Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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The pres~nt invention relates to the field of airline
baggage tags, and airline baggage handling.
At present, when an airline passenger checks a piece of
baggage for a flight, the baggage is tagged, either with a hang-
tag form of tag, or a band form of tag. The tag usually
contains the following information:
i) airline;
ii) flight number (filled in by attendant);
iii) destination - a three letter code; and
iv) serial number.
All of this information is repeated on a stub portion
which, at the time of baggage check-in, is affixed to the
boarding pass or ticket. Since many bags look alike, the stub
is used to identify the baggage later on by the passenger, by
matching the serial number on the stub with the serial number of
the tag affixed to the baggage.
Th~ first sorting of luggage, after check-in, is accord-
ing to destination. After the luggage is sorted according to
destination, it is then sorted further still according to flight
number. When a large aircraft, like a Boeing 747~ is being used
; ~ on the flight, the baggage is then containerized in about 30
large containers and loaded onto the aircraft. When a smaller
aircraft is being used, the baggage is loaded directly into the
aircraft. HoWever, in either event, as it is being loaded, the
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number of bags is counted and a record of same taken. This
recorded nu~ber should be the same as the total number of bags
which have been checked in for the particular flight. After all
passengers have been admitted onto the aircraft, their total
number is tallied against the total number of boarding passes
issued for the flight. If these two numbers are not the same,
that is, if fewer passengers board the aircraft than the number
of boarding passes issued, then there is the possibility that
some of the luggage which is being transported on the aircraft
does not accompany a passenger on the aircraft. Normally this
is merely just an inconvenience for the person who has missed
his or her flight, but recent experience has taught all members
of the international community that any unaccompanied baggage
must be suspect. That is, it cannot be assumed that any
unaccompanied baggage is merely the baggage of a person who has
accidentally missed the flight. Rather it must, for safety and
security's sake, be assumed that unaccompanied baggage has been
planted by a terrorist, and represents a threat to the safety of
the airplane. Accordingly, it is now common practice, when it
is discovered that there is unaccompanied baggage on a flight,
to off-load all of the baggage from the aircraft, have all of
the passengers de-plane, and then have each of the passengers
collect their luggage and move it to a secure location. Any
luggage left over is then thoroughly investigated from a
security viewpoint. It will be readily appreciated that this
~procedure, while effective, is very time consuming. It ties up
`~ the baggage-handling area of the airport, and grounds the
aircraft for the time being, thereby upsetting timetables in
destination airports.
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The object of the present invention is to provide a
novel airline baggage tag, use of which will enable an airline
to locate any unaccompanied baggage very quickly, and which will
also enable an airline to know immediately if a passenger's
luggage is missing from a flight. The present invention also
provides a novel baggage handling method, utilizing the baggage
tag provided.
In one broad aspect, the present invention relates to a
tag including: a tag comprising at least two portions
detachably secured together, wherein each of said portions bears
an identical machine scannable and readable code, the codes on
any two tags being different.
A method of handling passenger baggage in a system of
mass transportation, comprising the following steps: (a) upon
; passsnger check-in, affixing the tag to each piece of baggage
checksd in; (b) detaching at least one of said portions from
said tag, and issuing at least one said detached portion to the
passenger to whose baggage said tag has been affixed; (c)
=canning the machine readable code on said tag affixed to said
baggage and loading said bagga~e on the vehicle for which said
passenger holds a ticket; (d) entering first data obtained from
scanning the tag on each piece of baggage loaded on a said
;~~ vehicle into a computer, said first data consisting of a list ~f
identification codes; (e) upon admittance of passengers into
said vehicle, scanning the codes on the tag portions issued to
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each passenger; (f) entering second data obtained from scanning
the portion carried by said passengers into said computer, said
second data consisting of a list of identification codes; ~g)
comparing said first data to said second data for concordance;
and ~h) removing from said vehicle any baggage bearing a tag
encoded with a code not corresponding to any code in the second
data.
In the drawing which, by way of example illustrate the
present invention:
Figure 1 is a plan view of an airline baggage tag
embodying the present invention;
Figure 2 is a plan view of a band-style airline baggage
tag embodying the present invention.
Referring to Figure 1, a baggage tag T is comprised of a
major portion 1 connected to a minor portion 2 (also called a
stub) along a weakened line of separation 3. Adjacent the
weak~ned line of separation 3, usually on the reverse side o~
minor portion 2, there is provided a pressure sensitive adhesive
surface, covered with a strip of release paper. A hole 4 is
provided in the major portion 1 and ~ string or elastic can be
: passed through this hole to attach major portion 1 o~ the tag T
to a piece of luggage.
It will be no~ed that each o~ the major 1 and minor 2
: ~ portions is provlded with:
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5a & 5b serial numbers, shown as six digit, but any
number of digits may be used, so long as the
tags are numbered, so that no two tags in us~e
at the same time are assigned the same number.
The purpose o~ the serial numbers is so that
the passenger can match the serial number 5b
of the minor portion 2, which he retains to
the corresponding serial number 5a on the
major portion, in order to identi~y and claim
his or her luggage;
6a & 6b a flight number space, to be filled in by the
airline attendant when the boarding pass is
issued. On the major portion 1, the flight
number 6a is read by the baggage handlers, so
that they can route the baggage to the correct
flight, and on the minor portion 2, the flight
number 6b is read by the passenger to locate
the carousel onto which his/her luggage is
off-loaded when his/her destination is
reached;
7a & 7b a destination code, which is usually a three
letter code, but may be the name, in full, of
the destination;
8a & 8b name of carrier. Note: Air Canada, and the
design of a maple leaf are trade marks.
