While I was thinking of flying with AS, I noticed that they offer self-tag where one can print off a person's baggage tags at home. Rather like one can print off your boarding pass using your printer. https://www.alaskaair.com/content/trave ... ag-express
Sounds a good money saving idea here for the airlines. So why don't the European LCCs FR, U2, DY and 6W offer it? Perhaps as a cost-cutter, a small discount of the checked bag eg €22 instead of €25?
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Re: Self tag outside the US
Maybe not exactly what you are referring to, but there are self-tagging kiosks st DUB for EI.
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- jeffrey0032j
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Re: Self tag outside the US
QF widely uses it in all the major airports in Australia.
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- TheReckoner
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Re: Self tag outside the US
With Easyjet you can do this at the airport at self service kiosks. I did it twice last week.
I hate having to do the whole print at home thing. Probably because I don't own (or want to own) a printer.
I hate having to do the whole print at home thing. Probably because I don't own (or want to own) a printer.
Re: Self tag outside the US
caoimhin wrote:Maybe not exactly what you are referring to, but there are self-tagging kiosks st DUB for EI.
The OP is referring to printing out your own bag tags at home, rather than via a kiosk. EI don’t allow you to print tags at home.
Re: Self tag outside the US
self tagging all over the place in Europe, although, rather than do it at home, I use the self service kiosks at the airport, at least those things stick properly versus anything I would print at home!
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- LupineChemist
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Re: Self tag outside the US
IB tried this but it never took off because nobody actually wants to print at home and take care of the plastic sleeve.
Self-print kiosks are fairly common, though.
Self-print kiosks are fairly common, though.
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- SwissCanuck
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Re: Self tag outside the US
LH/LX offer this ... I'm 100% sure LX does, but never done it with LH. You print it out and fold it twice, then if you don't already have the holder they'll give you one at the airport. If I fly LX from GVA I have a few at home. Get to the airport, scan board pass, throw bag in the hole, off to security.
Re: Self tag outside the US
LupineChemist wrote:IB tried this but it never took off because nobody actually wants to print at home and take care of the plastic sleeve.
Self-print kiosks are fairly common, though.
I used this a few times it was a good idea if there were lines early morning at MAD .
A demo video is here :
https://youtu.be/zZOK1vMwGrY
Re: Self tag outside the US
Bll tried it in 2012 but think it has been dropped again
Re: Self tag outside the US
It's not the worst of ideas but I can't imagine this is all that great a time-saver compared to using a self-bag-drop system such as those that already exist.
It also walks down the road airlines are trying to move away from, which is perpetuating optical scanning of baggage identifiers at a time when RFID is displaying so much promise.
Already several airports (HKG being my most recent personal experience) are including radio tags in their barcoded labels, and several airlines offer reusable RFID tags, though at the moment most of these are limited to online itineraries only.
QF have been doing it for years with the Q Bag Tag, which is additionally colour-coded to the owner's FF status, but the system is still only usable on domestic QF-only bookings.
Obviously the print-at-home label doesn't have these limitations, but I don't picture it being more than a temporary novelty.
It also walks down the road airlines are trying to move away from, which is perpetuating optical scanning of baggage identifiers at a time when RFID is displaying so much promise.
Already several airports (HKG being my most recent personal experience) are including radio tags in their barcoded labels, and several airlines offer reusable RFID tags, though at the moment most of these are limited to online itineraries only.
QF have been doing it for years with the Q Bag Tag, which is additionally colour-coded to the owner's FF status, but the system is still only usable on domestic QF-only bookings.
Obviously the print-at-home label doesn't have these limitations, but I don't picture it being more than a temporary novelty.
Re: Self tag outside the US
This’ll be a stopgap... RFID or a similar technology is the way to go.
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- LupineChemist
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Re: Self tag outside the US
I agree that a personalized non-disposable RFID tag linked to booking and FF account is the future. I also think that the "save 5 minutes on X" sort of improvements tend to be aimed at frequent business travelers that aren't checking luggage anyway. Even for my personal trips I don't mind a couple minutes extra to check in.
Re: Self tag outside the US
LupineChemist wrote:I agree that a personalized non-disposable RFID tag linked to booking and FF account is the future. I also think that the "save 5 minutes on X" sort of improvements tend to be aimed at frequent business travelers that aren't checking luggage anyway. Even for my personal trips I don't mind a couple minutes extra to check in.
In watching that video, my first thought was if these self-tagged bags were at greater risk of being lost as the bag sorting system wasn’t designed for them, but I guess if you make the barcodes big enough, it doesn’t matter. My second thought was how much time did that family really save? My third thought was how secure is the sleeve?
The above said, in retrospect over the past decade it’s pretty impressive the percentage of people who are comfortable enough to use a kiosk. It seems like only yesterday that the Average Joe stood, mouth agape and helpless, trying to check-in. Well done to the airline IT guys!
(Or did people become comfortable just because they interact with a smartphone every day? Maybe each piece of luggage needs a smartphone ... )
Re: Self tag outside the US
jetero wrote:My third thought was how secure is the sleeve?
I still have a few at home and they are stronger then I thought they would be but I am still not sure if they got caught up somewhere if they would not snap. I like TKs idea of RFID cards linked to FF account placed inside the case. More work needs to be done on this system to roll it out more then for lost bags but the idea is a good one. Also with IB My Bag Tag if your printer was not that great the bar code could sometimes not be read.
Re: Self tag outside the US
This is easely done at the airports in Norway for both SAS and Norwegian at their kiosks. I don't really see the great time saver of printing it at home.
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- Tristarsteve
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Re: Self tag outside the US
Back in 2014 BA had a trial of electronic permanent bag tags that were updated from your phone by NFC. Were they dropped?
Re: Self tag outside the US
Tristarsteve wrote:Back in 2014 BA had a trial of electronic permanent bag tags that were updated from your phone by NFC. Were they dropped?
They did this with a select number of mostly Corps/BA Exec members and staff. It all went very quiet after the trial.
Re: Self tag outside the US
LupineChemist wrote:IB tried this but it never took off because nobody actually wants to print at home and take care of the plastic sleeve.
Self-print kiosks are fairly common, though.
Who even owns a printer at home these days? Printers are going the way of the home phone
But speaking of self tagging, why is it that I can check-in for my flight 24 hours ahead of the flight but I can only print my bag tags 4 or 5 hours ahead of the flight (depending on airline)?
It makes no sense to me and it pretty much takes away any incentive for early check-in, providing one already has a seat assigned.
Re: Self tag outside the US
Lufthansa allows you to directly use an electronic tag on your RIMOWA bag
https://www.lufthansa.com/mediapool/pdf ... 659544.pdf
I though about it but the bag is just to expensive for this play and I almost never check in a bag during my business trips when I take LH.
https://www.lufthansa.com/mediapool/pdf ... 659544.pdf
I though about it but the bag is just to expensive for this play and I almost never check in a bag during my business trips when I take LH.
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