Europe, high freight costs and long delivery times have always been a major weakness affecting European e-commerce buyers, the major e-commerce companies have tried all kinds of solutions to hope to break through. It is under such circumstances that the Click-and-Collect delivery has appeared in the European retail market.