The suitcases are on their way
Has my suitcase been packed properly? Will it be leaving soon? Passengers often ask themselves these existential questions when faced with a hopelessly empty carpet. With intelligent baggage, this anxiety may no longer be a distant memory. Luggage manufacturers and the airline industry have joined forces to develop high-tech suitcases, the main advantage of which is that they can be geolocated using a smartphone.
Two years ago, Airbus presented its Bag2Go concept at the Paris Air Show, developed in partnership with Rimowa. Since then, the movement has gained momentum. Air France-KLM is working with Delsey to launch a line of futuristic luggage. For its part, Samsonite has approached Samsung to create a communicating suitcase. And Californian company Barracuda has presented a foldable suitcase with GPS and USB charger.
Luggage will soon be able to do more than just hold shirts, dresses, suits and other personal belongings. "If you think about it, the suitcase hasn't seen any major innovations for several decades.It's a great way to keep track of your luggage," says Alejo Verlini, designer of the Bluesmart Carry-on. Unveiled at the end of 2014, this hyper-connected piece of luggage from Silicon Valley can be locked remotely and, in addition to its geolocation, provides information on its exact weight to avoid unpleasant surprises at the counter. The icing on the cake is a built-in battery charger. All this for a price of around 300 euros.
Of course, knowing whether your luggage has arrived safely or whether you're playing air hostess on the other side of the world will be one of the main arguments in favour of these new-generation suitcases. "Passengers want to be involved in their journey, they want to know what's going on. Knowing the position of their baggage reassures them."says Samir Cadi, head of the "ready to drop" project at Air France. However, on closer inspection, the error rate is low, at around seven pieces of baggage out of 1,000, according to airport solutions specialist SITA, compared with 18 in 2007. Of these, the vast majority are simply delayed (80%), most often in the case of a connection, with an average of 1.6 days before the passenger finds his or her bag.
Airlines and airport operators are working hard to improve the baggage process, from boarding to delivery. Other technological innovations should further reinforce this positive trend, with e-labels and labels that can be printed at home on A4 paper. "Because the paper is larger, they are much easier to read than traditional labels. Since we launched this service, we haven't had a single lost bag."says Samir Cadi.
But these "home-made" labels also have another function, that of smoothing the ground handling of customers in the terminal. After the check-in kiosks, which are now well established, business travellers have seen automatic baggage drop-off areas appear here and there instead of check-in counters over the last two years. This trend is gathering pace: in February, Helsinki airport, one of the pioneers, made more machines available to Finnair, SAS and Norwegian passengers. For its part, Air France installed 32 machines at Paris CDG, in addition to those already present at Orly. In May, Korean Air and Asiana customers were able to discover the Scan&Fly service in Seoul Incheon.
According to SITA, 20 % of passengers already use this system to load their baggage. For those who haven't yet tried it out, the procedure is simple. "The technology is new and takes some getting used to when you start upIt's a very simple process," explains Eero Knuutila, Head of Service Development at Finavia. You first have to collect your baggage tag from a kiosk, then get in line to drop off your baggage. According to Finavia, this saves half the time compared with processing your baggage at the counter. This is particularly important during busy periods. "50 % of customers take less than five minutes from the time they collect their baggage tag to the time their suitcase is dropped off, notes Samir Cadi. If we take a period of fifteen minutes, this figure rises to 95 %."
Luggage is a source of anxiety for many passengers, and having it at last allows them to take a breather and really start their journey. But this increased speed also leaves them more time to visit the shops, which is something airport finance directors can't complain about... Nevertheless, counter service has not been completely abandoned, particularly for passengers wishing to change seats or those who travel infrequently... Business class passengers also appreciate this human contact, which has a status aspect. This explains why automatic baggage drop-off zones have not - yet - appeared in business zones...
Impressions personal
United Airlines, Iberia, Qatar Airways, Lufthansa, Air France: last year, all these airlines launched baggage tags that you can print out at home or at the office, before setting off on your flight. In practice, it's an A4 sheet that you fold up and insert into a reusable laminated pouch provided at the airport. This allows you to go straight to the baggage drop-off area. While this service is not yet available for intra-European flights, pending regulations, it is offered on many international flights and on domestic and French overseas departments and territories services operated by Hop and Air France.
High-tech labels permanent
The time is not so far off when travellers will be able to attach an e-tag to their luggage, a label that uses electronic ink and is updated via a smartphone equipped with Bluetooth or NFC technology. Qantas first mooted the idea in 2011. British Airways followed suit in 2013, and last year Air France-KLM began testing it. So the process is well under way and suppliers are scrambling to be the first to deploy a solution, probably by the end of the year. However, the business model for these e-tags remains to be found. Who will be prepared to pay a hundred euros for a service that was previously free? Geeks, no doubt, and certainly long-haul travellers, but what about those businessmen in a hurry who travel without luggage... Unless this new technology is integrated directly into connected luggage?
The SNCF wants to become a digital company
SNCF's ambition is to become "a truly digital carrier"In the words of its Chairman Guillaume Pepy, who believes that this direction should accelerate the company's transformation.beyond e-commerce and customer relations". According to forecasts, the number of customers using digital services should rise to 15 million a year by 2020, compared with 10 million today. To achieve this, the company is going to invest 450 million euros in a plan that will affect "the entire company and all its activities for the benefit of all its customers"he added. This includes the introduction of broadband throughout the network before the end of 2016 to improve the customer experience, as well as WiFi on board TGVs and in the main stations in France.
Meanwhile, the first concrete expression of this strategy is the merger of the SNCF Direct, SNCF Transilien, TER Mobile and Gares en direct mobile applications into a single SNCF app. The SNCF is also supporting development projects both internally and externally by backing start-ups operating in the transport sector via an investment fund.
Ascott: towards "intelligent" residences
As home automation gradually becomes the norm, Ascott has entered into a partnership with a Samsung subsidiary to adapt smart home technologies to long-stay establishments. What could the next generation of homes look like? From their mobile devices or via their connected TVs, customers will be able to control several items of equipment in the room. This means not only turning on the air conditioning or changing the lighting, as is already the case in some hotels, but also choosing a washing cycle or starting the coffee machine remotely. Ascott will be trialling some of these technologies in the first half of 2016, before rolling them out across the world.
Virtual reality tested by Transavia
On 21 May, a number of customers on Transavia's Amsterdam-Barcelona flight were given an exclusive trial of an entertainment programme based on virtual reality. Wearing an Oculus Rift DK2 headset, not yet on the market, they were offered a choice of a guided tour of the cockpit or a film viewed as if they were plunged into the darkness of a cinema. Better still, lulled by the winds, passengers could fly over the course at the controls of a hang-glider.
Netflix partner of Marriott
Instead of watching films and series on their mobile devices, subscribers to the Netflix streaming site will be able to enjoy the quality of the flat screens in the rooms of the Marriott group. The hotel operator has just signed a partnership agreement with the world leader in video on demand, which also produces the series House of Cards. Already active in six hotels in the United States, access to the Netflix catalogue will be extended to 100 American establishments by the end of the year.
