Sick of the stress of wondering whether your bag will turn up when you fly?
There are a couple of ways to attempt to alleviate that stress, but one Australian airline has just announced another.
Virgin Australia has rolled out the nation’s first baggage tracking tool for almost 70 per cent of domestic flights to give people greater peace of mind when travelling.
The baggage tracking tool has been two years in the making, the airline said in a press release, and is aligned with its more than $400 million investment in digital innovation, technology and customer experience initiatives.
The launch comes after Virgin Australia conducted a successful pilot program in May, with lost baggage being a “pain point” for many travellers.
“We know the potential of lost baggage is a concern for travellers globally and anticipate today’s announcement will give many guests that extra level of comfort knowing where their bag is at every step of the journey,” the airline states.
“We are also proud to be able to launch this new feature while having some of the lowest figures in the market when it comes to mishandled or lost bags, with a mishandled baggage rate of just 1.5 per 1000 guests – five times better than the last recorded industry average.”
How to track baggage with Virgin Australia
The baggage tracking tool will be available from Monday and all passengers will need to do is install the Virgin Australia app.
After the app is installed, people will need to enable notifications.
“Once enabled, a series of push notifications will be sent to the guest’s phone throughout the journey, including upon the bag being checked in, transferred to an international partner airline, and available for collection at the final destination,” Virgin Australia said in a statement.
“The tool will also advise the guest which carousel the baggage is available for collection from.”
The tool will be able to be used on about 70 per cent of Virgin Australia’s domestic flights, with flight routes including Sydney-Melbourne, Brisbane-Sydney, Melbourne-Gold Coast, Melbourne-Hobart, Adelaide-Melbourne and Sydney-Sunshine Coast.
Virgin Australia’s baggage tracking tool has launched on select domestic flight routes.
From Monday, select flights departing from the following cities and regions can try the tracking tool:
- Melbourne
- Sydney
- Brisbane
- Adelaide
- Gold Coast
- Canberra
- Newcastle
- Ballina/Byron Bay
- Sunshine Coast
- Hamilton Island
- Launceston
- Hobart
- Townsville
- Rockhampton
- Mackay.
Virgin Australia said the tool will soon be rolled out for select flights in Perth.
Baggage tracking is a complimentary service and is only used on select Virgin Australia flights.
If an itinerary includes another airline, Virgin Australia can only track the bag until it is handed over to the partner airline, as it cannot obtain bag data from other airlines.
As part of its $400 million commitment to improving customer experience, Virgin Australia has already launched a new website, app upgrades, created a new loyalty management system, and rolled out high-speed lounge and onboard wi-fi.
It also includes Rapid Rebook, a tool for guests to self-manage their bookings end to end in the unlikely event of disruption.
Last month Virgin Australia announced a $110 million upgrade to interior cabins on the existing Boeing 737 fleet. The upgrades include in-flight wi-fi and in-seat power.
Other ways to track your bags
Although it isn’t unreasonable to assume other airlines will soon follow Virgin Australia’s lead, there are other ways to track your bags.
After COVID-19 travel restrictions lifted, there were many instances where people’s luggage got lost, most infamously at Heathrow Airport.
Luckily, people found a pretty efficient way to keep track of their luggage.
Many people have been popping an Apple AirTag into their luggage to avoid the headache of trying to determine where bags are, in the event the bags were lost.
The little trackers send out a secure Bluetooth signal to nearby devices in Apple’s Find My Network.
Apple AirTags and other trackers have been touted as a way to keep track of luggage.
In an article from May, CNN declared that Apple AirTags were the “ultimate travel companion” for the summer.
The only problem is that you need an iPhone to use AirTags, but there are plenty of other options, such as Tile.
Tile trackers are compatible with Apple and Android devices, with companion apps for both.
If you have a Samsung Galaxy, there’s also the SmartTag, which, according to Gizmodo, works just like an AirTag and has similar features.