![Dca-baggage-tag](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Dca-baggage-tag.jpg)
Bag tags, also known as baggage tags, baggage checks or luggage tickets, have traditionally been used by bus, train, and
airline
An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...
carriers to route checked
luggage
Baggage or luggage consists of bags, cases, and containers which hold a traveler's personal articles while the traveler is in transit. A modern traveler can be expected to have packages containing clothing, toiletries, small possessions, trip ...
to its final destination. The passenger stub is typically handed to the passenger or attached to the ticket envelope:
- to aid the passenger in identifying their bag among similar bags at the destination
baggage carousel
A baggage carousel is a device, generally at an airport, that delivers checked luggage to the passengers at the baggage reclaim area at their final destination. Not all airports use these devices. Airports without carousels generally deliver bagg ...
;
- as proof—still requested at a few airports—that the passenger is not removing someone else's bag from the baggage reclaim hall; and
- as a means for the passenger and carrier to identify and trace a specific bag that has gone astray and was not delivered at the destination. The carriers' liability is restricted to published
tariffs
A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and polic ...
and international agreements.
History
Invention
The first "separable coupon ticket" was patented by John Michael Lyons of
Moncton
Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...
,
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
on June 5, 1882. The ticket showed the issuing station, the destination, and a consecutive number for reference. The lower half of the ticket was given to the passenger, while the upper half, with a hole at the top, was inserted into a brass sleeve and then attached to the baggage by a strap.
[Canadian patent filing, "IMPROVEMENTS IN BAGGAGE CHECKS AND COUPON TICKETS"]
Patent Number 14911
Library and Archives Canada
At some point, reinforced paper tags were introduced. These are designed not to detach as easily as older tags during transport.
Warsaw Convention
The
Warsaw Convention
The Convention for the Unification of certain rules relating to international carriage by air, commonly known as the Warsaw Convention, is an international convention which regulates liability for international carriage of persons, luggage, or ...
of 1929, specifically Article Four, established the criteria for issuing a ''baggage check'' or ''luggage ticket''. This agreement also established limit of liability on checked baggage.
Previous bag tags
Prior to the 1990s, airline bag tags consisted of a paper tag attached with a string.
The tag contained basic information:
* Airline/carrier name
* Flight number
* Baggage tag number (composed of the two-letter airline code and six digits)
* Destination airport code
These tags became obsolete because they offered little security and were easy to replicate.
Current bag tags
Current bag tags include a
bar code
A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, Machine-readable data, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly refe ...
using the
Interleaved 2 of 5
Interleaved 2 of 5 (ITF) is a continuous two-width barcode symbology encoding digits. It is used commercially on 135 film, for ITF-14 barcodes, and on cartons of some products, while the products inside are labeled with UPC or EAN.
ITF enco ...
symbology. These bag tags are printed using a
thermal
A thermal column (or thermal) is a rising mass of buoyant air, a convective current in the atmosphere, that transfers heat energy vertically. Thermals are created by the uneven heating of Earth's surface from solar radiation, and are an example ...
or
barcode printer
A barcode printer is a computer peripheral for printing barcode labels or tags that can be attached to, or printed directly on, physical objects. Barcode printers are commonly used to label cartons before shipment, or to label retail items with ...
on an adhesive thermal paper stock. This printed strip is then attached to the luggage at check-in, allowing automated sorting of the bags by bar code readers.
There are two ways that bar code baggage tags are read: hand held scanners, and in-line arrays. In-line arrays are built into the baggage conveyor system and use a 360-degree array of lasers or cameras to read the bar code tags from multiple angles because baggage and the orientation of the bar code tag can shift as the bag travels through the conveyor belt system. Camera systems are replacing lasers due to their greater ability to read damaged or folded tags.
One of the limitations of this system is that in order to read bar codes from the bottom of the belt, laser or camera arrays are placed below the gap between two sections of conveyor belt. Due to the frequent build-up of debris and dust on these lower arrays, the rate of successful reads can be low, although the camera systems improve the likelihood of reading tags from this position because of the algorithms used in their software.
