IATA Resolves to Improve Bag Handling Through RFID and Real-Time Tracking
Members of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have committed to improve bag handling through the global deployment of Radio Frequency Identification tags.
At IATA’s Annual General Meeting in Seoul, the group of 290 airlines resolved to transition to use of bag tags with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) inlays, and introduce new processes to prevent mishandling.
RFID labels contain passive chips that transmit information in response to antennae through radio-frequency electromagnetic fields. Read rates are 99.98 per cent accurate and the chips cannot be as easily concealed or damaged as a traditional bar code.
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New Rules on American Travel to Cuba Include Cruise Ban
The Trump administration on Tuesday imposed new restrictions on Americans going to Cuba, banning the most common way Americans travel to the island.
Beginning on Wednesday, the United States will not permit group educational and cultural trips known as “people to people” trips to the island unless they were booked before June 5, the Treasury Department said in a statement. Nor will it allow cruises, private yachts or fishing vessels to stop in Cuba. Group people-to-people trips have been used by thousands of American visitors.
The move left tour companies and cruise lines assessing the impact and how they might have to modify their operations in Cuba.
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US Now Seeking Social Media Details From All Visa Applicants
The State Department is now requiring nearly all applicants for U.S. visas to submit their social media usernames, previous email addresses and phone numbers. It’s a vast expansion of the Trump administration’s enhanced screening of potential immigrants and visitors.
In a move that’s just taken effect after approval of the revised application forms, the department says it has updated its immigrant and non-immigrant visa forms to request the additional information, including “social media identifiers,” from almost all U.S. applicants.
The change, which was proposed in March 2018, is expected to affect about 15 million foreigners who apply for visas to enter the United States each year.
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