By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Asiana Airlines has reformed its baggage management services by adopting the radio frequency identification (RFID) system.
The carrier Wednesday began using the system for domestic flights and the international route to Haneda, Tokyo.
In the system, developed jointly by the airline and the Korea Airports Corp., readers installed at major luggage process points will check and trace the RFID tag-attached baggage from when the owners label it.
Passengers will be able to see where their baggage is being carried. If they want to receive information via cell phone text messages, they can apply for the service when ticketing. They will also receive a message if the airport corporation or the airline finds a security problem with their luggage.
Through the system, the process of sorting bags for each plane at airports will take less time.
``The service will cost us 500 million won per year to make the RFID tags. However, we believe passengers' satisfaction with the high-tech service will be of higher value than that,'' an Asiana official said.