Frequently, the "read rate", the percentage of bar code tags successfully read by these arrays, can be as low as 85%. This means that more than one out of ten bar code baggage tags are not successfully read, and these bags are shunted off for manual reading, resulting in extra labor and delay. Systems employing cameras typically have better read rates than those using lasers - up to 99.5% in ideal conditions.
For flights departing from an international airport within the European Union, bag tags are issued with green edges. Passengers are eligible to take these bags through a separate "Blue Channel" (or alternatively the "Green Channel" = "nothing to declare") at
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...
if arriving at another EU airport.
Bar codes cannot be automatically scanned without direct sight and undamaged print. Because of reading problems with poorly printed, obscured, crumpled, scored or otherwise damaged bar codes, some airlines have started using
radio-frequency identification
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...
(RFID) chips embedded in the tags.
In the
US,
McCarran International Airport
Harry Reid International Airport is an international airport in Paradise, Nevada, and is the main government airport for public use in the Las Vegas Valley, a metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Nevada, about south of Downtown Las Vegas. ...
has installed an RFID system throughout the airport.
Hong Kong International Airport
Hong Kong International Airport is Hong Kong's main airport, built on reclaimed land on the island of Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong. The airport is also referred to as Chek Lap Kok International Airport or ''Chek Lap Kok Airport'', to distinguish ...
has also installed an RFID system. The
International Air Transport Association
The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff ...
(IATA) is working to standardize RFID bag tags.
British Airways
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
is currently conducting a trial to test re-usable electronic luggage tags featuring
electronic paper
Electronic paper, also sometimes electronic ink, e-ink or electrophoretic display, are display devices that mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on paper. Unlike conventional flat panel displays that emit light, an electronic paper display ref ...
technology. The passenger checks in using the British Airways smartphone app, then holds the smartphone close to the tag. The flight details and barcode are transmitted to the tag using
NFC
NFC may refer to:
Psychology
* Need for cognition, in psychology
* Need for closure, social psychological term
Sports
* NFC Championship Game, the National Football Conference Championship Game
* NCAA Football Championship (Philippines)
* Nati ...
technology. Because the tag utilises electronic paper, the battery need only power the tag during the transmission of data.
Fast Travel Global Ltd has developed a re-usable electronic luggage tag product called the eTag. This is also electronic paper-based but is not limited to a single airline. The passenger will check in using a supported airline's smartphone app and send the relevant flight information to the tag via
Bluetooth Low Energy
Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE, colloquially BLE, formerly marketed as Bluetooth Smart) is a wireless personal area network technology designed and marketed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) aimed at novel applications in ...
.
Qantas
Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founded ...
introduced Q Bag Tags in 2011. Unlike the British Airways tags, they do not feature a screen, which means there is no barcode to scan. This has limited the use of the tags to domestic flights within Australia on the Qantas network. The tags were initially given free of charge to members of the
Qantas Frequent Flyer
Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the List of airlines by foundation date, world's third-oldest airline sti ...
program with Silver, Gold or Platinum status. The tags can also be purchased for A$29.95.
Over the last years, there have been numerous of initiatives to develop electronic bag tags, by both independent technology companies as well as some airlines. The main benefits of electronic bag tags include self-control and ease-of-use by passengers, time-saving by skipping queues at the airport, improved read rates compared to printed bag tags and, as electronic bag tags are adopted, significant operational cost reduction for the airlines.
The first company to successfully launch has been
Rimowa
Rimowa GmbH (), often stylized as RIMOWA, is a high-quality luggage manufacturer. The company was founded in 1898, in Cologne, Germany.
RIMOWA suitcases are widely known for their parallel aluminium grooves, which have become characteristic of th ...
in a partnership with
Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding m ...
in March, 2016. The concept of electronic bag tags has been gaining ground following that launch. On January 9, 2018, Lufthansa introduced a new electronic bag tag to their passengers, BAGTAG. BAGTAG is the first fully secure operational electronic bag tag that can be attached to any suitcase and has integrated
radio-frequency identification
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...
technology.
