Google’s Bar Code logo today prompted a technology snafu déjà vu.
Here’s the short story.
A week ago, I flew from Los Angeles to JFK on American Airlines. One piece of baggage arrived, one didn’t. So I headed to the baggage reclaim area to start the tracking process. Normal assumption that if they tagged it, then they would scan and track it.
The AA baggage person stated profoundly that the bag wasn’t here and it most likely would come in on the next flight and they would call me and have it delivered.
Something seemed amiss. If the bag was bar coded, it was scanned like a UPS package and they should know definitively where it was. My god, they scan deli goods at Whole Foods to track inventory, surely they scan luggage.
I strolled around to Oversized Luggage to look myself. Lo and behold, there was this storage room with a wide open door, with a guard, sleeping on his chair and my bag sitting on a rack amongst others! I simply took my bag and headed into the city. Bag must have come in on an earlier flight and was put in ‘secure’ storage.
Next morning, when I called they told me my bag was still in LA. Duh, I guess not.
I then reported the incident, talked to a supervisor or two and let it go. I was also told that American Airlines doesn’t scan any luggage. The bar codes on your luggage ticket don’t relate to the flight, to the bag, to anything.
On one level, this is oh so Seinfeld and wryly funny. You know—incorrect assumptions, sleeping guard, where’s the bag when you already know it’s with you.
On the other side this is bothersome and damning to AA. Today we live in overtly transparent world. Everything is open to anyone. Anyone can find out anything and this drives, in life and in marketing,honesty.
I’m into technoloy. I see bar codes, I assume trackability. So do most I bet.
I’m not accusing American Airlines of anything other than inefficiency. Or maybe just stupidity.
So, the answer to what is behind an American Airlines barcode? Obviously nothing.
