Bag tags, also known as baggage tags, baggage checks or luggage tickets, have traditionally been used by airlines to route passenger luggage that is checked in to the final destination. The passenger stub is typically attached to the ticket envelope to aid the passenger in identifying their bag among many similar bags at the destination baggage carousel. The carriers liability is restricted to published tariffs and international agreements.
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History
Warsaw Convention
The Warsaw Convention of 1929, specifically article 4, established the criteria for issuing a baggage check or luggage ticket. This agreement also established limit of liability on checked baggage.
Current Bag Tags
At some point, the reinforced paper tags were introduced. They are designed to not detach as easily as older tags during transport. These were later changed to include a bar code. This would allow for automated sorting of the bags and reduce the number of misrouted, misplaced or delayed bags. The limitations of this technology was apparent at Denver International Airport when a fully automated cart-based system significantly delayed the airport's opening. United Airlines announced in August 2005 that the cart-based system at Denver was to be scrapped. While the inability to reliably read all bar-coded tags in the Denver installation was a part of the problem, it was one of several technical reasons for the delayed opening. Nevertheless, automated sorting of baggage using laser scanner arrays, known as automatic tag readers, to read bar-coded bag tags is standard at major airports. Since some bar codes can not be automatically scanned due to poorly-printed, obscured, crumpled, scored or otherwise damaged bar codes, some airlines have started using radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips embedded in the tags. In the US, McCarran International Airport has installed a RFID system throughout the airport. Hong Kong International Airport has also installed an RFID system. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is trying to convince airlines and airports to use RFID tagging but thus far use has been negligible, primarily due to the costs involved. Furthermore, at hub airports where transfer baggage is significantly high, the benefit of the airport's investment in RFID readers is negated for transfer baggage arriving from airports that do not insert RFID chips in the bag tags.
Identifications
The term licence plate is the official term used by the IATA, the airlines, and the airports for the 10-digit numeric code on a bag tag issued by a carrier or handling agent at check-in. The licence plate is printed on the carrier tag in bar code form and in human-readable form, as defined in Resolution 740 in the IATA Passenger Services Conference Resolutions Manual (published annually by IATA). Each digit in a licence plate has a specific meaning. Contrary to popular belief, the flight number is not encoded in the licence plate on the carrier tag. The licence plate is an index number linking a bag to a Baggage Source Message (BSM) sent by a carrier's departure control system to an airport's baggage handling system. It is the message that contains the flight details and passenger information, thus enabling an automated baggage handling system to sort a bag automatically once it has scanned the bar code on the carrier tag. Thus these two things are essential for automated sorting of baggage. Note that the human-readable licence plate may contain a 2-character IATA carrier code instead of an IATA 3-digit carrier code. For example, SQ728359 instead of 0618728359, but the bar code will always be the full 10 digits (0618728359 in the example - 618 and SQ being, respectively, the IATA 3-digit code and IATA 2-character code for Singapore Airlines). The first digit of a 10-digit licence plate is not part of the carrier code. It can be in the range of 0 to 9, each value having a specific meaning in the industry.
