Virgin Australia is rolling out a new feature in its smartphone App, offering passengers the ability to track their luggage.
News of the rollout appeared on a new version of the Virgin Australia App. In the Android Play store the latest update had this feature:
While the new feature will allow you to track your bags, it is currently only available on selected routes. To begin with, it will be available when flying between Brisbane and Sydney. The service is expected to expand to all flights between Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and the Gold Coast by the middle of the year. This will be followed by a rollout of the feature to regional airports.
How to use the feature
If you are flying a route with the technology, you will need to download the airline’s smartphone app. You can then receive a push notification (if enabled) once your luggage has been received after check-in. There will be a further notification once it arrives at your destination.
While that seems simple, Virgin is promising to add additional features over time.
Of course, these features rely on the airline scanning the bags properly at each point. So sometimes you may not get a notification.
Thoughts
By launching luggage tracking in its App, Virgin Australia becomes the first airline in Australia to offer the feature. While it is a small rollout, to begin with, it should be available across the network in due course.
Perhaps it is a reaction to all the people beginning to add their own devices to track bags. For example, think of Apple Airtags. It is all about getting the ability to monitor your own luggage. Having said that, Apple Airtags seem to have the advantage of not relying on proper scanning of bags to report where your bags are.
Hopefully we will see other airlines, such as Qantas, add similar functionality to their Apps.
