Air New Zealand has launched an app which lets you track your baggage, meaning customers will no longer be in the dark about what’s happening to their bags. 

If you’ve ever wondered where your baggage goes (when you fly to one side of the world and your airline immediately – and oh so conveniently – dispatches your suitcases to the other), then you’re going to find Air New Zealand’s new in-app feature a game-changer.

The ultimate in self-accountability, this new feature to the Air New Zealand app promises to let customers track their checked luggage. The announcement of the feature comes after Air New Zealand ran a successful test of it with domestic customers in April.

After this promising pilot programme, Air New Zealand is now widening the scope. The test run of the feature will now extend to 25 percent of app users travelling domestically and five percent of those travelling abroad on a short haul flight. 

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The feature lets customers see the last recorded status of their bags in the Air New Zealand app. After dropping their bags off, ‘check status’ will come up on the baggage card on the flight details screen in the app. The test is designed to iron out any kinks, before the feature is available to everyone, midway through this year.

Using the feature, passengers can track the progress of their luggage – from check in, on board, to when it arrives at their destination. The app will also tell you what to do if your baggage doesn’t turn up.

Air New Zealand Chief Digital Officer Nikhil Ravishankar says the feature shows Air New Zealand’s commitment to delivering customer-focussed innovations. 

“Updates to our app last year mean we are now able to be more adaptable when it comes to creating and adding digital solutions that solve pain points for customers. Baggage tracking is a perfect example of this,” he said.

“Customers can track the journey of their bag and receive guidance on what to do if their bag has taken a detour. In an upcoming release, customers will also be able to report and monitor mishandled baggage via the app.”

“Baggage tracking puts information directly in the hands of our customers, streamlining processes, relieving pressure on our teams, and giving passengers peace of mind that their luggage is on the journey with them.”

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When rolled out towards the middle of 2023, the feature will be accessible through the Air New Zealand app, which is available for download on both Apple and Android devices. Mishandled baggage has been a big theme of travel over the last few years, as airlines across the board have struggled with pandemic related staffing issues (and the demand for travel going from zero to 10, real quick). Poor weather has contributed too.

These conditions created a backlog of bags that needed to be united with their owners, after going through the requisite biosecurity checks. To ease the pressure on airline staff and to return bags quicker, Air New Zealand worked with the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) Biosecurity Team to create a new digital tool for its Baggage Tracing Unit to speed up clearance processes and remove the requirement to use paper receipts. 

Of this, Mr Ravishankar said: “In partnership with MPI, we have developed a new digital system that streamlines the biosecurity baggage screening process, introducing efficiencies that ensure customers are reunited with mishandled bags faster.”

“Since the challenges earlier this year, the introduction of digital tools has meant we have cleared the baggage backlog and we are now better prepared to deal with any future disruptions that may occur.”

This article originally appeared on escape.com.au. It has been reproduced here with permission. 

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