Lost and mishandled baggage is a major expense for

Lost and mishandled baggage is a major expense for airlines and reducing the incidence of
lost and mishandled baggage creates significant yearly savings.

Technology: Baggage handling systems are among the most complex systems because they
involve a wide variety of sensors, actuators, mechanical devices, and computers. The systems
use over three million lines of software program code. Advanced technology used in these
systems include destination-coded vehicles (DCV), automatic bar code scanners, use of radio
frequency identification (RFID) tags, and high-tech conveyors equipped with sorting
machines. Because DCVs move at high speed and do not come to a full stop to receive
baggage, the conveyors must be extremely precise, depositing bags where they are needed at
just the right time for maximum efficiency.
3. The problem baggage handling systems are trying to solve is customer dissatisfaction and to
promote customer goodwill as well as reduce costs.
Business impact: Overall the airline industry rate for lost luggage has improved by 38 percent
over similar figures from two years ago when nearly 2.5 million bags were lost or delayed.
Lost and mishandled baggage is a major expense for airlines. Reducing the problem creates
significant yearly savings. The global airline industry price tag for mishandled baggage is
$2.5 billion per year.
Today’s baggage handling systems do appear to be a solution to the problem. US Airways
lost nine bags for every 1,000 travelers in 2007. After implementing a new system, that
number dropped to three bags for every 1,000 travelers. Even though the company spent $16
million on the system, the airline saved $25 million a year and boosted customer satisfaction.
Between 2008 and 2010, Delta Airlines installed optical scanners to read baggage tag bar
codes, widened and extended its system of baggage conveyor belts, and installed a central
control room to monitor conveyor belts and baggage carousels in Atlanta and most of its
other airport terminals. The airline recorded a top-notch baggage handling record of just 2.93
mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers. Bags now take less than 10 minutes to travel from
terminal to terminal. The process used to take as long as 30 minutes with the older system.