New Customer Baggage Notifications Added at American Airlines

American Airlines announced today the introduction of new customer baggage notifications aka CBNs.  Customer baggage notifications have been active for the past few days, however, American Airlines officially unveiled the new service today.  Customer baggage notifications are in addition to customer baggage tracking already available via the American Airlines mobile app.  CBNs are designed to keep passengers abreast to any irregular baggage operations.  The system features three alerts notifying customers of irregular baggage operations.

American’s Customer Baggage Notification System’s Three Alerts

As previously mentioned, the CBNs do not replace American’s existing mobile baggage tracking system.  If passengers wish to track their checked luggage, they may do so via the American Airlines mobile app or via AA.com  However, the CBN system does proactively alert passengers to any unexpected baggage movements including early and late baggage arrivals.  Here are the three unique notifications.

American's New Customer Baggage Notification System

American’s New Customer Baggage Notification System

Early Baggage Arrival– Bags arrive early when a passenger doesn’t make their connection but their bags still make their original flight.  Additionally, sometimes when passengers switch to a later flight, their bags are already loaded on to their original flight.  Customers that receive this alert will be asked to proceed to the airport’s baggage service office to claim their luggage.

Late Baggage Arrival– The opposite of an early baggage arrival, sometimes you make it to your final destination but your bags do not.  The notification will let you know your luggage didn’t make it to your destination and ask you to proceed to the airport’s baggage service office.  The third alert elaborates on this but the request to visit a baggage service office will rarely be made for passengers on domestic flights.

Late Baggage Arrival – Mobile Baggage Order– At most domestic airports, customers that don’t get their bags on time will be prompted to fill out a mobile request for baggage delivery.  By allowing customers to fill out their delivery request via their smartphone, they will not be required to visit a baggage service office.

This service is available via the American Airlines mobile app.  To take advantage of customer baggage notifications, customers are asked to either sign-up for an AAdvantage account or provide contact information when booking their flights.


American Airlines Press Release Video

American Airlines posted a video about customer baggage notifications in the airline’s official press release.  It elaborates on the three notifications the CBN system features.


Overall

This is a great addition to American Airlines mobile application.  One of the worst experiences when flying is going to baggage claim and waiting for your bag only to find out it didn’t arrive on your flight.  Though it would be great if airlines could always get customer baggage on the correct flight, it doesn’t happen.  I appreciate American’s proactive approach to irregular baggage operations but ultimately, I hope I’ll only receive an early baggage arrival notification.

What do you think of American Airlines’ new Customer Baggage Notifications?