Home-Printed Bag Tags

Latest technology surrounding the luggage tag, is the home-printed bag tag which allows travellers to save time while traveling! This revolutionizing process was launched by Iberia on the 9^th of July 2013 and since has gained more popularity with Air France that use it on its domestic flight, Lufthansa and more…

It allows passengers who check-in online to print from home, along with their boarding pass, their luggage tags. This tag, which can be printed on a standard printer paper, is folded into quarter and inserted in a plastic folder, offered at the airport that is attached to the bag.  Upon the arrival at the airport, the traveller simply needs to drop the luggage at a bag drop point. This initiative reduces de bag drop process from several minutes to less than 30 seconds, a claim validated by an on-site demonstration in which the process was completed in closer to 20 seconds. (FutureTravelExperience, 2013).

VIDEO : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUXouUtdVDI

This technology is also part of an initiative launched by IATA few months ago, the Fast Travel Project. Its purpose is to enhance the travellers experience by optimizing the different steps that occurs at the airport. The six areas covered by Fast Travel are:

- Check-in: Offering self-service check-in at the location, using at least one of the following four channels: Automated, Kiosk (Dedicated or Common Use), Web or Mobile Check-in.

- Bags ready-to-go: Self-tagging [offering passengers the possibility to generate and apply the baggage tags themselves] and Fast Baggage Drop Off [offering a dedicated position for the purpose of baggage acceptance ]

- Document Check: Offering the possibility for passengers to self-scan their travel documents (passport, ID cards, Driving licences...) and verify automatically that the travel document data are compliant with the destination or transit requirements (ex: TIMATIC).

- Flight rebooking: In case of disruption (cancelation or delay), offering the possibility for passengers to be pro-actively re-booked and to obtain new booking options or boarding token via a self-service channel (kiosk/web/mobile).

- Self-boarding: Offering the possibility for passengers to self-scan their boarding token at the gate to gain entry to the aircraft.

- Bag recovery: Offering the possibility for passengers to register a claim for a mishandled bag via a self-service channel (kiosk / web / mobile).

(IATA, 2013)

Finally a new trend is also appearing for bag tag, which is the permanent luggage tag. This is a tag that would be directly attached to a luggage before its purchase. Each luggage would be equipped with a unique tag. Using the RFID technology, there would be no need to print any bag tag.

By: Jessica Gourdji & Ludovic Sacier 

Sources: 

http://www.futuretravelexperience.com/2013/07/iberia-becomes-first-airline-to-launch-home-printed-bag-tags-globally/yout

https://www.iata.org/whatwedo/stb/fast-travel/Documents/Fast-Travel-Program-Strategy-V6.pdf

http://www.futuretravelexperience.com/2014/03/smart-security-trials-permanent-bag-tag-standard-end-end-travel-improvements-top-iatas-agenda/

http://www.futuretravelexperience.com/2014/01/air-france-launches-home-printed-bag-tags-domestic-flights/

http://www.futuretravelexperience.com/2014/04/lufthansa-launches-home-printed-bag-tag-rfid/.