No more mystery over missing bags

Whether travelling on business or leisure, we all check our luggage in at the airport with the hope that we will see it at our destination. Of course, this is not always the case, but an airline which manages baggage effectively makes its passengers' experience pleasant and stress-free, increasing the chances of passengers consider the airline for their next trip.

How do they achieve this? The answer is simple – through investing in the right IT solutions designed to support airlines and airport ground staff to manage the constant flow of baggage.

Earlier this year, the annual baggage report from Sita said that for 2.2 billion passengers, 25.025 million bags were mishandled globally last year.

Although these are big numbers, the figures are actually down 23.8 per cent, or 7.8 million bags, from 2008, and more than 40 per cent – 17.4 million bags – down on the 2007 numbers.

Some would say this decline is due to fewer passengers travelling during 2009.

However, the decline of 2.9 per cent in passengers is still far smaller than 23.8 per cent decline in mishandled baggage.

If airlines, airports and ground handlers want to get the most of their investment in upcoming solutions, such as self-service technology, and benefit further from the savings generated by the adoption of self-service channels, it is critical that they address the baggage dilemma. This is a recognised issue and is being addressed through a number of initiatives.

An area which costs airlines large sums of money, year after year the amount of mishandled baggage is dropping. The Sita annual baggage report said that airlines around the world saved $460 million during 2009, a challenging year for most industries and in particular the aviation sector where overall losses reached $9.4 billion.

Implementation of advanced IT solutions has had a lot to do with these figures dropping. Take WorldTracer for example – the world's leading automated service for tracing lost and mishandled baggage. Developed by Sita and co-sponsored by Iata, it allows airlines to trace baggage while keeping costs to a minimum. The software enables airlines to handle other airlines' baggage and have immediate access to files created on their behalf. It also simplifies claims processing, provides quality control, as well as system supervision and fraud prevention. Today, it is used by more than 440 airlines and ground-handling companies worldwide. Passengers often wonder if they will see their baggage again once it has been misplaced or lost. In reality, they do – the vast majority of mishandled bags are restored to their owners within 48 hours or less. Just 3.4 per cent of all mishandled bags go either unclaimed or, in rare instances, are actually stolen.

Looking ahead, Iata's Baggage Improvement Programme (BIP), launched in 2008, proposes solutions that aim to cut baggage mishandling by half by 2012.

When deployed system-wide by an airline, the Sita BagManager provides a "track and trace" system at single and multi-airport locations to reconcile bags with passengers as they move through and between airports. The system provides positive passenger bag match, ensuring that passengers and their bags travel together on the same aircraft.

Sita surveys consistently show increasing passenger willingness to use self-service technology for checking in baggage either at the airport or off-site, leading Sita to develop check-in kiosks with a greater range of functionality, including bag tag printing.

- Jihad Boueri, Regional Vice President, Solution Line, Sita Middle East and North Africa. The views expressed are his own

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