By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HEBRON - Delta Air Lines' senior bag handler David Kozma can only drive 8 mph on his white tug tractor, carting bags to and from planes at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Each minute counts, especially when bags are being moved to connecting flights on tight schedules.

David Kozma, a customer service agent for Delta Airlines, checks his mobile display terminal, a wireless computer, in his baggage tug at CVG. (Gary Landers photo)

That's why the 27-year Delta veteran loves the new wireless computer mounted to his dash and why he says passengers should love it, too.

"Normally, we have to go back to a central office and pick up our next order, which can take 15 minutes if you are at one end of the terminal," Kozma says. "And then you might have to wait another 10 minutes to get in line.

"With this, you don't have that," he says as the screen lights up "Gate C28" and he turns his tug in that direction. "You get your next assignment and you're on your way, which makes sure more bags get where they need to go."

Tracking baggage has been a bogeyman for Delta in the past, but the airline hopes new technologies will improve on-time delivery of baggage to its fleet, effectively track misrouted luggage and enhance customer satisfaction.

The wireless integration process at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky started about two months ago. About 65 tugs are now equipped with the computers, which have large antennas and are patched into a wireless computer network that covers the airport.

While some industries use a cell phone or global positioning system to improve efficiency, Delta's network is geographically limited. It works on the same technology as WiFi, which is confined to a structure or complex.

Under the old system, drivers would pick up bags, then drive back through the maze of gates, ramps and taxiways to a central dispatch office. Now, their next assignment can be beamed directly to their tugs, allowing them to react more quickly.

Delta has 163 flights a day from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky and says it handles more than 1 million bags each month.

Rolled out at its Atlanta headquarters hub in late 2002, Delta said the system helped the airline improve bag handling by 13 percent there last year - its best year at that busy airport.

But getting luggage to the right aircraft is only one goal of Delta's technology push. Tracking lost bags and returning them promptly to the owner is another matter.

But here, too, Delta says new technology in the testing stage might provide the solution, although it has not yet been installed at the carrier's Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky hub.

Trying to get better

Overall, Delta's rate of bag efficiency lags behind other airlines.

In April, the airline systemwide mishandled 4.21 bags for every 1,000 passengers, a rise from the rate of 3.98 it had during the same month last year, according to federal statistics. For all of 2003, Delta ranked ninth among major carriers with a rate of 3.84 bags mishandled per 1,000 passengers.

Airline officials say the overwhelming majority of mishandled bags are sent on the next flight but acknowledge that they are trying to get better, especially in major hubs such as Cincinnati.

That's a primary reason for the new wireless bag-handling system, which Delta says is unique in the airline industry.

"It's a win for us, because it helps us get more efficient, but it is a win for the customer, who doesn't see this part of it but just wants their bag there on time," said Brian McNulty, Delta Concourse A duty manager who oversees the bag sort operation.

Delta will not say specifically how much it is spending on the new system, only that it is part of a $30 million program to make airport operations more efficient.

But Delta says costs for installing and running the new equipment can be made up through efficiencies - it takes a whole lot of labor to drive a bag out to a customer if that suitcase arrives late, they say. "We're hoping to get it fully implemented here by late fall," McNulty said.

Another way to track

As Delta implements its new bag moving system in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, to the south in Jacksonville, Fla., another technology being tested could provide an even greater boost to Delta's baggage-handling efficiency.

The airline is experimenting with small radio tags embedded in the tickets placed on every checked bag. The technology is known as radio frequency identification, or RFID.

The tags, or chips, allow workers to track all baggage. So, if the system were fully implemented, Delta personnel in Cincinnati, for example, would instantly be able to electronically find luggage that was misrouted to San Francisco.

The airline says customers eventually might be able to track baggage themselves by accessing computers at airport kiosks.

In two separate tests at the Jacksonville airport, Delta correctly handled 99.3 percent of all bags with the RFID system.

"This is putting the customer back in control of the process," Delta spokesman Reid Davis says, saying that cost is a big hurdle in implementing this system.

Each chip costs about a quarter, meaning thst the special tags would cost Delta as much as $25 million, given that the airline handles about 100 million bags a year.

"It's something we're really excited about, and if the tags come down in cost to about the 10-15 cent range, then we might be making a commitment to this," Davis said.

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E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com