Identification
The first automated baggage sorting systems were developed in the 1980s by Eastern Air Lines at their Miami International Airport hub. Other airlines soon followed with their own systems, including United Air Lines, TWA, Delta, and American Airlines. None of these systems were interchangeable. In some systems, the bar code was used to represent a three-letter destination airport code, and in others it was a two-digit sorting symbol instructing the system at which pier to deliver the bag.
As a result of the bombing of
Air India Flight 182
Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montreal–London–Delhi–Bombay route. On 23 June 1985, it was operated using Boeing 747-237B registered ''VT-EFO''. It disintegrated in mid-air en route from Montreal to Lond ...
on June 23, 1985, the airline industry, led by IATA, convened the Baggage Security Working Group (BSWG) to change international standards and require passenger baggage reconciliation. The Chairman of the BSWG, John Vermilye of Eastern Airlines, proposed that the industry adopt the already-proven license plate system.
This concept used a barcode to represent the baggage tag number. At check-in, this number was associated with the passenger details, including flight number, destination, connection information, and even class of service to indicate priority handling.
Working with Allen Davidson of Litton Industries, with whom Eastern had developed the license plate concept, the BSWG adopted this system as the common industry standard for passenger baggage reconciliation. Initially the barcode, or license plate, was used to match baggage with passengers, ensuring that only the baggage of passengers who had actually boarded the flight were carried onto the aircraft. This standard was adopted by IATA Resolution in 1987.
By 1989, the license plate concept was expanded to become the industry standard for automated baggage sorting as well. The barcodes were enlarged to facilitate automated reading. The barcode was shown in two different orientations or in a "T" shape, called the "orthogonal" representation.
The term ''license plate'' is the official term used by the IATA, the airlines, and the airports for the ten-
digit numeric code on a bag tag issued by a carrier or handling agent at check-in. The license plate is printed on the carrier tag in barcode form and in
human-readable
A human-readable medium or human-readable format is any encoding of data or information that can be naturally read by humans.
In computing, ''human-readable'' data is often encoded as ASCII or Unicode text, rather than as binary data. In most c ...
form (as defined in Resolution 740 in the ''IATA Passenger Services Conference Resolutions Manual'', published annually by IATA).
The license plate is the index number linking the Baggage Source Message (BSM), sent by a carrier's departure control system, to the airport's baggage handling system. This message (BSM) contains the flight details and passenger information. Each digit in the license plate has a specific meaning. The automated baggage handling system scans the barcodes on the carrier tags and sorts the bags accordingly. Both the license plate number and the BSM are essential for automated sorting of baggage.
The human-readable license plate will have either a two-character or a three-digit IATA carrier code. For example, it may be either "BA728359" or "0125728359." "BA" would be the two-character IATA code for
British Airways
British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
), and "125" would be the three-digit IATA carrier code. Nevertheless, the barcode will always be the full ten digits.
The first digit in the ten-digit license plate is not part of the carrier code. It can be in the range of zero to nine.
Zero is for interline or online tags, one is for fallback tags, and two is for "rush" tags.
Fallback tags are pre-printed or demand-printed tags for use only by the airport's baggage handling system. These tags are used when there is a problem in communication between the carrier's departure control system and the airport's baggage handling system (as defined in IATA Recommended Practice 1740b).
A "rush" bag is a bag that missed its original flight and is now flying unaccompanied.
The purpose of numbers in the range of three to nine is not defined by the IATA, but they can be used by each carrier for their own specific needs. The first digit is commonly used as a million indicator for the normal six-digit tag number.
IATA Passenger Services Conference Resolutions Manual
(PSCRM), 33rd Edition, Resolution 740, Secrion 5.1.2; however, this source does not reference how airlines commonly use that digit. It only states that values three through nine are for "interline and on-line use".
Besides the license plate number, the tag also has:
* Name of Airport of Arrival
* Departure Time
* IATA airport code
An IATA airport code, also known as an IATA location identifier, IATA station code, or simply a location identifier, is a three-character alphanumeric geocode designating many airports and metropolitan areas around the world, defined by the ...
of Airport of Arrival
* Airline Code and Flight Number
* Name of Passenger Identified with the Baggage (Last Name, First Name)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bagtag
Aircraft ground handling
Identifiers
Radio-frequency identification
Luggage
Canadian inventions