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Airlines invest in DIY to streamline services

Tanya Powley

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The days of queueing to drop off your suitcase at the airport could soon be over as airlines step up attempts to automate the check-in process.

While self check-in has been around for years, airlines are now investing in more do-it-yourself options that could enable travellers to arrive at the airport with their bags already tagged and ready to drop off with no assistance from staff.

Airlines including British Airways are trialling permanent electronic bag tags that would remove the need for a new paper label each time a passenger flies.

Electronic bag tags, pioneered by the Australian carrier Qantas Airways in 2010, are also being tested by Air-France and Turkish Airlines. Pat Scala

Once a traveller checks in online, they would be able to hold their smartphone over the electronic bag tag, which would update with a barcode containing their flight details. This tag could then be quickly scanned at the self-service bag drop before the passenger heads through security.

BA, the British carrier owned by International Airlines Group, plans to launch its digital bag tags next year, after further trials.

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"A lot of airlines are experimenting with electronic bag tags. We would like to see the technology become ubiquitous and as cheap as $4 to $5 so that people could buy as many as they want," says Paul Behan, head of passenger experience at IATA, the main trade body for the world's airlines.

Mr Behan says one of the benefits of an electronic tag is that it can be updated remotely if there is any disruption on the route, ensuring that the tag will have the new flight details.

Electronic bag tags, pioneered by the Australian carrier Qantas Airways in 2010, are also being tested by Air-France and Turkish Airlines. But, along with technologies such as self-service bag drops and WiFi, they have been slow to catch on as airlines have focused on more urgent capital investments.

"When the return on capital is so challenging are you going to spend money on this versus buying X-amount of aircraft?" says Jonathan Keane of Oliver Wyman, the management consultancy.

But with profits improving - this year the industry is forecast to generate the strongest margins since the mid-1960s - airlines are looking at ways to improve customer experience, while cutting costs further.

London Gatwick Airport has already revealed plans to create the world's largest self-service bag drop zone as part of its £1 billion investment to redevelop the North Terminal.

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EasyJet, the low-cost airline, has 12 self-service bag drops at Gatwick and plans to have about 60 by the end of 2016, when the redevelopment is complete, according to Sophie Dekkers, director of UK at easyJet.

According to this year's baggage report by the air transport information technology specialist SITA, only 9 per cent of airlines offer fully self-service baggage drops. It predicts this will rise to 70 per cent by the end of 2017.

Several airlines, including Swiss International, Lufthansa, Air France, Iberia and Alaska Airlines already allow passengers to print their bag tags at home for selected routes.

But concerns have arisen over the green stripe that has to be included on tags issued inside the EU, to make them easily identifiable from bags coming from outside of the bloc.

IATA is starting a trial within the EU from the end of September that aims to address some of these concerns. Travellers will be required to print the tag in colour so that the green stripe is still clear, but the trade group hopes to work with the EU to either eliminate or replace the green stripe with another mechanism to identify bags from within the EU.

Regulatory barriers also affect the rollout of self-service bag drops. In the UK, the government's Triple A requirement means that identity checks are required to ensure that bags are being checked in by their owners. Mr Behan says IATA is working with the Department for Transport to review whether the rule could be changed. "One of the options we are looking at is biometric identification," he says.

Automating the drop-off process could also cut airlines' staff costs, as one person could attend several self-service bag drop kiosks - as happens in supermarkets operating self-service checkouts. Airlines would also be able to gain extra revenue through improved compliance with excess baggage charges.

However, Mr Keane at Oliver Wyman believes airlines will still have to manage staffing for days of irregular operations, for example when an unexpected problem occurs such as the power cut at Heathrow airport this month.

"It can certainly be a contributor to driving down cost but does it mean you can have a staffless terminal? I don't think it does," he says.

Financial Times

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