Nicole Hogg, Sydney-based Director of Baggage at air transport IT provider SITA, says passengers no longer feel confident checking in their baggage.
Referring to the chaos she recently experienced when most passengers brought their luggage into the cabin during a severely delayed flight, Hogg points out that data from the latest SITA Baggage IT Insights report confirms a spike in baggage mishandling emerging from the pandemic.
“Over the past year, we’ve seen a swifter-than-expected recovery of passenger demand, particularly for international travel. The latest data from Iata shows global traffic for April 2023 to have reached 90,5% of April 2019 levels, with traffic surges at holiday periods matching and even surpassing pre-pandemic levels.
“This has coincided with airlines, airports, and ground handlers still suffering staff and resource shortages, along with a lack of baggage experience and expertise in new staff. The 2023 Baggage IT Insights Report shows the global rate of mishandled bags per thousand passengers jumped 74,7% from 2021 to 2022.
She says one of the biggest issues contributing to this is transfers: the proportion of mishandled bags delayed at transfer had increased to 42%, due to the resurgence of international and long-haul travel. Due to challenges at transfer, the likelihood of mishandling a bag on international routes is about eight times higher compared with domestic routes.
Digitalisation
According to Hogg, the industry recognises that restoring passengers’ confidence to check their baggage is a top priority. Digitalisation has proven a tried-and-true lever to achieve this, while boosting operational efficiency and customer satisfaction – wide implementation of technology for the automated tracking and repatriation of baggage contributed to a 70% drop in the mishandling rate from 2007 to 2019.
Airlines and airports have been investing in IT solutions that deliver greater automation and self-service to tackle current challenges. According to SITA’s 2022 Air Transport IT Insights, by 2025, 84% of airlines plan to provide real-time baggage status information to their staff and 67% plan to offer this to passengers. Touchless bag tagging options that rely on kiosks and passengers’ mobile devices are a priority for 98% of airlines and 95% of airports.
SITA’s 2022 Passenger IT Insights report further found that greater technology adoption, giving passengers more autonomy and control in baggage processes, correlated with more positive emotions for them. From 2016 to 2022, technology adoption at bag collection stage rose from 0% to 29% of passengers receiving mobile bag collection notifications, while passengers reported a 9% increase in positive emotions during bag collection.
Post-pandemic recovery has thrown into stark relief key challenges airports face along the baggage journey, and the major advantages of having greater visibility and digitalisation across the whole value chain.
“At SITA, we continue to work directly with airlines and airports to help resolve key pain points in the journey through smart automation, tracking, and digital platforms, with the aim of restoring passengers’ confidence to check in their bags. In partnership with Lufthansa, we have developed the WorldTracer Auto Reflight system in direct response to the high mishandling rates at transfer. This uses digital automation to suggest suitable routing for rush bags and informs the baggage system of new bag routing using the original bag tag. It proactively informs the passenger upon arrival of any delay, allowing them to save time by bypassing baggage collection and tracking their bag’s new journey and delivery via mobile.
“The results of the recent Proof of Concept suggest we can automatically reflight as much as 70% of Lufthansa’s mishandled bags at Munich Airport. With repatriation of mishandled bags costing an estimated $150 (R2 640) per bag, we estimate that automation of reflight operations could save the industry up to $30 million (R527m) per year.”
Hogg says SITA is working to provide end-to-end visibility of the whole baggage journey, eventually ensuring passengers can track their bags just as they would track parcel delivery. “We have worked closely with our industry partners to develop solutions like SITA Bag Manager, which scans and evaluates every bag that is loaded on to a plane, a ULD, or a cart, and SITA Bag Journey, which transforms baggage processing information from each step of the journey into a chronological, user-friendly view of what has happened to the bag.”
With smart technology, she says airlines and airports are equipped to provide staff and passengers with a precise, real-time view of where their bags are at each step of the journey via their mobile for maximum convenience, allowing them to relax as their bags are checked.
