Alaska Airlines to cut down customers luggage check in time; introduces electric bag tags

Alaska Airlines is planning to support electronic bag taps. It’s the first U.S airline to do so. Electric bag taps are small programmable devices with e-paper displays that are designed to replace the paper tags currently in use. The airline will launch this new programme in phases. It’ll first focus on San Jose Airport in California. The airline will hand out 2500 tags initially for free to it’s frequent flyers from the airport by late 2022. They will be available for purchase by Mileage Plan members next year. 

The purpose for launching these bag taps is to cut down customers time at the flight admin. Instead of printing a luggage tag in person, flyers can set up the electronic bag tape at home while checking in on the mobile app. Later when they arrive at the airport, they can use a self-service bag drop without having to print out a fresh tag. The ultimate goal of Alaska Airlines is to cut down the amount of time spent by customers while checking luggage by 40 percent. 

The manufactuer of the electronic tags is BagTag. These tags are already being used by other Airlines outside of the US, such as Air Dolomiti, Austrian, China Southern, Lufthansa, and Swiss. The Flex Model ther Alaska Airlines is using is programmed over NFC. It is done by holding either an iPhone or Android handset next to the tag to transmit the required information. BagTag also advertised that the tags are battery less and doesn’t require charging.