SITA and Lufthansa address the industry’s $2.2 billion pain point with the automation of reflighting of baggage
Mishandled baggage causes huge inconvenience for passengers, tainting their perception of the journey and causing unnecessary stress. It is also detrimental to the aviation industry more broadly, costing $2.2 billion in 2022 with over 4 million bags mishandled during transfer.
According to a recent press release, SITA estimates that widespread automation of reflighting baggage could save the industry $30 million a year. On 15th March, the IT provider and Lufthansa announced they are pairing up to address this industry pain point by automating bag reflight operations.
Sergio Colella, SITA President for Europe said:
“SITA’s automated baggage reflighting solution is built on the back of past successful co-innovations with Lufthansa and meets a critical industry baggage management requirement as we see the return to the skies. Our aim to make sure that when a bag is mishandled, it is reunited with its owner as soon and simply as possible.”
SITA’s WorldTracer Auto Reflight digitises the process of reflighting baggage, reducing the need for human intervention and minimizing cost on the operations side. It automatically suggests suitable flight routing for the bags and the original bag tag is used, updating the baggage system with the new bag routing. Also addressing the passenger experience aspect, the solution proactively notifies passengers of any delay with their baggage and collects delivery details allowing passengers to bypass the baggage hall entirely.
The solution uses automation to address operational costs as well as the passenger experience, transforming this costly industry pain point.
For more information see the press release.
Article by Jess Brownlow
