Airports often encounter problems with travelers regarding their missing items. This only puts stress on the part of the department and the customers hoping to recover the lost possessions.
To hasten the search operation of the objects, some airports around the world are now using the power of AI (artificial technology) to track them down quickly.
Airports Use AI Technology For Lost-and-Found
There's nothing more stressful than when you're about to hop on a plane. Then suddenly, you forget where you place your bag full of items.
In an airport, it's a common scenario you need to bear amid the crowd. The companies want to improve their service by retrieving lost items as soon as possible.
For instance, Government Technology reports that the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport is only one of many airports that are now embracing AI technology to recover the missing belongings of a traveler.
With the new AI-based platform, the airport was able to streamline the process of returning the items. Now, it operates claim-to-item matching using AI to retrieve the objects in the lost-and-found department.
Before, SAV only relied on manual log-in of data. This means that it was a hands-on process for all the staff and travelers, per the company's customer experience manager Lee Ann Norris.
Through AI tech, the airport can now recognize the items through photos, the timing of their loss, and other related information.
The software will check if there are matching keywords on the system. Later, if there's a confirmation about their commonality, the shipping details will be collected so the airport can label its prints. This is important before sending the item to the user.
"Businesses want to be great; they want happy customers. But it's really hard when you get this big wave of inventory with your fixed amount of team members," Boomerang's CEO Skyler Logsdon said.
Huge Number of Unclaimed Items at Airports
Based on a report by NBC News, the Transportation Security Administration or TSA says that there are over 552,000 items that will be left unclaimed in 2022.
Some of these possessions include 6,000 mobile phones and roughly 25,000 laptops. Although it's easy to claim these items at the airports, some people do not attempt to claim them back, Lisa Farbstein, the TSA spokesperson, said.
Aside from the AI technology SAV uses, airports such as Harrisburg International (HIA) and Los Angeles International (LAX) utilize the Crowdfind/Pixit software management program to retrieve customers' lost items.
Without artificial intelligence, the process of searching for the missing stuff will get stuck to the traditional way. It's interesting to know how airports reduce the time between logging in and returning the item significantly with the help of image recognition.
