Lost luggage I 39
SMART LUGGAGE BLUESMART
Possibly the most high-tech suitcase available, the Bluesmart is not only fitted with a global SIM card so you can track it from your phone via GPS, but also an in-built battery
for charging devices, a digital lock and a scale. The crowdfunded Bluesmart One costs US$449, and the new Black Edition for the frequent traveller is US$599.
bluesmart.com
In June, Star Alliance said it would
be investing in a multibillion-dollar IT hub for baggage from the end of the year. Its chief executive, Mark Schwab, told our sister publication,
buyingbusinesstravel.com, that it would “enable us to more closely coordinate the hundreds of millions of messages [between airlines] transmitted across the alliance”, improving baggage handling in places with short connection times, managing priority bags and reuniting passengers with delayed luggage. This is all good news, but what about getting a refund on your checked baggage fee? (A 20kg bag on a return Easyjet flight from London to Iceland costs about £40/ US$52.) In the US, the Federal Aviation Authority has suggested that passengers on domestic flights should be able to recoup baggage fees if they don’t get their luggage back within 24 hours. End-to-end luggage tracking is the missing link, but SITA predicts that in two years’ time, 60 per cent of carriers will be sending baggage location status updates to passengers’ mobiles. By June 2018, IATA’s Resolution 753 will require all airlines to “track a bag into the aircraft, into arrivals or transfer areas, and share this information with the next handling agent”. In the meantime, buy a GPS- compatible suitcase (see sidebar) and never part ways with it again. n
businesstraveller.com
RIMOWA With Rimowa’s Electronic Tag, travellers can check in their bag via an app and drop it off at the airport, with no need to deal with staff or print out a sticker. The technology is built into “select” Rimowa suitcases, and sees paper tags replaced with “a digital data module to which the airline’s luggage data is transmitted”. Lufthansa is currently the only airline allowing passengers to use it, while it’s in testing with United.
rimowa.com
DELSEY
Set to launch next year, Delsey’s Pluggage case will have fingerprint recognition and tracking technology powered by Lug Loc luggage locator. Passengers download an app that can measure the weight of a case, detect when it has been loaded on board, and when it is on the baggage carousel. They will also receive a notification if the bag has been opened or moved more than five feet away from them.
delsey.com
SAMSONITE Samsonite’s Track and Go technology will be installed in a new range of suitcases from the end of the year. The Bluetooth beacon technology uses “Eddystone Ephemeral Identifiers”, developed by Google, and will work in conjunction with the Travlr by Samsonite app, allowing users to check the location of their case within a 70-metre radius. Should it go missing, the traveller will be able to flag it as lost, prompting the app to search its database of users to help locate it – any app user passing within 70 metres of the case will trigger a notification to tell the owner where it is.
samsonite.com
ANTLER AND TUMI Above:
Antler has unveiled its new Airstream 2, which comes with a unique ID label. Owners register their case on
okoban.com, along with their contact information, so if it goes missing whoever finds it can send an alert with its whereabouts. The suitcase is not high-tech in itself, but it’s a handy add-on that may come as standard on all cases in the future. Tumi has been offering a similar service for some years – each of its suitcases has a metal plate with a unique barcode connected to the Tumi Tracer database.
antler.co.uk,
okoban.com,
tumi.com
Dubai Airport NOVEMBER 2016
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