5 ms·

Please read the article...

by pulse7 3y ago

McDyver 3y ago
I did. Are you saying 25m bags have absolutely no information on them? Absolutely zero?
- handoflixue 3y ago
  Did you read the sentence right after that one? "Around 25m of them (5.7 per 1k bags checked) end up lost or misdirected. The 0.03% of bags that are still not reunited with their owners after 90 days are sold by the airline." 0.03% of 25m, and it's only after 90 days.
  - cpncrunch 3y ago
    But it doesn't explain why they can't use the tags to locate the owners. I did find the answer (see my other comment), but it wasn't from this article.
  - McDyver 3y ago
    Yes, although that doesn't seem correct. That would be 7500 a year. When they say the founder was buying 3k a month, either the RF ids are great at reducing the losses worldwide, or something is wrong with those numbers.
  - IanCal 3y ago
    I'm pretty sure that's a mistake. 1.3M are never claimed according to the figures early on, that's 0.003% of the total figure.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - mrb 3y ago
      Actually it's 0.03% but the mistake is elsewhere. The correct figures are that 1.3M out of 4.36B checked bags (so 0.03%) are lost and never claimed. The infographic incorrectly states "43.6B" (should be 4.36B, to be consistent with the text that see states "4.3B").
- graphe 3y ago
  What if they didn't want it back?
- cpncrunch 3y ago
  I read the article as well, as there is no info on this at all. After some searching I did find the information in a different article about Canadian airlines: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/what-happens-to-unclaimed-luggage-1.725667 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/what-happens-to-unclaimed-lug... Air Canada and Westjet both open the bags to look for identifying information so they can contact the owner. Then they donate the bags to charity or dispose of them if they can't locate the owner. I think the moral of the story is to make sure your bag is well tagged. We have been putting an airtag in my bag for the last few flights, and it works really well. It's a pity there is no Android equivalent, as I have no way of locating my tags on my phone. (I just use an ipad).
  - victorarevalo 3y ago
    I use Tile for this purpose and they work well. Not as good as airtag, but I don't have an iphone.
    - cpncrunch 3y ago
      The problem is they have a much smaller network than airtags, as much fewer people have a Tile than an iPhone, so I'm not sure how useful it is at actually tracking. What are the chances of a rampie or baggage office employee owning a Tile vs having an iPhone in their pocket?
      - victorarevalo 3y ago
        At airports there is never a problem. I also have recovered my stolen wallet (stashed in the garbage a few blocks away, with IDs still in it) using it. An airtag would always be better, but I really do think Tile is not too bad. Far better than nothing, if you aren't in the Apple ecosystem. Tile does display the number of users in your area in the app. Not sure how reliable those numbers are but it's regularly in the hundreds in places like busy airports.
  - seb1204 3y ago
    Will an air tag help the airline to identify you? That would be rather bad in a privacy sense. I don't think it is easy for you to call the airline and say my bag is in this building etc please give it back to me. my point is that the airline needs to be able to contact you.
- paxys 3y ago
  0.03% of 25m. And yes, why is that so hard to believe?
KennyBlanken 3y ago
First off, this sort of comment is against HN rules. Second, as others have noticed, airlines have been caught dumping bags at clearance houses days after they were lost. I guarantee some actuary at the airline has figured out the cost of selling the luggage vs risk (zero, even though it's outright theft) vs cost of figuring out who the bag belongs to. Third, "we can't figure out who it belongs to" is feigned helplessness. Some airports and airlines are much worse than others, demonstrating that good tracking and low loss is perfectly possible. Nobody is holding them responsible, so of course they don't care. The industry dragged its feet adopting RFID which is more reliable than barcodes for sorting and tracking. And really, the only reason airline are improving is because airtags and the like helped customers catch airlines out in lies. From listening to a NPR finance show, the airlines now even know, automatically, when a bag isn't on a plane with a passenger.

Please read the article...

by pulse7 3y ago

Please read the article...

McDyver 3y ago

I did. Are you saying 25m bags have absolutely no information on them? Absolutely zero?

handoflixue 3y ago
Did you read the sentence right after that one? "Around 25m of them (5.7 per 1k bags checked) end up lost or misdirected. The 0.03% of bags that are still not reunited with their owners after 90 days are sold by the airline." 0.03% of 25m, and it's only after 90 days.
- cpncrunch 3y ago
  But it doesn't explain why they can't use the tags to locate the owners. I did find the answer (see my other comment), but it wasn't from this article.
- McDyver 3y ago
  Yes, although that doesn't seem correct. That would be 7500 a year. When they say the founder was buying 3k a month, either the RF ids are great at reducing the losses worldwide, or something is wrong with those numbers.
- IanCal 3y ago
  I'm pretty sure that's a mistake. 1.3M are never claimed according to the figures early on, that's 0.003% of the total figure.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - mrb 3y ago
    Actually it's 0.03% but the mistake is elsewhere. The correct figures are that 1.3M out of 4.36B checked bags (so 0.03%) are lost and never claimed. The infographic incorrectly states "43.6B" (should be 4.36B, to be consistent with the text that see states "4.3B").
graphe 3y ago
What if they didn't want it back?
cpncrunch 3y ago
I read the article as well, as there is no info on this at all. After some searching I did find the information in a different article about Canadian airlines: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/what-happens-to-unclaimed-luggage-1.725667 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/what-happens-to-unclaimed-lug... Air Canada and Westjet both open the bags to look for identifying information so they can contact the owner. Then they donate the bags to charity or dispose of them if they can't locate the owner. I think the moral of the story is to make sure your bag is well tagged. We have been putting an airtag in my bag for the last few flights, and it works really well. It's a pity there is no Android equivalent, as I have no way of locating my tags on my phone. (I just use an ipad).
- victorarevalo 3y ago
  I use Tile for this purpose and they work well. Not as good as airtag, but I don't have an iphone.
  - cpncrunch 3y ago
    The problem is they have a much smaller network than airtags, as much fewer people have a Tile than an iPhone, so I'm not sure how useful it is at actually tracking. What are the chances of a rampie or baggage office employee owning a Tile vs having an iPhone in their pocket?
    - victorarevalo 3y ago
      At airports there is never a problem. I also have recovered my stolen wallet (stashed in the garbage a few blocks away, with IDs still in it) using it. An airtag would always be better, but I really do think Tile is not too bad. Far better than nothing, if you aren't in the Apple ecosystem. Tile does display the number of users in your area in the app. Not sure how reliable those numbers are but it's regularly in the hundreds in places like busy airports.
- seb1204 3y ago
  Will an air tag help the airline to identify you? That would be rather bad in a privacy sense. I don't think it is easy for you to call the airline and say my bag is in this building etc please give it back to me. my point is that the airline needs to be able to contact you.
paxys 3y ago
0.03% of 25m. And yes, why is that so hard to believe?

KennyBlanken 3y ago

First off, this sort of comment is against HN rules. Second, as others have noticed, airlines have been caught dumping bags at clearance houses days after they were lost. I guarantee some actuary at the airline has figured out the cost of selling the luggage vs risk (zero, even though it's outright theft) vs cost of figuring out who the bag belongs to. Third, "we can't figure out who it belongs to" is feigned helplessness. Some airports and airlines are much worse than others, demonstrating that good tracking and low loss is perfectly possible. Nobody is holding them responsible, so of course they don't care. The industry dragged its feet adopting RFID which is more reliable than barcodes for sorting and tracking. And really, the only reason airline are improving is because airtags and the like helped customers catch airlines out in lies. From listening to a NPR finance show, the airlines now even know, automatically, when a bag isn't on a plane with a passenger.