Sidebar: Delta's RFID Trial Run Has Airport Predecessors

By Bob Brewin

June 23, 2003 12:00 PM ET

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Computerworld - Delta Air Lines Inc.'s plan to test the use of radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags on luggage isn't the first time the airline industry has dabbled in the technology.
For example, British Airways PLC in 1999 tested more than 150,000 RFID tags in the 13.56-MHz band on flights from Manchester, England, and Munich, Germany, to London's Heathrow Airport. The RFID devices and readers were integrated with the existing check-in printers and baggage-sorting equipment used by British Airways workers at the airports.
San Diego-based SCS Corp., one of the vendors that will supply RFID devices to Delta, finished installing an RFID bag-tagging system throughout the Jacksonville, Fla., airport in December. SCS officials said reusable tags are attached to the luggage of travelers with high-risk security profiles for bag-matching purposes.
Delta's RFID trial run is scheduled to involve flights that originate in Jacksonville. But Rob Maruster, director of airport customer service strategy, planning and development at Atlanta-based Delta, said neither the system installed by SCS nor the test done by British Airways is relevant to Delta's requirements.
The 13.56-MHz tags used by British Airways have a read range that's too limited for Delta, Maruster said. He added that the RFID devices currently being used in Jacksonville require recycling and reuse once a bag is placed on a plane, which adds logistical hurdles that Delta wants to avoid.

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