British Airways looks likely to be investing in RFID in a bid to cut its lost luggage bills.
BA CEO, Rod Eddington, gave his support to the introduction of RFID at the expense of traditional sticker bar codes at a meeting of international air trade association IATA. It's hoped the tech changeover will mean its passengers' bags don't go astray en route.
BA loses around 18 bags per 1,000 it handles and pays customers an average of £55 per lost piece of luggage, largely as a result of the sticker bar codes being damaged or misread. The airline believes it could save £400m by introducing the radio frequency technology, as the new tech could reduce its read error rate to nearly zero.
The chips will also be inserted into, rather than attached to, bags, meaning the tiny chips are less likely than barcode labels to be separated from the luggage. And, unlike bar codes, the tags can be read without a direct line of sight.
Eddington advocated a one-system approach for the world's airlines to avoid interoperability problems, too.
While some airlines have already trialled RFID, BA has previously been reluctant to consider full-scale implementation. However, the airline suffered a high-profile baggage disaster last year when 11,000 bags were lost following strikes.
Airline body SITA estimates that the use of RFID could save airlines $1bn on their lost luggage bill.
In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in
Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below
By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Membership FAQ
Wonder how many days it will take before somebody codes an exploitive hack for IE9?
9 hours ago by Xwindowsjunkie on Microsoft previews Internet Explorer 9 with HTML 5 support
There are some really good people in Microsoft and I wonder, how embarassing it must be for them to see how the organisation behaves from it's...
14 hours ago by roger andre on Microsoft lashing out at Linux, open source
Great new look for ZDNET UK web-site http://bit.ly/9R5eAA to check it out @ZDNetUK #zdnet
17 hours ago on Twitter by ajclarke
Microsoft previews Internet Explorer 9 with HTML 5 support - zdnet.co.uk http://bit.ly/9FSh23
18 hours ago on Twitter by feedfrog
We were just pondering on when IE will get HTML5 and CSS3 onboard! this is excellent
18 hours ago by kencogold on Microsoft previews Internet Explorer 9 with HTML 5 support
RT @suziedaniels: relaunched www.zdnet.co.uk raises the bar yet again! its so fast it makes my eyes bleed.
20 hours ago on Twitter by riptari This is brilliant - I borrowed one and straight away saw that a few AP`s were set up to the wrong country. It gives interference levels on each...
20 hours ago by Bob Preece on Fluke Networks AirCheck Wi-Fi Tester
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/networking/2010/03/11/european-parliament-votes-down-acta-treaty-40085614/ (Where does this leave #Debill?)
20 hours ago on Twitter by _SimonArnoldme
relaunched www.zdnet.co.uk raises the bar yet again! its so fast it makes my eyes bleed.
20 hours ago on Twitter by suziedaniels
Redesign complet pour ZDNet UK et AU, Twitter au centre http://www.zdnet.co.uk/ http://www.zdnet.com.au/
20 hours ago on Twitter by eparody
RT @eparody: Redesign complet pour ZDNet UK et AU, Twitter au centre http://www.zdnet.co.uk/ http://www.zdnet.com.au/
20 hours ago on Twitter by cdutheil
I just joined the ZDNetUK LinkedIn group http://bit.ly/aGgPhc
20 hours ago on Twitter by ABridgwater
Sharepoint 2010 in photo's http://www.zdnet.co.uk/reviews/communication-and-collaboration/2010/03/04/sharepoint-2010-screenshots-40070577/
21 hours ago on Twitter by gerardv
Thanks for commenting and clearing that up, Richard. We look forward to seeing what the new clause, if it is not struck out due to protests and/or...
23 hours ago by David Meyer on Rights holders vs digital rights activists - who wins? Thanks Subliminal: I'm afraid I did, but a slip of the tongue in the heat of the moment - I meant to say it would have the opposite of an...
23 hours ago by RMollet on Rights holders vs digital rights activists - who wins?
the new look and feel ZDNET, with seriously fast search for better navigation www.zdnet.co.uk
23 hours ago on Twitter by westcoastfan32
RT @jay_ro: Loving the new site and unified design! www.zdnet.com.au (also www.zdnetasia.com and www.zdnet.co.uk) /via @pastawoua
23 hours ago on Twitter by pdub
ZDNet Australia, Asia and UK re-launch on a unified platform - looking good. www.zdnet.com.au www.zdnetasia.com www.zdnet.co.uk
23 hours ago on Twitter by cankles
Loving the new site and unified design! www.zdnet.com.au (also www.zdnetasia.com and www.zdnet.co.uk) /via @pastawoua
23 hours ago on Twitter by jay_ro
I'd echo Andrew's comments. I like the faster loading and, generally speaking, the design but I too struggled to find where to start a new blog...
24 hours ago by manek on ZDNet UK - Now cleaner than an Archbishop's conscienceFor multi-store outlets, including retail, banking, grocery, gas, hospitality, convenience stores and others, reducing (or avoiding) the cost of in-store system support and maintenance while maintaining compliance with PCI and other requirements has become a strategic challenge.
Speaker: Dr. Chenxi Wang, Principal Analyst, Security and Risk Management, Forrester Research, Inc. As Enterprises are increasingly connected to the Internet and as hard organizational boundaries are fast disappearing, security professionals are facing fresh challenges in Enterprise computing.
This tutorial is for new MindManager users and teaches you how to get started, by creating maps, reading maps and organizing your information.
Talkback
The Guardian today reported that BA are to stop the freighting of animals for phamaciutical companys to test on in the UK. This however does not extend to equestrian transport or frozen embios.
7 Jun 05 00:02 ReplyImagine losing one of those
RFID is fine for tracking baggage, BUT if your baggage is not lost the authorities, whoever they are can track you (the person) as and when you travel with your baggage. I think that this is taking BIG BROTHER one step to far.
d c jones 25 Mar 07 17:13 ReplyIf the airlines and airport did their job correctly in the first place there would not be a need for electronically tracking baggage or people.
RFID chips are expensive to produce and it a fair bet that we the travelling public will again pick up the cost, again.