Handling of lost bags in Baggage Arrival Services remain a hot issue but it becomes very critical in case of big disruptions of the flight / baggage operations due to extreme weather conditions, strikes, … Air France and KLM are currently implementing the new BagAssist self-service solutions module, called OnlineAHL, to overcome such chaotic situations having the passengers leaving the airport quickly and releasing the staff pressure that can concentrate on solving the baggage incidents.
Brussels, August 1st 2011: SkyAssist, the Belgian provider of advanced niche IT software for the Air Transportation Industry, has presented the new BagAssist self-service module called OnlineAHL during its user conference in June. The OnlineAHL module is the internet secured solution for the passenger to register a baggage incident on internet in case of big disruptions of flight / baggage operations (like extreme weather conditions, strike, …), in order to avoid uncontrollable situations and big queues resulting in a reduction of quality service to the passenger. A high automated input process by pre-populating the input fields is also applied to minimize passenger manual data entries.
With major incidents last years (volcano, storms, snow, …), it became critical to have a self-service solution that would allow the passengers to enter their baggage declaration themselves outside the airport area, within a limited timeframe and following security fraud prevention rules. The chaotic situations that resulted from the incidents, with enormous queues and passengers leaving the airport angry and frustrated with no information nor chance to declare their missing items will become vision of the past with the implementation of the OnlineAHL module that will be implemented as pilot mid October 2011 in CDG and AMS by Air France and KLM, published on their website within an I-Frame and with extension to the entire network in a second phase. The application is integrated with WorldTracer web services, meaning an immediate file reference creation and tracing process start. The passenger can also receive email confirmation with declaration document, custom document and any other required pdf file attached, and eventually an SMS.
Not only the newest technology standards are applied but the high automated input process by pre-populating the input fields will assist the passenger in a smooth and accurate declaration process of his missing bag. And in addition, it fits perfect in the global BagAssist solution offered to the Arrival Services aimed to drastically increase your staff productivity and therefore decrease your labour cost by adapting and re-engineering your department processes to map them to industry standard best practices.
Brussels, July 31st 2011: Qantas is using the BagAssist and BagAutorush software since 2007 for automating its Lost & Found operations. In 2010, Qantas started a very ambitious project for their most important upper-tier frequent flyers with the introduction of a unique personal electronic Q-bag tag that can automatically store details of up to four flights and will replace the traditional paper bar code. This project implied not only a change at all operation level (starting from check-in to final delivery of the baggage), but also a change at various software level like BagAssist or Amadeus Altea. The first deliveries were very tight but thanks to a good project management and excellent communication between all the parties involved, the Sky Assist software changes were delivered on schedule with very good feedback received from Qantas staff and passengers. The latest deliveries are now planned by end November 2011 in production, with the PaxAHL integrated kiosk version and enhanced SMS message sending system.
Brussels, June 30th 2011: new customers have been joining the Sky Assist customer community in 2011. Arc Transports and Colitel have been selected by Air France for their baggage deliveries, respectively in Paris CDG and ORY for Arc (replacing JAP Transports), in Nice and Bordeaux for Colitel. These 2 companies are using the BagAssist BDS software, specifically designed for courier companies, integrated with WorldTracer BDS services for an easy download and decoding of BDO (delivery) data and upload of baggage delivery status change, providing accurate information about incident on Air France website. The system is also integrated with internal systems, for more productivity by reducing manual entries.
Billund Airport also signed a new agreement with Sky Assist for the standard BagAssist modules (AHL, DR, Flight, …) and its self-service kiosk version PaxAHL. It also includes hosting services and IER hardware material (baggage label printers IER400 and airport kiosk IER918).
Brussels, June 17th 2011. Following the user conference successfully held in Brussels in June 2011, many new features have been presented and will added to the BagAssist 2011 version that will be available in October 2011 for all BagAssist customers. In addition to many improvements in the existing modules and a technical re-engineering (architecture and modern layout design) of the oldest modules, new modules have been also presented with excellent feedback from all our customers: the Auto-mishandled delivery module, for an easier delivery process; the Action files, for an easy management of all pending transactions in a structured way; the OnlineAHL, the self-service solution for the passengers to declare their missing bags using an Internet connection in a secured way during major disruption; and a glimpse demonstration of future SmartAHL, the self-service solutions that is running in a smartphone browser that will be available by end 2011 first on Iphone then on other smartphone models in 2012. A complete list of enhancements can be provided upon request. The product roadmap for 2011 /12 has been also designed starting from the user community requests.
Press Release Swissport
Geneva/Zurich, 17 September 2009 – Swissport International, the world’s leading provider of ground services to the aviation sector, has marked a further e-services milestone with the introduction of a new self-service facility for reporting lost baggage. The new “Lost & Found Self-Service Kiosk” enables any traveller who finds that their baggage is missing on arrival at Geneva Airport to swiftly enter all the relevant details and obtain the latest information on their delayed or missing bag.
Any air traveller who finds that their baggage is missing on arrival at Geneva Airport can now enter the details of the item(s) concerned at a special self-service terminal. Swissport’s new facility, one of the first of its kind provided by a ground handler with a direct link to Worldtracer, came into use end of August, and is available to travellers on SWISS, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, FlyBaboo, Alitalia, Air Malta and further air carriers.
