Delta Air Lines brings real-time luggage tracking to its London Heathrow transatlantic flights
Worried about the prospect of never seeing your luggage again once it’s been loaded onto a flight?
Well, fear not, for Delta is now rolling out real-time bag tracking for its London transatlantic flights. Customers will be able to keep track of their checked bags on its flights between London Heathrow and the US via their mobiles.
The airline’s other European hubs, Amsterdam and Paris, will be added in the coming months, as each of the 344 airports used by Delta will receive the technology.
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Radio frequency identification bag tags are added to all the checked luggage so passengers can receive updates on just where exactly their luggage is from check-in to when it (hopefully) turns up on the arrival carousel.
The tags are read by purpose-built antennas at various points along the trip, with customers getting push notifications via their phones on the Fly Delta app. Customers can also get a map view of their bag’s journey when travelling in the US through the app.
Customers who book Delta-operated flights through partner Virgin Atlantic will also be able to use the bag tracking service on flights departing London Heathrow.
“Carrying more than 1.3m bags between London Heathrow and the United States each year, our new service gives customers peace of mind because they know we’re looking after their bags every step of the way,” said Corneel Koster, Delta’s senior vice president Europe, Middle East, Africa and India.
Following a successful rollout in the US, we are on track to equip all of our international stations, including Heathrow, with this technology as part of our continued efforts to improve our customer experience.
Delta’s initial results indicate that tagged items are tracked at a 99.9 per cent success rate, ensuring both proper loading and routing. It has plugged in over $50m to ensure accurate routing of the 180m bags it handles each year.
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