Chapter 5: Luggage and Airplanes
“I feel about airplanes the way I feel about diets. It seems to me they are wonderful things for other people to go on” Jean Kerr
I noticed that one of the airline ploys is to charge for luggage when you fly. I have never been enthusiastic about flying, but these types of charges are like a final blow. Flying used to be more fun. Now the seats are so cramped and the security is so tight that all the joy has been drained out of it. The only positive thing I can say now is that it’s a good chance to catch up on some reading. It’s also a way to avoid dreaded cell phone calls and pager messages for those of us in the IT industry.
One of the most boring periods of time when flying is while you wait for your luggage. Looking around at the deadened expressions on the other travellers waiting, I feel I am not alone. Its complete dead time and you can’t wait to get the luggage and move onto either your rental vehicle or your own vehicle, depending on which airport you are at and how you got there.
I think there is a way to improve luggage handling and tracking and also increase business at the airports by introducing some technology into the mix. The idea is very simple. You attach a transponder to each piece of luggage that is placed on the airplane. It could be an optional service to begin with. When you arrive at your destination, instead of heading to the sterile baggage pickup area, you head for the nearest friendly pub and grab brew (or you grab a tea if that’s your preference).
Your luggage gets loaded onto the belt. As the luggage comes up on the rack, it sets off the transponder, which communicates with a strategically places wireless device. You get alerted that the bag has been placed on the belt ready for pickup via Twitter. There’s a bag id, since you may have more than one bag. If you have a group of bags, you get one notification when they are all placed on the belt and come up.
I think this is fairly straightforward technology. If security is a concern in this post 9/11 world, I would think the ability to track each and every bag uniquely while in flight would enhance security quite a bit. It seems to me our bag tracking technology is really lagging behind the general technology curve. What I described here should be quite a simple program to write and set up. Implemented properly, it would make our flying safer, increase revenue at airport bars and restaurants (people would probably spend their time at a food court or a bar waiting for their luggage rather that sit around the baggage area), and also help in recovering lost luggage.
That’s still one of the most vexing parts of flying. Luggage gets misplaced, redirected to a different airport, etc. Think of the transponder system synced up to a central database in near real time. If you went and said “I can’t find my luggage”, the operator would just hit a few keystrokes and identify its location immediately. At least you know your valuable luggage is being tracked and not just lost in limbo.
Discuss and enjoy!
Notes to the 3rd edition for Chapter 4
The excellent website “How Stuff Works” has a discussion of a very modern luggage handling system being implemented at Denver International Airport: http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/modern/baggage-handling.htm