Identity and automation customize travel experience
27 January, 2015
category: Biometrics, Contactless, Government, Library, NFC, Transit
New bag tags make luggage smart
The luggage tag is often an afterthought, only really considered if a traveler doesn’t have one and must scramble to fill one out before checking a bag. But as technology advances, so too does the humble luggage tag.
British Airways partnered with Designworks and Densitron Displays to develop an electronic Bag Tag that would be a permanent, rewriteable alternative paper tags.
British Airways is testing the new tags that are affixed to luggage to make sure bags arrive at their proper destination. Once checked in, customers hold an NFC-enabled smart phone over the electronic tag to automatically update the unique bar code detailing flight info and bag destination.
The tag consists of an E Ink display encased in a plastic housing that’s designed to permanently be attached to the bag. The display is split into two sections, one showing the bar code that can be scanned and the other displaying flight details.
In a separate deployment, Air France-KLM is rolling out to its FastTrack electronic tag to travellers.
The electronic bag tag consists of two separate piece of hardware. The first is a tag placed outside the luggage that has two E Ink displays to show the bag’s destination and traveler information. When a traveler checks in online the flight information is transmitted to the tag via Bluetooth.
The second piece of hardware is an electronic tracking device that is placed inside the luggage. It can be tracked via smart phones through GSM, GPS or Bluetooth and features an Auto Flight Mode that complies with worldwide air travel regulations so it doesn’t interfere with communications.
The tracking feature enables travelers to know where the bag is at any time. They can also see when the bag has been taken off the airplane and when it’s arrived at a luggage carrousel.
For the FastTrack project, Air France-KLM was presented with a 4th Future Travel Experience Awards for Best Baggage Initiative.
