San Francisco Airport OKs RFID Bag-Tracking Pilot

Those pieces of baggage whose bar-code tags are missed are likely to join the millions of pieces of luggage lost each year. The Aviation Consumer Protection Division of the Department of Transportation estimates that 3.6 million pieces of luggage were lost by airlines domestically last year (out of more than 3 billion transported).

Alley is quick to point out that RFID will not be a panacea for lost luggage woes because much of the baggage-handling process is still manual. "Just because a bag tag is read, that doesn't mean it won't later be mishandled," he says. "I know because I've done it myself."

Still, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is betting on RFID to improve baggage-handling accuracy. The IATA says it can save airlines and airports, through improved baggage handling and few lost bags, $760 million a year if implemented worldwide.

Alley would not say which RFID hardware and software vendors will deploy and maintain the RFID tracking system for the six-month trial at SFO, but noted that the Bay Area's Alien Technology has provided the airport RFID hardware for past RFID technology trials.

Last year, Alien purchased Quatrotec, a company that installs and integrates systems, including baggage-handling systems. It also hired Robert McKinley, former director of security and airport systems at SFO, as Alien's vice president of business development for transportation markets (see Alien Buys Airport Systems Integrator).

According to Alley, about seven to 10 Asiana and Korean Air flights depart SFO for Incheon daily, carrying between 250 and 400 bags per flight. IATA ratified an RFID baggage-tag standard last year (see IATA Approves UHF for Bag Tags). Baggage tags compliant with this standard will be applied to baggage at SFO and Incheon, and encoded with an EPC containing flight, airline and airport codes, as well as passenger codes. The data will be shared between the two airports and used to reconcile receipt of the tagged baggage.