Delta will track baggage with RFID by the end of the year

Delta announced Friday it will be the first airline in the U.S. to deploy Radio Frequency Identification — or RFID — baggage tracking technology, for all 120 million bags it handles each year.

Since the 1990s, airlines have tracked baggage with barcodes and hand scanning. Delta calls the switch to RFID "historic."

Bill Lentsch, Delta's senior vice president of airport customer service and cargo operations, said this will entail a $50 million investment in RFID at 344 stations globally.

"We aim to reliably deliver every bag on every flight," Lentsch said in a statement. "This innovative application of technology gives us greater data and more precise information throughout the bag's journey."

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In February, the last month for which data is available, the Department of Transportation reported Delta has 1.95 mishandled baggage incidents per 1,000 passengers, placing it highest among the largest U.S. airlines and fourth overall behind Virgin America, JetBlue and Alaska. 

With RFID, scanners "use radio waves to capture highly accurate and consistent data stored on an RFID chip embedded in the luggage tag," according to Delta.

That information will be included in the Delta mobile app, and passengers would get push notifications as their bags were put on and off their aircraft.

It isn't just airlines interested in RFID tracking: Several airports have implemented processes with RFID instead of barcodes. McCarran Airport in Las Vegas has been using RFID since 2006.

And many luggage and accessory companies have been developing RFID technology for passengers so they can track their items themselves. Airlines and airports will likely all eventually adopt the technology, in order to prevent as many customer complaints as possible.

Delta has already started testing RFID, and claims a 99.9% success rate.

Delta teams have deployed 4,600 scanners, installed 3,800 RFID bag tag printers and integrated 600 pier and claim readers to enable hands-free scanning of baggage throughout the handling process. RFID will soon track bags on all Delta mainline and Delta Connection flights.

Spread throughout 84 of Delta's largest stations, 1,500 belt loaders will give baggage the green light – literally – as it enters and exits the belly of a plane. The belt loader sensor will flash green when the bag is being loaded on the correct aircraft or red when the bag requires additional handling.

Delta expects the technology to roll out beginning at the end of this year.

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