subject: Baggage Will One Day Be Electronically Tagged [print this page] Baggage goes missing so frequently that it cost the travel industry millions of pounds every year. But they are a number of technological solutions to the problem of lost luggage.
Luggage will one day not need to have a flimsy paper tag attached to it, and it will instead be tagged with an electronic device. This RFID technology, similar to that which you may currently already having in your passport will make sure that luggage for flights from Tampa to San Francisco will not become mixed up with luggage for flights from Chicago to Puerto Vallarta.
The will be a revolution. You will then be able to see exactly where in the process your luggage went missing. And where before it could easily lose its paper tag, it will now have its barcode scanned every time it makes a move. So just like how you track parcels you'll be able to track luggage, perhaps even while onboard you'll be able to see the journey that your luggage made in order to get onto the airplane and be reassured that you luggage is with you on the plane.
The distant future, if the cost of GPS receives comes down, could be a GPS transponder on every piece of luggage. People taking flights from New York to Des Moines would be able to track down their luggage to within 7 meters from anywhere in the world if they get to Des Moines and their luggage is nowhere to be seen. But for the moment we can only hope that airlines will take a leaf out of the package and courier delivery service's book and scan every piece of luggage, and treat it as just important as passengers. When all bags are electronically tagged we will no longer have to worry, however and will be able to track it by satellites. Maybe.
