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| British Airways’ electronic bag tag concept |
There can be no doubting
the fact that the baggage sector is undergoing a transformation, with permanent
electronic bag tags and GPS-based tracking devices continuing to gain traction.
The likes of Air France-KLM and British Airways have trialed e-tags, and others
such as Brussels Airlines have stated an intention to develop their own
solutions, while a variety of industry vendors are also coming to market with
their own products. Exactly when passengers will be able to make use of these
new devices en masse is not very clear, however.
This week FTE spoke to
an airline industry expert who has decades of experience in this sector, and
who has first-hand experience in the permanent electronic bag tag space. He told, with some conviction, “I’m sure the (e-tags) will fly in
the next year”.
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| QANTAS - The Q Tag |
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| Air France - KLM eTag & eTrack Tags |
Pointing to Qantas’ use
of permanent Q Tags, which were launched back in 2011 for domestic
services, source explained that domestic implementations are likely to lead
the way. “The way I see it is, yes they will fly and they will probably fly on
different continents, but mostly domestically”, while airlines seek the
necessary approvals to extend e-tags to international services.
Rollout within the
European Union is proving to be tricky. All bags originating inside the EU must
include a clearly visible green stripe on the bag tag to make them easily
distinguishable from those originating outside of the 28 member countries. This
issue has already delayed the rollout of home-printed bag tags, and
now poses a headache to those wishing to use permanent e-tags.
“The EU did
not agree to the solution that was put forward to replace the green stripe on
the e-tags, ” source revealed. “It had been proposed that the green stripe
was replaced with a black stripe with the letters “EU” typed on it, but the EU did not accept that – they want to see green. It now depends on which
of the providers can actually provide a product that ensures the stripe is
actually green.”
Outside of the EU, this
is not a problem, though, which means passengers on other continents are likely
to be able to make use of e-tags before their European counterparts – good news
for carriers operating outside of the EU, especially those keen to utilise the
new technology on domestic flights.
Baggage tracking devices
As the general public is
now “spoilt by companies like FedEx and UPS that allow them to track their
parcels as soon as they leave the warehouse”, passengers are now also demanding
real-time baggage tracking, A source said.
Given the fact that not
all airports have a baggage reconciliation system, baggage tracking devices
have emerged as the “next best solution”. “Its very sure that passengers are
interested to know, especially at a transfer point, if their bag is still
travelling with them or not. The FTE spokesperson said " I’m sure if airlines will not start offering these
products they will come to market anyway,
Digital passenger
smartcards could be next
The source also revealed
that they think the technology used in e-tags could soon be applied to
smartcards, which could change the game even further. “A lot will happen with
smartphones over the next few years of course, but at the same time people
still carry credit cards and people still carry frequent flyer cards. A
frequent flyer card at this moment is a very dumb card, but if you want to make
a next step there you either make them digital by putting everything on
smartphones or make the card itself digital.”
When pushed further on
this idea of a digital card, they explained that by applying the technology
used in the e-tags’ digital displays and adding small antennas to
the smartcards, they could do most things that the smartphone can do
today. Importantly, the passenger wouldn’t have to worry about their
smartphone’s battery running out, as is often a concern today.
“The smartcard could be
your boarding pass, it could be a device on which you can look at frequent
flyer points and update your frequent flyer account, it could also be a device
that helps you find your way at the airport, and it can be used to update your
electronic bag tag.”
The smartcard would not
be a replacement for the smartphone in the travel process, but the two devices
could have “crossover” benefits, sources said. “That’s why the word
‘crossover is used here’ – there are lots of things you can do on your smartphone, but do you
really need to do everything with the smartphone or can we make the plastic
that we have in our wallets smarter as well?”
Source - FTE
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