Virgin Australia expands Aussie-first baggage tracking tool across entire domestic and international network*

  • Virgin Australia has expanded its industry-leading baggage tracking tool to service all domestic and international routes*, including Queenstown, Bali, Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu and Japan.
  • In an offering not comparable to any other Australian airline, Virgin Australia guests will now receive notifications when their bag is ready to fly, loaded onto the aircraft and again when the luggage has arrived at the baggage carousel.
  • The first-to-market technology which first launched on two-thirds of the airline’s domestic network last year, has since been used approximately 1.3 million times by Australian travellers, with Virgin Australia having seen a 12 per cent increase in app downloads.
  • To use the tool, guests can simply download the Virgin Australia app and enable push notifications. The Virgin Australia app can be downloaded for free, here.
  • Today’s announcement forms part of Virgin Australia’s more than $400 million investment in digital innovation, technology, and customer experience initiatives, which includes newly launched websites, apps, digital systems, reduced call-wait times^ and Rapid Rebook – a tool for guests to self-manage their bookings end-to-end in the event of disruption.

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Wednesday 31 January 2024: Virgin Australia has taken another step to pioneer airline innovation and customer experience, today unveiling a significant expansion of its baggage tracking tool to include all domestic and international routes as well as additional tracking notifications for guests.

As part of the expansion of the tool, which previously only included a portion of the airline’s domestic network, customers can now track their baggage end-to-end via the Virgin Australia app, receiving push notifications when their baggage has been checked in, loaded onto the aircraft, transferred to a connecting carrier, and upon arrival. The tool also advises the baggage carousel for collection once the guest is at their final destination.

The new ‘loaded’ feature, confirming the baggage has been loaded onto the aircraft, is not available with any other Australian airline and gives customers further visibility and peace of mind when travelling.

The tool is already proving to be popular, having been used more than 1.3 million times since it was first piloted in May 2023.

Virgin Australia Chief Customer & Digital Officer, Paul Jones, said: “Australians find comfort in the ability to track food deliveries, postal deliveries, technology, even their heart rate, all via apps, and it made sense for travellers to be able to do the same thing when flying Virgin Australia.”

“By further enhancing our Australian-first baggage tracking technology to include all international services and additional notifications, we are giving guests the peace of mind to know where their baggage is at every step of the journey,” said Mr Jones.

“We are committed to being Australia’s most loved airline; and ensuring the safe passage of our customer’s personal items is just another move in our mission to provide that extra level of service and care.

“Over the past 12 months we have delivered a series of significant customer improvements, including newly launched websites, apps, digital systems and Rapid Rebook – a tool for guests to self-manage their bookings end-to-end in the event of disruption. These advancements work to improve the customer experience and complement our consistently low call-wait times.

“We look forward to continuing to deliver industry-leading innovation to ensure our guests have a wonderful travel experience,” he said.

Guests can track their checked baggage on select Virgin Australia services in three easy steps:

  • Download the Virgin Australia app.
  • Enable push notifications via app settings.
  • Once enabled, a series of push notifications will be sent to the guest’s phone throughout the journey, including when the bag is checked-in, loaded onto the aircraft, transferred to an international partner airline, and available for collection at the final destination. The tool will also advise the guest which carousel the baggage is available for collection from.

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