The innovative new system, which has been developed in collaboration with Swissport’s Belgian-based partner SkyAssist, enables the traveller to scan-in their boarding pass with all their flight’s details, describe the missing item using a touchscreen function, and enter their contact details for the item’s subsequent delivery. The new facility thus totally eliminates the sometimes long wait to communicate all these details to local “Lost & Found” staff.
Once they have entered all the information required, the traveller will receive a printout from the machine giving the airline’s contact details together with a status report on whether the item has already been found and/or when the customer can expect to receive it. Initial experience suggests that this new form of lost-baggage reporting has been well received by the travellers using it, not least because they feel they are contributing directly and actively to the baggage tracing process, rather than dealing with the busy phone lines of the airline or the airport concerned.
Still no guarantee that bags won’t go astray
The new self-service lost-baggage facility is part of a broader drive to automate airport processes, and is a logical extension of existing self-service facilities such as web check-in and the self-check-in devices that are now provided on many departure concourses. Despite the new technology, however, a delayed or misdirected baggage item must still be registered at an airport before its location is reported via the system and arrangements can be made to send it on to the owner. Excessively tight connecting times at major airports still remain the prime reason that travellers’ bags are lost or delayed. But a number of working groups are looking into further improvements here, at IATA, the airlines, the airports and the ground handling companies.
Swissport and SkyAssist will now be monitoring experience with the new self-service lost-baggage reporting facility at Geneva Airport. They will then be using these experiences to further refine the innovative technology involved and offer this facility to further business partners in the aviation sector.
Swissport International Ltd., which is owned by Ferrovial, a leading European infrastructure and service corporation based in Spain, provides ground services for over 70 million passengers and 3.5 million tonnes of cargo a year on behalf of some 650 client companies. With its workforce of around 32 000 personnel, Swissport is active at 181 airports in 38 countries on five continents, and generated consolidated operating revenue of CHF 1.9 billion (EUR 1.2 billion or USD 1.7 billion) last year. www.swissport.com / www.ferrovial.com
Qantas Airways, the leading airline company in Australia, has selected BagAssist and BagAutorush for use in Australian airports and some important other oustations. This strategic choice was combined with a brand new unique web-service interface to Amadeus Altea DCS that further automates data capture and quality by pre-populating to the maximum data entries.
Zaventem, August 14th, 2009
SkyAssist, the Belgian provider of advanced niche IT software for the Air Transportation Industry, has welcomed some news customer for its product suite BagAssist, amongst others Qantas Airways, Luxair or SBA.
BagAssist, web-based thin client software, is the automated baggage handling solution for Lost & Found Departments and BagAutorush for Baggage Control Departments.
The BagAssist suite of products, unique in the market place, simplifys daily tasks to improve productivity. It is flexible and raises service quality for all handled airlines and passengers.
Baggage handling has generally been viewed as an end-of-chain, cost only department but with independent handling companies taking an ever increasing share of the baggage handling market, it has become crucial for these companies to differentiate themselves from competitors by delivering outstanding quality service to passengers and raising quality standards at a time when they are addressing greater airport security requirements.
The selection and deployment of BagAssist and BagAutorush by Qantas Airways management is a strategic decision that will not only enable delivery of improved services but will deliver a positive return on investment. The newly built-in web-service interface to Amadeus Altea DCS further enhances and automates data entries for the user to the maximum feasible by retrieving all passenger data from the system and pre-populating application fields with the available passenger and travel information.
Full Story (pdf file)
Brussels, July 31st 2009. Following the user conference successfully held in Brussels on May 26-27 2009, many new features have been presented and added to the BagAssist 2009 version like but not limited to: a complete new BagAdmin product easing BagAssist administration data management, a new kiosk version with more automation for the passenger, a new connectivity using MATIP to access WorldTracer, enhancements in all the BagAssist modules including adapted mobile version, and many more. A complete list of enhancements can be provided upon request. The product roadmap for 2010 has been also designed with new modules Action file and Lost Property, a re-design of auto-delivery checks and many more.
Brussels, June 30th 2009: new customers have been joining the Sky Assist customer community in 2009.
Luxair Services and SBA, a French ground handling company, have been joining the BagAssist product community, with production cut-over respectively planned for mid August and mid September. Both companies will benefit from hosting services facilities in our sub-contracted data centre in Brussels. CART, a French company active in airline claims management services, has been also joining us for PaxClaims, with also hosting facilities from Brussels.
Brussels, May 31st 2008: a new product has been introduced on the market with target customer the courier companies that deliver baggage on behalf of the airlines.
The new product, in combination with a new hosting centre facility that is now productive in Belgium , is using the BDS service from SITA to receive a copy of the BDO when a baggage delivery is made. The BDO is decoded and loaded in a delivery table. Call centre agents can search for BDO in that table or directly in WorldTracer (with an airline PID signature) and call the passengers for arranging the delivery. At each step of the baggage delivery process, an update is sent to WorldTracer so that the status in the WT file is always 100% correct. This new product therefore increases not only the courier staff productivity (by scanning the tags) and baggage control / transparency, but also increases the quality of information towards the airline and its passenger.