Virgin Australia Introduces first Australian baggage tracking tool

• Virgin Australia will launch the nation’s first-ever airline baggage tracking tool across more than two thirds of its domestic network tomorrow.
• Following a successful pilot of the program in May 2023, guests travelling on almost 70 per cent of the airline’s domestic flights will be able to track the status of their checked baggage via the Virgin Australia app.
• Today’s announcement follows Virgin Australia’s more than $400 million investment in digital innovation, technology and customer experience initiatives, which includes newly launched websites, apps, digital systems and most recently, Rapid Rebook – a tool for guests to self-manage their bookings end-to-end in the unlikely event of disruption.
• The investment also includes a $110 million upgrade to the interior cabins of the airline’s existing Boeing 737 fleet, to include important features like in-seat power and in-flight Wi-Fi.

Today, Virgin Australia will roll out the first-ever airline baggage monitoring system in the nation over more than two thirds of its domestic network, giving passengers the ability to track their bags at every stage of the journey.

Frontier Airlines new policy, passengers must drop-off their bags 60 minutes before Flight(Opens in a new browser tab)

The most recent phase of Virgin Australia’s ongoing transformation programme comes at a time when digital tracking is a common occurrence in daily life. The technology, which has been under development for two years, is released as a source of frustration for passengers all over the world who lose their luggage. In spite of this, Virgin Australia performs significantly better than the industry average for mishandled baggage, with a rate of only 1.5 per 1,000 passengers – five times better than the most recent average*.

Korean Air Introduces Cutting-Edge In-Flight Wi-Fi Connectivity for A321neo Aircraft(Opens in a new browser tab)

With Virgin Australia expecting a boost in passengers checking in baggage as a result of the new monitoring tool, the first-to-market technology is poised to liberate customers from the concern of losing their bags the next time they fly.

Guests can track their checked baggage on select Virgin Australia services in three easy steps:

1. Download the Virgin Australia app.
2. Enable push notifications via app settings.
3. Once enabled, a series of push notifications will be sent to the guest’s phone throughout the journey, including upon the bag being checked-in, transferred to an international partner airline, and available for collection at the final destination. The tool will also advise the guest which carousel the baggage is available for collection from.

Virgin Australia has committed to spending over $400 million on new technology and customer experience enhancements. The airline has so far introduced first-to-market technology, new websites, upgraded apps, a new reward management system, new high-speed Lounges, and onboard Wi-Fi.

Following a survey of Velocity Frequent Flyer members, the airline revealed last month that it would be investing $110 million to upgrade the interior cabins of its current Boeing 737 fleet with new seats, in-flight Wi-Fi, and in-seat power, among other amenities.