SITA WorldTracer Lost and Found Property

Main articles:

• Computer vision (machine vision)
• Machine Learning

WorldTracer - a system for searching for lost luggage, which from the launch in 1991 to the end of 2021 was used by more than 200 million passengers. In 2021, WorldTracer serves more than 500 customers at 2,800 airports around the world, allowing you to find and return lost luggage to the owner in an average of 1.6 days.

2021: Launch a new version of SITA WorldTracer Lost & Found Property

Every year, passengers forget millions of things in airplanes and airports, including phones, wallets and bags. The cost of returning one such item, taking into account registration and processing of the request, calls to customers, storage and postal expenses can reach $95. As a result, every year the industry is forced to allocate tens of millions of dollars for these purposes. SITA WorldTracer Lost & Found Property, based on artificial intelligence, can solve this problem, SITA reported on March 29, 2021.

Worldtracer Lost & Found Property technology from SITA will solve the problem of things forgotten in airplanes and airports

WorldTracer Lost & Found Property is the latest version of service for processing of the lost baggage of SITA WorldTracer. SITA estimates that the technology reduces the cost of returning lost things by 90%. Registration of the found item, analysis of the statement of loss and their comparison now take no more than 2 minutes. As a result, 60% things are returned to the owners within the first 48 hours.

Previously, all these stages were carried out exclusively manually and required the involvement of many parties, due to which the process of identifying and returning the lost object lost transparency and took a lot of time. Now, passengers literally in a matter of seconds can report a loss, pay for a return and track all the movements of their things using a mobile device.

Using advanced technologies such as computer vision, machine learning and natural language processing, the Lost & Found Property WorldTracer searches the global database of images and verbal descriptions, matching the found element with the lost one. Artificial intelligence can determine the brand, color and material of a thing, as well as record matches in the description.

"SITA continues to expand its technology portfolio to meet rapidly changing market demands. A vivid proof of this is the automated WorldTracer system, which, constantly undergoing improvement, has been helping to track erroneously processed luggage for almost three decades. Our goal is to help the aviation industry become more efficient, and reducing the cost of returning lost items is an important step towards its implementation. "

Recently, SITA also launched WorldTracer Self-Service, a completely contactless technology that allows passengers to report lost luggage from their mobile device, avoiding long queues at loaded service desks or at company offices, as well as Baggage Delivery Service, with which couriers and airlines can track luggage throughout the journey from the airport to the final destination.

SITA and Lufthansa Group tests showed that this service has gained great popularity among travelers, with two-thirds of them preferring to use the service instead of visiting the baggage reception. In addition to the ability to work in accordance with current anti-epidemiological requirements, WorldTracer allows carriers to save an average of $10 for each improperly processed luggage and eliminates the need for additional infrastructure to service passengers whose belongings have been lost.

SITA WorldTracer not only helps improve the operational efficiency of airports, reduce the number of cases of baggage mishandling and reduce costs, but also ensures that airlines comply with the 780th and 743rd IATA resolutions (passenger transportation agreements and agreements on found and unclaimed baggage, respectively). The solution also helps carriers to comply with the Montreal and Warsaw Lost Luggage Conventions.

2007: Starting the transition from mainframe to cloud

In 2007, when WorldTracer began the transition from mainframe to open systems and the cloud, SITA began to inform airlines about key trends in passenger transportation. In the same year, 7 million baggage units (19 baggage units per 1000 passengers) were lost or incorrectly delivered around the world, which cost airlines $4.7 billion. For comparison: in 2020, there were only 3.5 units of lost luggage per 1000 passengers.

1991: System start-up

The fully integrated SITA/IATA WorldTracer system was launched in December 1991 and was originally used by 11 airlines.

1989: Start of system development in cooperation with IATA

In 1989, SITA, in close cooperation with IATA (International Air Transport Association), began developing a global reporting system that compares information about lost luggage with reports of items found. The new solution, based on the existing SITA baggage management system (BaHaMaS), thanks to its modular structure with the ability to support various baggage handling solutions, made this process more convenient and faster.