Air New Zealand Rolls Out Bag Tracking In Air NZ App

After successfully trialing its new bag tracking feature with more than 8,000 customers, Air New Zealand has rolled it out today to all users of the airline’s Fly NZ app. The new feature tracks a passenger’s checked baggage as it moves from check-in to arrival on the destination carousel.

Bag tracking via the app is now live

The bag tracking service is now live and available to domestic and international passengers and is accessible via the Fly NZ app. For existing users of Fly NZ, the feature will be added through an automatic app update while new users can download the app on both iOS and Android devices.

Image: Air New Zealand

In some ways, 2023 has been the year for bag tracking, pioneered by the Apple AirTag and the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag+. The feature has been quickly picked up by airlines, although they are probably very happy not to have offered that feature last year when mishandled bag rates went through the roof.

Air New Zealand launched its system after a successful pilot program in April, which allowed passengers to track the status of their baggage as it progressed through airport processing, onto the aircraft and finally its arrival. In the unfortunate event that it does not make it to the end or arrives damaged, the app has a feature for reporting that. Passengers can then monitor the status of the report which the airline said will simplify the return process and allow them to monitor their bags’ delivery.

The aim is stress-free and seamless travel

With the feature now available to all passengers, Air New Zealand Chief Customer and Sales Officer Leanne Geraghty said launching bag tracking is all about making travel seamless for the airline’s customers.

“We’re always listening to our customers to understand how we can make their journey with us as smooth as possible. We heard from them that being able to track their bags’ location would make their experience even more stress-free, so we quickly began making that customer request a reality.”

Since April, more than 8,000 customers have tracked their bags using the Fly NZ app with 25% of domestic travelers and 5% of international customers participating in the pilot program. Air New Zealand said the key steps in the process are:

• The bag is scanned at bag-drop and a check status button appears on the flight details screen in the app.
• As it is scanned along the journey the check status feature provides updates.
• When the bag arrives the check status feature will let the passenger know.
• If the bag fails to arrive passengers select the ‘My baggage hasn’t arrived’ button to make the report.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

What is usually left unsaid by all airlines is what happens if a passenger does not get confirmation their bag is on the plane prior to the aircraft departing? Does that trigger some quick reaction to locate the bag and get it loaded before departure or is it left to the system to send the bag on the next flight?

Much of Air New Zealand’s international flying is on long-haul routes, such as deep into Asia and North America, particularly its nonstop flight from Auckland to New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK). While the amenity and service on the airline’s Boeing 787 Dreamliners is superb it’s likely that a passenger whose bag is shown in the app as not being on the plane might be somewhat upset on the 16-hour flight.

If you know what happens when a passenger raises the alarm that their bag is not shown as loaded please let us know in the comments.