The San Francisco Examiner's Edward Carpenter reports that the San Francisco Airport (SFO) will spend the next six months trialing RFID-enabled luggage tags for checked baggage.

According to SFO project manager Gerry Alley, the chip will carry each passenger's name, the date, flight itinerary and other information -- with the aim of increasing the accuracy of luggage tag read rates. "The more accurate reading of tags, the more accurately you can sort and track bags, the fewer lost bags you have," Alley says.

"An estimated 3.6 million pieces of luggage were lost by airlines domestically last year, according to the Aviation Consumer Protection Division of the Department of Transportation," Carpenter writes. "At a cost of more than $100 per bag, the use of RFID could add up to major savings, about $760 million a year if implemented worldwide, according to the International Air Transport Association, an air industry trade organization pushing RFID."