1. What types of transactions are handled by baggage handling systems?
2. What are the management, organization, and technology components of baggage handling systems?
3. What is problem these baggage handling systems are trying to solve? Discuss the business impact of this problem. Are today’s baggage handling systems a solution to this problem? Explain.
4. What kinds of management reports can be generated from the data from these systems?

It’s been a rough decade for the airline industry. Terrorism scares, rising fuel prices, and overall economic malaise have combined to damage air-line companies’ bottom lines. In 2007, nearly every major airline began charging baggage fees to generate revenue. Travelers were already unhappy about the poor baggage handling service they received, but paying for often spotty and unreliable baggage handling service was one of the biggest sources of customer dissatisfaction throughout the industry. In 2008, nearly 2.5 million bags were lost or delayed. To promote customer good will as well as reduce costs, airlines have developed state- of- the- art baggage handling systems designed to drastically cut down on the number of bags delayed or lost. The statistics suggest that these systems are working. In 2011, the airline industry’s mishandled baggage rate decreased to .9 percent, just under 9 bags per thousand, compared to more than 18 bags per thousand five years earlier.