Delta aircraft lined up at Atlanta. You know where your bag is?

Delta Air Lines has been making the headlines this last week for kicked off passengers, bomb threats, and job cuts. That is part of the “fun” with being the world’s largest airline — something interesting is always happening. All those stories have been well-covered by other media outlets and I think one story that has fallen between the cracks: luggage tracking.

Having your luggage get lost while traveling is annoying — very annoying. Delta has started a new tracking system to help reduce lost luggage and allows passengers to follow along.

Once a passenger checks in their bag and they are scanned, they can start to follow its process to the bag carousel at their destination.

Delta is the first major airline to try such a new feature and so far they are hearing good things.” Customers have been asking for something like this and we’re pleased to get it up and running,” Delta spokesman Morgan Durrant explained to AirlineReporter.com. “The performance has been solid and initial customer feedback is positive.”

Currently this new feature is not integrated into Delta’s smart phone apps, but passengers are able to access it via Delta’s website on any internet-capable devices. So this means that when you board your flight, you might see that your bag did not make it. Although it will cause some disappointment during your flight, Delta flight attendants have gone through briefings on the new system and can better assist customers. This will save you time not having to wait at baggage claim for all the bags to come off before you realize yours didn’t make it. Then having to wait in line to let Delta staff know you do not have your bag.

According to the Wall Street Journal, “the rate of mishandled baggage was 3.59 reports filed per 1,000 passengers in February, an improvement of 8.7% from the prior year’s rate of 3.93 per 1,000 passengers.” Delta is ranked 5th out the airlines tracked by the Transportation Department.