Deployment of new baggage collection technologies has boosted passengers’ satisfaction across the airport journey, according to a new report by IT firm SITA.

The study titled ‘SITA’s 2019 Passenger IT Insights’ indicated that nearly 26% of passengers used their mobile device to receive status updates on their baggage at arrival in 2018, up from 14% in 2017.

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The desire of passengers to receive more baggage information through mobile devices is growing. A majority of passengers said they would certainly use mobile notifications to receive information on baggage at arrival.

“While this tracking data is primarily used to provide better oversight of baggage and reduce mishandling, many operators are providing some, or all, of this information.”

A similar section of travellers said they would use their mobiles to track their bags or to report mishandled baggage.

In 2018, passengers who used their mobile to receive updates at baggage collection were 8.6% more satisfied compared to those who use traditional voice announcements or flight information screens for information.

SITA baggage director Peter Drummond said: “Today airports and airlines are increasingly tracking bags at key points across their journey.

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“While this tracking data is primarily used to provide better oversight of baggage and reduce mishandling, many operators are providing some, or all, of this information to passengers as a mobile service. This is being done either through the airline or airport mobile app or other notifications such as SMS.

Drummond further stated that over 4.3 billion bags were checked in by passengers across the world. This translated to an average of 1.2 bags per person, up from 1.08 bags per passenger in 2017.

SITA said that the key findings of its report are based on a survey in which passengers participated from 19 countries across the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

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