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Rethinking checked luggage management

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Old Oct 24, 2016, 9:17 pm
  #1  
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Rethinking checked luggage management

It baffles me to no end how in 2016, where so much amazing technology rule our lives, a solution to checking bags at the airport has not been created.
Yes, self tagging, and the e-tag make life a tad easier perhaps; but why in the world do we remain stuck at the airline 'giving us' a new tag each time we begin a trip?!
Their tag means, us having to keep paper receipts for each and every time we fly. It also means that when the tag rips or the bag gets lost, there is no way of ever connecting it back to its owner.
How is there no simple solution to checking bags at the airport? Why are we at their mercy? Who said they should 'tell us' what our bag tag details are, why shouldn't we tell them?!
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Old Oct 24, 2016, 9:38 pm
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https://www.reboundtag.com
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Old Oct 24, 2016, 9:49 pm
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Originally Posted by javabytes
This is just another lost & found service (there are hundreds of them out there).
The actual baggage check-in process is very year 1990.
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Old Oct 24, 2016, 10:07 pm
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I'm missing why this is "urgent"
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Old Oct 24, 2016, 10:15 pm
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Originally Posted by boberonicus
I'm missing why this is "urgent"
It is not urgent. Over dramatic me thinks

The airline tag /bar code identifies the bag and where it going. Only if every bag had a builtin e-tag would it help lost bags - missing tags

Qantas has permanent e-tags. Given to anyone with status or you can purchase http://www.qantas.com/travel/airline...-tag/global/en
From 2011 http://flyingwithfish.boardingarea.c...of-the-future/

Last edited by Mwenenzi; Oct 24, 2016 at 10:21 pm Reason: added 2011 link
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Old Oct 24, 2016, 10:15 pm
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Originally Posted by boberonicus
I'm missing why this is "urgent"

I guess the word is more 'overdue' than urgent... Just am super surprised that this process remains stuck...
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Old Oct 25, 2016, 10:10 am
  #7  
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Originally Posted by alexoster
How is there no simple solution to checking bags at the airport? Why are we at their mercy? Who said they should 'tell us' what our bag tag details are, why shouldn't we tell them?!
Do you have a solution? Tag numbers are electronic, and tied to you PNR, so there's no real need to keep paper tags. Paper is cheap and it mostly works - RFID on every single bag is likely cost prohibitive right now.
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Old Oct 25, 2016, 11:10 am
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Rimowa electronic-tag is coming (LH and Eva Air for now, testing with United, Condor, Thomas Cook).
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Old Oct 25, 2016, 12:40 pm
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it would be nice to have something that pinned INSIDE your bag , luggage tags fall off , handles break off etc

And something outside that says you have "BagFinder" attached....

not sure if it would transmit thru aluminum luggage or steel cases.....
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Old Oct 25, 2016, 1:15 pm
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Originally Posted by CPRich
RFID on every single bag is likely cost prohibitive right now.
In quantity, the RFID tags themselves are actually quite cheap; less than a dime each if memory serves. I'd imagine that replacing the existing infrastructure (and supporting software) for machines that produce / read barcodes, and getting all the airports to comply, without a compelling reason for the change, is the real barrier.
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Old Oct 25, 2016, 1:58 pm
  #11  
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Honestly, this seems like an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" situation. An airline-provided baggage routing tag on the handle with a built-in address tag for backup just works a vast majority of the time. Why complicate it?
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Old Oct 25, 2016, 2:43 pm
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Originally Posted by SRQ Guy
Honestly, this seems like an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" situation. An airline-provided baggage routing tag on the handle with a built-in address tag for backup just works a vast majority of the time. Why complicate it?
+1

Especially when you consider that airlines are doing their damnedest to eliminate checked bags altogether.
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Old Oct 27, 2016, 6:44 pm
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Originally Posted by CPRich
Do you have a solution? Tag numbers are electronic, and tied to you PNR, so there's no real need to keep paper tags. Paper is cheap and it mostly works - RFID on every single bag is likely cost prohibitive right now.

Yes...so cost-prohibitive that Delta is using RFID tags on EVERY checked bag at ALL of their domestic airports. And they've even opened up the data so that pax can watch their bags get lost, mangled, and pilfered from.
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Old Oct 27, 2016, 8:52 pm
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Originally Posted by KRSW
What a needlessly pessimistic viewpoint to a handy solution to checking on the progress of one's bags.
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