Passengers disembark from the airplane and are in the arrival hall. Waiting patiently, hoping their bags arrive soon. They want to be out of there, and on their way. Sound familiar? It has to be one of the most frustrating travel experiences for passengers. While other aspects of baggage handling have witnessed substantial improvement in efficiency over recent years, baggage reclaim has, for the most part, been neglected.
By Moritz Bender
The introduction of Reclaim on Demand systems will completely transform parts of the baggage handling process and will be able to offer benefits to passengers and airports alike.
Reclaim on Demand is a system designed for the future of baggage claim. It’s an automated system giving passengers visibility into when and where their bags will appear. They will be contacted via an in-app message on their mobile phone, confirming their bag is ready for collection. They will also receive a code to use to both verify their identity and open the kiosk to collect their bag. In this new world of on-demand baggage reclaim, passengers will get to follow their luggage throughout its arrival.
So, just as the widely used self-service bag drop automates the check-in process, Reclaim on Demand will automate the baggage claim process. The automated scanning and documenting of the receipt of arriving baggage will facilitate the whole process.
There will be many pluses to the on-demand baggage process. Clearly, it offers the passenger both flexibility and visibility to their baggage’s journey and whereabouts. They will be able to learn the exact location of their baggage and track it in real time, especially as inflight wifi becomes a regular feature.
But there’s so much more than that. For the airport, there are many advantages of Reclaim on Demand services.
With on-demand baggage claim, it will be possible to reduce the risk of theft or passengers reclaiming the wrong bag to zero. This will be equally true for those reports made in error by passengers who think their luggage is lost but in fact, has yet to arrive. Extending 100 percent traceability to the baggage reclaim area will also reduce the relatively high number of missing-bag reports and the cost involved to recover and reunite passengers with their lost luggage. Moreover, airports will be able to determine custody of every bag during the last phase of the baggage handling process in compliance with IATA Resolution 753.
Automating the handling of arrival baggage will also support faster baggage transfers, particularly for airports equipped with tote-based baggage handling that can integrate their departure and arrival systems. Loading in-coming bags into a tote will allow the connecting aircraft to receive the bag-tag information as soon as it arrives at the airport.
The on-demand baggage reclaim will also have the potential to drive more revenue to airports. Firstly, it enables the expansion of the arrivals retail area. Secondly, airports can reserve Reclaim on Demand as a special service for premium passengers.
BEUMER Group’s CrisBag® system is a tote-based system for tracking bags. It allows passengers to follow the progress of their luggage throughout the travel journey and for this reason, has the potential to facilitate Reclaim on Demand.
CrisBag® has a 100 percent in-built tracking capability, making the process watertight for IATA Resolution 753 obligations. In fact, the system offers many more tracking points than the Resolution currently requires of either airports or airlines. It is even able to document the transfer of a bag to the early bag storage system.
Read more: “5 ways to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency in baggage handling”.
Reclaim on Demand transforms the arrival part of the baggage handling process. It greatly improves the passenger arrival experience and brings the final leg of the passenger journey on a par with its self-service check-in counterpart. It also presents great opportunities to airports to not only provide a seamless experience for passengers and meet its transfer of custody obligations but generate further revenue and openings.
