channa

They have distance criteria for forwarding vs. delivering bags.

I took a VDB once LAX-OAK and went LAX-SMF. I told the bag rep in SMF that I'm renting a car one-way SMF-OAK and can pick up my bags the next day in OAK. She said in that case, no claim was necessary.

When I tracked my bags before going to OAK, DL OAK got smart and saw I'd traveled to SMF and forwarded my bags OAK-SLC-SMF. I called told them I'm not going to pick them up at SMF since I'm near OAK, so now please have them delivered. They filed a claim over the phone.

SMF saw my delivery address as being in the Bay Area (i.e., too far), so once they got the bags, they forwarded them SMF-LAX-OAK.

SDQBound

The tag will be either disabled at the last reader before the delivery, or there will be a mismatch in the RFID data and DL's database and it will be ignored, as it will have the data from a different PNR that will not be active anymore.

Think about going to a store and buying an item with an RFID tag. The cashier usually deactivates the RFID so that it doesn't activate the alarm at the door's security system. This is basically a pre-requisite during the design phase of an RFID system life cycle.

Widgets

Tag numbers are already saved in My Trips in the app. It's not logistically sensible to keep every bag in a family together through sortation.

HDQDD

I highly doubt they will disable them, that would assume they're active tags which are significantly more expensive than passive tags which would work fine.

A non or false tag read would be sent to a "manual encoder" (read: human) who would then tell the bag system where the bag needs to go.

As I've written about before, I worked on a large scale RFID project with UA at LAS and HKG many years ago (mid 2000s). Ultimately it was killed off. The tags we were using cost like $0.09. That may not sound like much, but when you multiply that by 500,000 bags per day, it's a significant expense for minimal (if any) return. And remember that's not including the $10s of millions of dollars to retrofit existing systems. Barcodes have around a 85%-90% read rate (in the automated systems). Ones that can't be read get kicked to a manual encoder who then either scans the obscured tag or keys in which pier the bag needs to go to. LAS made the mistake of thinking they would no longer need manual encoders with RFID. It turned into a disaster when the read rate was closer to 98% and bags were being dumped out in the wrong areas. One justification for RFID would be HCR, but you don't get that unless the read rate is 100%... RFID cool, but that's about it. Not enough business benefit.

Widgets

With RFID tech cheap now, my station orders boxes of 1,000 tags for less than $0.01/tag. Baggage handlers are still expected to manually scan 100% when loading/delivering to claim.

HDQDD

Even at 1 cent, the math just doesn't make sense. The RFID doesn't have a payback compared to current methods. DL is already one of (or maybe THE) the best at not losing bags.

TheLifeOfA_NKCM

Considering RFID tech isn't my specialty, correct me if I'm wrong here.. However I see things like this.

It would likely be only used and activated on a session by session basis, deactivated by baggage handlers. Also if it wasn't deactivated already, it would be likely also tied to the PPR of your prior itinerary, so the app wouldn't even track it past arrival anyways. And sense the route would be marked as completed, there'd be absolutely no need for the sensors or systems to do a follow-up after realizing that the old tags route has already been completed.

The issue with NFC is it's range is wayyy too low, so your phone or any of Delta's devices would have to physically come in contact with the device/bag. With RFID or Bluetooth, you likely could set up a queue system by having sensors in the cargo hold scan the bag as it leaves the plane or also possibly at the entrance to the baggage drop as well.

phenobarbital

Your math is faulty.

lurcher

Let me help out a little - I may have been involved with this....

RFID printers have been installed for some time at LAS, with the original intent to use a tracking system operated by the airport. It was never implemented, but tags in place and in use for some time (though not activated).

Delta had completely new RFID enabled printers installed in all of their stateside locations by the end of last year. International rollout followed. They had the RFID tech disabled until the final roll-out and normal bagtags used (cheaper).

Bagtags have chip installed in between labels. Will only read the one in that tag, enabled by the printer when printed. Pretty cool tech - looks like a simple copper pressed antenna. Similar to whats in use at most department stores. Range is antenna dependent. We had the antennas picking up ~35 ft away in the beginning.

Bags read on drop-off, on the carousel, on the beltloader (plane-side), and reverse. If bag gets lost - will only be able to tell the last spot scanned. No option right now to do a airport wide scan and "find" the bag...

We were in LAS last summer building the systems on the belt-loaders (those white metal vertical "attachments" with the R/Y/G lights in marketing pictures) and testing the printers. We installed readers on the building side in MSP to test "catching" the bags.

Team later went to BWI for additional testing.

Now that it's announced, other airlines want to do the same thing and likely already doing planning on this. 99% accuracy will be tough to maintain due to the sophistication of the systems and lack of "finesse" by operators. Should be interesting...

Widgets

The best searching tool the ramp has for now is typing the tag number in the scanner and pointing the scanner at a group of bags. The scanner will beep faster as it gets closer to the bag.

AKABrownBear

Can this technology be applied to alert me if someone tries to take my carry-on off of a plane?

Had two separate instances of a guy try to walk off with my bag. In one case, it was a red-eye and the dude had a blue duffel bag and was so zonked he took my black roller bag. Luckily caught him at baggage claim since he had checked his other bag. The other I saw the guy taking my bag out and asked him if he was sure he had his own bag. He laughed and said "whoops." Wouldn't have been so funny if he walked away with my luggage...

I'd pay money to have some way of knowing if someone is about to leave with my bag given sometimes I have to stow it away from my seat. Even if it rarely happens, would be worth it.

Widgets

Make the handle so noticeably different that the normal person couldn't mistake it.

Zorak

Look into a "Tile" or similar Bluetooth tracker.

FlyingNone

Sorry if I missed it but what does RFID stand for (acronym) ?

Widgets

Radio frequency identification