Q-tags, only used by Qantas? How are they used?

[RooFlyer]

Nothing to detect it? Australian airports aren’t the only ones to use the technology

The last line of my post refers.

 

[cwphoto]

Non-existent problem? It plays with the RFID technology in use

No it doesn't.

 

[Pushka]

I think it's silly that you can only use them domestically and they actually ask you take them off if you're flying internationally

I’ve been asked to remove them as they create confusion. This was on the domestic sector connecting to an international flight. On Qantas and out of Adelaide.

Never been asked to do that in all my international travel.

Non-existent problem? It plays with the RFID technology in use

That’s what we were told but not in such technical terms.

 

[juddles]

My recollection was that they pick up your current status when they get "coded" at checkin. So the colour is nothing more than an ego boost

On a related note, Alliance had a sign up at checkin last week recommending that you remove any Q tags from checked bags as they may get diverted

As Tom says, I have also seen Alliance requesting that Qtags get removed from luggage (this for a domestic flight from Adelaide)

As they are only of use for domestic QF flights, I have never used them. To me they dont even make a good drink coaster, with that elastic thingy on them. I have heard you can sell them on ebay, but I quietly place mine in the bin each year. But now, given this thread, I am alarmed - maybe my wheelie bin will end up in Canberra one day?? :O

 

[dk4]

Agree with other posters, DITCH your QF tags on hand luggage AND put your Virgin tags on them instead (VA print everything required, so you don't need to fill them in... and any airline, world-wide, can contact Virgin, if your bags go astray, and find you)...

I only put QF tags on when I check-in domestic bags/boxes with QF!!

P.S. Qantas staff at SYD T3 "over-size" domestic bag-drop - lose the attitude!! (YOU are part of the reason VA gets more domestic business from me, than QF!!!)

 

[UP4014]

That's craziness. If they asked me, I'd just take it off, open the zip and put it in my bag. Hardly solving the non-existent problem they think exists.

But say you go through an airport that uses RFID type technology and you bag shows up on the system as a crate of chickens late for the flight to the Falkland Islands.

 

[RooFlyer]

So that's what happened to it ...

 

[TomVexille]

While we're on the subject of RFID bag tracking, DL have been doing this for probably a year and a half now by adding a RFID chip to their paper bag tags. With the added bonus of being able to track your bags in real time on their app

 

[Daver6]

But say you go through an airport that uses RFID type technology and you bag shows up on the system as a create of chickens late for the flight to the Falkland Islands.

Why and how exactly would that possibly occur though? Why would the globally unique ID of my tag be confused for a crate of chickens?

 

[Sdtravel]

When the tags first were introduced QF advised that no personal information is stored on them and they are coded for each time they are used to the specific booking so you could share them with family if you had spare (or gift to a AFF member). So technical a NB with WP qtags should still be regular non priority tagged.
They do note they can match the serial number of the tag to the original owner in they sydtem if ever lost and reported to them so that they can be returned. But your QFF and other personnel info arent stored on them.

I never use them on domestic. Always leave them on for international and have one on my carry on just to put the W in WP. Never been asked to remove it on international.

 

[UP4014]

Why and how exactly would that possibly occur though? Why would the globally unique ID of my tag be confused for a crate of chickens?

Because you ID isn't unique globally, only in the QF domestic system.

 

[Daver6]

Because you ID isn't unique globally, only in the QF domestic system.

Apologies. You're correct. I believe the shortest ID length is 32 bits though. So odds of that chicken crate matching my bag are about 1 in 4.3 billion. Odds of dying in a plane crash about 1 in 11 million. Odds of dying in a car crash about 1 in 5000 to 6000. I'm willing to take my chances with the RFID tag.

 

[kevrosmith]

I returned from USA a couple years ago and found the tag in my bag wrapped in aluminium foil. I can’t remember if I had it on the outside or inside when I checked it in, but that’s when I assumed it interfered with something, so was glad they had a way to ensure my bag still got to where I was going.

 

[JohnM]

Apologies. You're correct. I believe the shortest ID length is 32 bits though. So odds of that chicken crate matching my bag are about 1 in 4.3 billion. Odds of dying in a plane crash about 1 in 11 million. Odds of dying in a car crash about 1 in 5000 to 6000. I'm willing to take my chances with the RFID tag.

You've just confirmed what I always suspected: that you are a serious risk-taker @Daver6.... May your luggage forever orbit the Falklands while making buk-buk sounds .

 

[Deleted member]

Why and how exactly would that possibly occur though? Why would the globally unique ID of my tag be confused for a crate of chickens?

I agre. It won’t, or at least is highly unlikely to

 

[large]

I fly with Alliance Airlines once a month out of ADL. They have requested we don't have Q-tags on our bags or in our checked luggage as it may interfere with our baggage sorting etc.

 

[Daver6]

I fly with Alliance Airlines once a month out of ADL. They have requested we don't have Q-tags on our bags or in our checked luggage as it may interfere with our baggage sorting etc.

Do they also use RFID tags or the old paper tags with bar codes?

 

[JohnM]

I fly with Alliance Airlines once a month out of ADL. They have requested we don't have Q-tags on our bags or in our checked luggage as it may interfere with our baggage sorting etc.

Could that be because their baggage-sorting line is near or intersects that of QF, I wonder? But even if it did, a Q-tag not checked in against a pax with QF for a flight around that time should be null, I would have thought.

 

[Vic]

I'm pretty sure the issue is that the Qtag retains previous flight details. Qtag is read by the Qantas baggage sorting system. So if you check luggage containing a Qtag that isn't used there is a chance the baggage system will read the qtag and send it off to the old destination instead of the current distination.

Someone said something abuot match passenger name. The Qtag does not have personal information on it. So not sure how they're going to match passenger name, when no name is on the tag. As best I can guess it has Tag ID, flight details, status details.

Oh and the colour is absolutely meaningless. Computeres are colour blind.

 

[Daver6]

I'm pretty sure the issue is that the Qtag retains previous flight details. Qtag is read by the Qantas baggage sorting system. So if you check luggage containing a Qtag that isn't used there is a chance the baggage system will read the qtag and send it off to the old destination instead of the current distination.

Someone said something abuot match passenger name. The Qtag does not have personal information on it. So not sure how they're going to match passenger name, when no name is on the tag. As best I can guess it has Tag ID, flight details, status details.

Oh and the colour is absolutely meaningless. Computeres are colour blind.

Not my understanding how of they work. As the tag goes past a reader it emits its unique identifier. No more, no less. When you check-in they scan the tag and associate the tag ID with your flight details. Nothing is written to the tag. When it comes to the next scan point, the computer picks up the tag ID again and looks it up on the Qantas computer system to see who it is associated with for that trip and where the bag needs to go.

So the tag doesn't retain information. The Qantas computer system should clear it out after the bag has arrived at the destination. It will also be time stamped.