This has been reported through an on-line technical magazine that I receive. Dated June 6th 2005 from an IATA meeting. The link is:
Silicon.com
For those that have not heard the acronym before, it is: Radio Frequency IDentification. These are the 21st century version of the Bar Code, as it allows coding of anything to be read without visual or direct contact. Some points from the article.
British Airways looks likely to be investing in RFID in a bid to cut its lost luggage bills.
[snip]
BA loses around 18 bags per 1,000 it handles and pays customers an average of £55 per lost piece of luggage, largely as a result of the sticker bar codes being damaged or misread.
I wonder if the push behind this change and costly investment lies here ...
While some airlines have already trialled RFID, BA has previously been reluctant to consider a full-scale rollout. However, the airline suffered a high-profile baggage disaster last year when 11,000 bags were lost following strikes.