Heathrow, the UK’s busiest airport, recently began a six-month trial of RFID tags for use in tracking passengers’ baggage.

The trial will involve tagging around 50,000 bags each month belonging to passengers traveling or transferring on Emirates Airline between Heathrow and Dubai. The tags will only be coded with the passenger name and destination, though higher capacity tags could be used in future applications to enable more information storage.

Heathrow currently uses a barcode system, which is vulnerable to damage in transit, resulting in lost bags and angry customers. The barcodes will continue to be used in tandem with the RFID tags during the trial as a backup.

The technology will allow some passengers to receive messages on their mobile phones directing them to the appropriate baggage claim area.

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