Baggage Information Exchange Standards

Baggage Information Exchange (XML) and RP1755

Baggage messaging is the communication between airlines and airports that supports transit of bags from origin to destination. With increasing number of bags and passengers comes greater need to communicate and interpret this information. Baggage message failures or rejections due to data quality issues are one of the major causes of baggage mishandling.

The current messaging standards, which have been in place since 1985, do not provide an easy way to support baggage system integration and innovation. New standards of Baggage messaging are being developed to make it easier for Airlines, Airports and Baggage handling vendors in the industry to understand and exchange baggage information with clarity.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Airport Council International (ACI) jointly recognized that the aviation industry requires a modern baggage information exchange standard and invited industry partners to collaborate on its development.

The new baggage information exchange standard was published in 2018 as the IATA Recommended Practice 1755. The new standard is an updated replacement for IATA Recommended Practice 1745. The new messaging standard has been built using the Airline Industry Data Model (AIDM) to update and extend the messaging capabilities beyond the limitations of the legacy standard. The new messaging standard will facilitate the reduction in mis-connected bags and supports the new IATA Resolution 753 requiring airlines to provide mandatory information regarding the location of bags.

Core to the new messaging standard is the concept of message brokers for the exchange of baggage information.

Additional Information

Additional information about IATA/ACI Baggage initiatives (including AIDM, Baggage Information Exchange XML and ACI ACRIS) can be found here:

Documentation:

BIX-Guideline-Document (IATA website).
Modern-Baggage-Messaging-Road-Map (IATA website).
How-to-Get-Digital-Certificate-for-BIX-Guideline (IATA website).

To support the adoption of the new messaging standard, IATA are providing three core services.

Baggage Test Broker node - for registered users to use to ensure compliance with standards.
Certificate Service node - for registered users to use to obtain security credentials (SSL certificates) to access brokers.
Directory Service node - for registered users to use as a discovery tool to find other broker connection details.

Further resources are available to registered users:

IATA Baggage Information Exchange - Implementation Guide
IATA Baggage Information Exchange - Test Broker connection details
IATA Baggage Information Exchange - Test test scripts and documentation
IATA Baggage Information Exchange - XML Schema Definitions (XSDs)
IATA Baggage Information Exchange - RP1745 Mapping guidance
IATA Extranet - shared document resources