Since June 2018, all IATA members have to comply with a resolution on baggage tracking called Resolution 753. Airlines must track baggage at four key points in the baggage journey as follows:
Passenger handover to airline
Loading to the aircraft
Delivery to the transfer area
Return to the passengers
Airlines must also make tracking information available to other partners and airlines, for example when baggage is transferred from aircraft to aircraft. Transfer is by far the most vulnerable part of the baggage journey and accounts for a significant 46% of all mishandled baggage.
Although lost luggage hurts travelers the most, airlines are also significantly impacted when mistakes are made. While it takes a lot of additional time and resources for operators to get mishandled baggage back to passengers, they also have to contend with compensation and fines – which can rack up fast. Three years on and what has the impact been from resolution 753 and has it signalled the end of lost baggage?
The impact of Resolution 753 since its launch
Since its introduction in June 2018, airlines that have implemented improved tracking at the relevant points in the baggage journey, and have noticed a difference in instances of misdirected luggage. Official numbers show that where bag tracking occurs at check-in and aircraft loading points, airlines have improved at a rate of between 38% and 66%. Although improvements in the baggage handling process have been showing over the past decade, some industry professionals insist that Resolution 753 will accelerate the elimination of mishandled baggage.
The impact on passenger experience
There is a global interest in the aviation industry to improve passenger experience and lost luggage is one of the biggest factors that lead to unhappy passengers. At BagsID we offer innovative baggage tracking solutions to ensure that passengers and their luggage are never apart. Good baggage tracking allows you to know where bags are prior to departure, so proactive action can be taken to retrieve those bags and ensure they make their destination and in turn improve the passengers’ customer experience. Without this information you just have to hope that the bag arrives.
The battle against lost bags
Lost baggage has long been a battle for airlines, but over the last decade it is a battle they are beginning to win. The next step is to realise the full benefits of baggage tracking to further improve performance. Tracking bags will enable proactive reporting, speed up aircraft readiness for departure, facilitate the automation of baggage processes and also reduce fraud.
High tech solutions
Undoubtedly resolution 753 has started to address the issue around baggage handling, but if the industry wants to take this opportunity to revolutionise the baggage handling system and make major gains then it needs to adopt an innovative solution to the way baggage is handled. Artificial Intelligence (AI) will revolutionise the management of baggage over the next decade, making mishandled bags an increasingly rare event for passengers globally.
IATA Resolution 753 requires end-to-end baggage tracking for airline travel safety. The challenge is providing that level of security at a manageable price. BagsID Network is a complete visual AI platform that combines computer vision training with deep learning. Our technology offers a more affordable, reliable and efficient solution to baggage handling at less than 1c per bag.
What’s next?
With pre-crisis global passenger numbers expected to exceed 2019 levels as soon as 2023, baggage identification needs to evolve. Current methods, such as barcodes, are not accurate enough and RFID is expensive and complicated to adopt. The industry demands innovation that reduces costs and increases efficiency.
That’s where we come in.