Executive Summary

In 2023, 36.1 million bags were mishandled, a rate of 6.9 per thousand, which equals to US $3.6 bn the cost for the industry. There are growing efforts to address this issue and over the past years the introduction of IATA’s Resolution 753 has seen airports and airlines implement systems to enable bag tracking throughout the handling process. This Resolution has enabled a positive step towards providing greater visibility of baggage throughout processing, and a reduction in the rate of mishandled bags.

Baggage messaging is the communication between airlines and airports that supports the transit of bags from origin to destination. With increasing bags and passengers comes greater need to communicate and interpret this information. Baggage mishandling is often caused or linked to baggage message failures or rejections.

The current messaging standards, which have been in place since 1985, is centrally managed and not easily accessible, creating additional cost burdens to airlines. The current messaging standard also do not provide an easy way to support baggage system integration and innovation. Implementing standardized messaging processes has the potential to make these communications accessible and intelligible for all relevant stakeholders.

The rules governing the practices and development of XML (Extensible Markup Language), are defined by W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), a respected international body that is not aligned to any vendor or product. The advantage of XML is through enabling much simpler processing to take place, making the task of ''parsing'' the information (putting it into a form that is usable by the receiving device) unnecessary. Once a message is created in XML, all the devices in an enterprise (or wider environment if the same information structure is adopted extensively) can carry out their work simply, without having to reinterpret the message from scratch. XML is also inherently protected against becoming obsolescent, because the structure allows for extension, when new practices require new information to be carried.

Also, any new standards of Baggage messaging (XML, JSON or other equivalent languages) are being implemented based on IATA Airline Industry Data Model (AIDM), making it easier for the Airlines, Airports and Baggage handling vendors in the industry to understand and communicate baggage information with clarity.

Transitioning from type B to modern messaging is one of the key priorities of IATA which is monitored by the board of governors.

This implementation guide has been written by members of the IATA Baggage Information eXchange sub-group and was endorsed by IATA Baggage Steering Group. It is a living document which will be periodically updated.

It is important to remember that this document is intended to provide guidance on different levels of Bagagge Information eXchange implementation. It is a guide; it is not a set of instructions. Many of the recommendations in this document might not be appropriate for every airline or airport. Stakeholders should analyse their baggage operation before embarking on the implementation of the recommendations in this guide.