Delta app lets you track your bag’s location in real-ish time via RFID tags

I usually travel hand-baggage only as it saves time on arrival and removes the stress of wondering whether your luggage will arrive, but if you can’t avoid hold baggage, Delta now lets you keep an eye on it via its Fly Delta app.

Delta started attaching RFID tags to bags back in April, but at that stage it was purely for use by the airline itself. It’s now making that same data available to customers, so you can see whether your bag made it onto the plane and then track it all the way to the carousel on arrival …

It’s not quite live tracking, as you can only see the points at which a bag has been scanned by the airline, but it does show the key transit points, confirming that it made it to the aircraft and even showing which baggage carousel it is on when you get there.

“We’re the first carrier to offer this level of visibility,” said Bill Lentsch, Delta’s Senior Vice President – Airline Operations and Airport Customer Service. “From the moment our customers drop off their bag, we want them to know we’re looking out for it every step of the way and working to take the stress out of flying one innovation at a time.”

The company says that it plans to offer push notifications later in the year, so you won’t even need to open the app to get progress updates.

RFID tracking is currently available at all 84 U.S. airports Delta flies to, and it is expected to be rolled-out internationally in the coming months.

Via The Verge