Alaska Airlines has started selling an $89 permanent electronic luggage tag.
The airline’s pitch: “Now you can skip printing your bag tags in the lobby and tag your bags anytime, anywhere, right from the Alaska Airlines mobile app.”
Sounds useful. But what exactly is an electronic luggage tag? Do you need it? And is $89 a fair price for this convenience?
What is an electronic luggage tag?
Airlines transport more than 4 billion suitcases each year, and airlines print enough luggage stickers that, if combined, could circle the Earth dozens of times, according to the International Air Transport Association.
The thermal paper used to print the labels is difficult, if not impossible, to recycle. Bags can also end up “mishandled” or lost when paper labels are torn off or barcodes become illegible during travel.
There’s also all the time spent waiting in line for printed labels at airport check-in counters and self-service kiosks.
Permanent bag tags could be a solution. For more than a decade, airlines, airports and technology companies have been testing and gradually adopting electronic luggage tags that are a paperless alternative to paper luggage tags. The new tags can speed up the bag screening process, reduce the number of bags that are lost, and over time may make paper tags obsolete.
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This is how permanent electronic bag tags work
Using the airline’s mobile app, travelers check in for their flight and place their smartphones over their personalized, permanent digital tag, which is then programmed with flight details and baggage destination information.
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The labels use near-field communication technology, or Bluetooth, to create the barcode and other necessary label information. The technology then “prints” it onto the label with electronic ink.
With its electronic luggage tag, travelers can avoid the luggage tag printing kiosk at the airport; Instead, they can leave their tagged luggage at a self-service bag drop station or at the counter before continuing on their way. The tag is then rescheduled for the next trip.
Which airlines use electronic baggage tags?
Nearly 20 international airlines, including Lufthansa, KLM, Qatar Airways, Icelandair, Austrian Airlines and Aegean Airlines, have already integrated electronic baggage tags into their baggage systems.
After testing them for a couple of years and getting feedback from passengers, Alaska Airlines is now the first airline in the US to wholeheartedly jump on the EBT bandwagon. According to an airline spokesperson, doing so is part of the airline’s broader goal “to help travelers get to security in five minutes or less.”
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Do you need one of Alaska Airlines’ electronic luggage tags?
If you purchase an $89 electronic baggage tag from Alaska Airlines, you will receive a Bagtag device and can use it on Alaska flights within the US, Canada and Belize, as well as on flights operated by Alaska through Horizon Air and SkyWest Airlines within the United States
Hawaiian Airlines flights will be eligible for the use of electronic baggage tags once The systems are more fully integrated.. According to an Alaska Airlines spokesperson, the airline is “actively looking for ways to accelerate that schedule.”
Your electronic luggage tag can also be used on flights with Alaska partners Icelandair and Qatar Airways, and on any airline that has adopted this technology.
Alaska Airlines is also exploring the use of electronic baggage tags to speed up the check-in process for wheelchairs, mobility devices and animals.
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Is $89 a fair price for the convenience of having an electronic luggage tag?
The initial $89 may seem like an investment, but the airline wants to assure customers that it is a beneficial option.
“For the guest who regularly travels with a checked bag, it’s a small investment in the time it saves and the peace of mind it provides,” an Alaska Airlines spokesperson said. “And as more airlines adopt electronic tagging and self-delivery technology becomes more widespread, the value of our electronic baggage tags will continue to increase.”
For now, in addition to the time saved by using an electronic luggage tag, the average traveler also saves about 13 feet of poorly recyclable paper bag tags each year, said Jasper Quak, CEO of Bagtag.
The Lufthansa group, for example, has been using electronic bag labels for more than 10 years and “it is the method of choice to get rid of obsolete paper bag labels,” says Viktoria Rudo, senior director of ground processes at Lufthansa. Group, he said.
“It’s where our industry should be heading,” said Timos Korosis, product director of ground operations at Aegean Airlines. “We need to use what we learn using EBTs to move away from paper labels, or at least reduce them to the same length as EBTs,” he added.
The International Air Transport Association’s Baggage Working Groups have also been studying electronic baggage tags and trying to reach agreements between airlines that use them. But that will require processes and standards that allow EBTs “to be read and used throughout the airline world,” Rudo said. And that is still in process.
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