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9a & 9b machine readable bar codes.
The bar code 9a which is provided on the major portion 1
of the tag T is identical to the bar code 9b which is provided
on the minor portion 2 of the tag T, and both of the bar codes
9a and 9b encode the serial number 5a and 5b, in machine
readable form. Typically, the bar code is a six digit
interleaved two of five bar code, sequentially numbered, and
printed on both the front and back surfaces of the major portion
1 of the tag, and on the front surface of the minor portion 2 of
the tag.
As passenger baggage is checked at the ticket counter,
the major portion 1 of the baggage tag T is affixed to the
luggage of the passenger, and the minor portion 2 is detached
and affixed to the passenger's boarding pass. This is done
either by way of a pressure sensitive adhesive which is coated
onto the minor portion 2, or with a staple. The luggage is then
placed on a conveyor belt, with the handle of each piece of
luggage which is placed on the conveyor placed in a similar
position. The luggage is transported via the conveyor belt to a
loading area. During this initial phase of transport, each
piece of luggage is scanned by a fixed-head laser scanner placed
along the conveyor belt. The fixed-head laser scanner reads the
bar code on the major portion 1 of the tag and transmits the
data from each bar code to a main frame computer. Each piece of
luggage, for each passenger will follow this route. Moreover,
and the minor portions 2 of the tags for a persons luggage will
all be attached to that person's boarding pass.
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As the luggage is being loaded onto the aircraft, the
baggage handler handling the luggage will scan the bar code 9a
on the luggage tag with a portable bar code terminal. When the
loading of all the luggage onto the aircraft is complete, the
handler takes the portable terminal to a centrally located
transmission point, and uploads the information to the main
frame computer. The flight number from the aircraft is used as
an identifier for the main frame to sort on.
At each loading gate, there ic located a decoder and a
bar code scanning wand. As each passenger hoards the aircraft
through that gate, his or her boarding pass is produced, and the
attendant at that boarding gate scans the bar codes on the minor
portions 2 of the baggage tags which have been affixed to the
boarding pass. The data from this scanning is transmitted to
the main frame computer. After the boarding of all passengers
for a particular flight, the main frame will compare the data
obtained from scanning the bar codes from the baggage, to the
data obtained from scanning the bar codes from the minor
portions of the tags which have been affixed to each passenger's
boarding passes. Two relevant pieces of information will be
obtained from this comparison, as follows:
i) the presence of any baggage unaccompanied by a
passenger; and
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ii) the presence of any passenger unaccompanied by his
baggage.
In situation ii), it will be a simple matter to locate
any missing luggage. Situation i), which until now had
necessitated the emptying of all luggage from the aircraft, will
also be easily remedied. That is, the computer will generate
the serial number of the unaccompanied baggage. The
unaccompanied baggage can then be located very quickly by a
baggage handler or a member of a security force, using a
portable wand scanner, and it will not be necessary for all
passengers to identify their luggage individually.
In the case of containerized baggage, the handler will,
as he loads the containers, follow a slightly different
procedure. ~Ie will scan an identifier bar code on the con-
; tainer, scan the baggage as it is loaded, and then to close the
~ile on each container, scan the container bar code a second
time. Should 'here be a detection of any unaccompanied baggage
on the aircraft after all passengers have been loaded, the
computer will generate the container number, as well as the
serial number of the unaccompanied baggage. In this way locat-
ing the unaccompanied baggage can be accomplished even more
quickly.
The present invention is especially efficacious when
practiced in conjunction with the invention taught in appli-
cant's co-pending Canadian patent applications numbers 496,364
and 501,502 filed November 27, 1985 and February 10, 1985
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respectively. Each of these co~pending Canadian patent
applications is dir~cted to a tag known as a FASTRIP~H tag, which
has a minor portion or stub that is provided with a pressure
sensitive adhesive surface for adhesion to a boarding pass.
However, the present invention can aiso be applied quite
effectively to conventional North American style tags which do
not have a pressure sensitive adhesive surface on their minor
portion, or to ~uropean style tags which are attached to the
handles of pieces of luggage as bands, and which have minor
portions or stubs which peel off the band portions for
attachment to a boarding pass.
An Example of a European style tag is shown in Figure 2,
which illustrates a folded band tag of European origin. Note:
British Airways is a trade mark. In order to clarify the
application of the present invention to this form of tag,
similar reference numerals have been used where possible in
showing parts of the European style tag. The tag T has been
folded at a point 10 about mid-way in its length, for
illustrative purposes. Stub, or minor portion 2 of the tag T is
located on the reverse surface of the major portion 1 of the
tag. A release sheet is sandwiched between major 1 and minor 2
portions of the tag, and substantially all of the surfaces of
the major 1 and minor 2 portions in contact with the release
sheet are coated with pressure sensitive adhesive. Accordingly,
minor portion 2 may be peeled off the release sheet and affixed
to a boarding pass, after which the thereby exposed release
sheet is peeled off the major portion which is then passed
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around a baggage handle and pressed into contact with the other
end of the tag. The application of the present invention is
shown in Figure 2 as 9a and 9b.
Also, the present invention can be used in conjunction
with various proposed customized ticket printing facilities.
That is it has been proposed to print each airline ticket
individually on a standard form at a standard computer terminal
printer, thereby obviating the need for each airline to have
customized tickets prepared and sent out to travel agents and
other issuers of tickets. A system such as this could print a
computer assigned bar code on a passenger's ticket, boarding
pass, and luggage tags, thereby doing away with the need for
separate minor portions for the luggage tags.
It will be understood that the foregoing description is
for illustrative purposes only and is not meant to limit the
scope of the present invention in any way.
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