Are there plans to improve the checked baggage system?
 

Why are checked bags not being scanned all the time?

Some days ago I came back from a trip. My checked bag did not. The airline does not know where it is. I can just hope it turns up.

To me that is a horrible system. If bags were scanned each time it entered a plane, a baggage belt, an airport, was inspected by a certain person and so on... it would be easier to locate it. Probably also easier to make certain people responsible for luggage not being handled correctly. Are there plans to do this?

I'm thinking they could either just scan the bar codes that are currently being used or add RFID tags if necessary to automate the scanning.

If the claim tag gets ripped off the bag somehow (happened to me - bag had other damage and looked like it had gotten caught in machinery somehow), then it gets a lot harder to track. In my case, both the claim tag and my luggage tag were missing. Fortunately for me, it was a fairly distinctive bag (homemade) and I did get it back.

I do think that their lost bag claim system should be upgraded to accept actual photos of missing bags.

Manual scanning slows things down (watch the guys loading the bags on and off the plane sometime). RFID chips might work, but that's a cost issue.

Some airlines do. Some don't. Truly losing a bag is pretty rare.

Are there plans to improve the checked baggage system?
 

Since 7/1/13 I have logged four TATL flights on *A carriers (UAL and DLH). At least one checked bag was delayed, and airline/s claimed not to know where it/they were, on three of the four TATL legs. Although I hate carrying on a bag that barely fits overhead bins, such bad performance by the airlines shoves me to do just that,

DL scans the bag at most steps in the process, and you can track your bag on their app. (Checked-in, planeside scan, etc.) On a recent trip back from Argentina, my bag did not show up in Atlanta. The agent was able to see on her screen the exact baggage carousel it was scanned into (the wrong one, flight from Dubai) and we tracked down the bag there.

So there are some airlines that do have a better tracking system. But if the tags gets ripped off, no one is going to be able to track it until they figure out whose bag it is.

I would like the option to receive a text message upon boarding a flight that my checked baggage has been loaded onto the flight.

Slightly OT, but there is one baggage delivery improvement I would like to see at all airports.

At some airports (can't remember where or even if it was in the US), a notice comes up on the carousel when the last bag from the flight has been offloaded. I'd like to see that everywhere.

It's a real drag when sometimes the belt stops for 10 minutes, more bags come out, it keeps circulating, no one can actually tell you if all bags for the flight have been off-loaded and it's time to go file a claim or if there's still more to come.

The airline (TAM) has no idea where my stuff is or has been. In JFK I had a connection and had to take it out and go through customs with the bag and then give it back to them for the journey onwards with AA to GRU. Maybe it did not make it on the plane with me from JFK. It's been a week now. They don't know anything.

Every multi-million $$$$ inventory control system is only as good as its weakest link. That weak link could be anything from a poorly printed bar code, to an employee who is not concentrating to a conveyor belt that has overdue maintenance issues.

Think back to your grocery store experiences when the cashier has problems with bar code readers. I'm sure the airlines have the same problems.

They don't even try. I mean they don't scan the luggage at every entry and exit point and make that information available.

Why should they?

While it's very annoying when your bag gets misplaced temporarily, the incidence of it is quite low and declining. Pretty soon, comedians won't even be able to make jokes about it anymore.

Because it is more than annoying that I don't have my things and don't know if I will ever get them back. And with such a system there would be a better chance of finding the bags and getting them back to the customers. The customers would be happier and the airlines would have to pay less money in reimbursements.

But if the cost of implementation and operating the system outweighs the cost of reimbursements, there is no incentive for an airline to implement such a system.

As with any "enhancements" that increase the cost of a ticket, most people will turn to the airline with the cheaper price and, in this case, most will not notice any difference.

Or have an app that displays in real time your bag's location. When you launch the app you would have the option of taking a photo of the tracking number attached to your bag and a photo of the bag itself. The photo of the bag would be automatically synced with the airline's system to make finding your bag easier in case it is lost while the photo of the tag would add the bag to your list of tracked bags.

How hard can it be to develop such an app?