Want to speed airline check-ins? Print your baggage tags at home

Spanish carrier Iberia launched a new service that allows travelers to download and print out baggage tags long before they go to the airport.

Iberia calls the service MyBagTag and promises it will make the check-in process faster and easier, according to a statement Monday. (The video above shows how it works.) Travelers specify the number of bags when they check in online and then print out baggage tags with barcodes containing flight details. The printout is folded into quarters with the barcode facing up and placed inside reusable plastic sleeves that are then affixed to luggage.

The airline rolled out this service at the beginning of the summer after tests in Madrid, Barcelona and other airports. So far it’s only used for domestic flights, but the airline plans to expand the program to cities outside Spain.

Alaska Airlines tested the same system, which it called Self Tag, for flights from Seattle to Hawaii. A spokeswoman says the airline suspended the service temporarily until it could resolve compliance issues with the Transportation Security Administration.

The process was developed by Unisys Crop. and tested for three months at Billund Airport in Denmark last year. It’s part of the International Air Transport Assn.’s Fast Travel initiative to “give passengers more control over their journey,” the association’s website says.

Alaska, American and other carriers also offer kiosks at the airport where you can print out baggage tags and take your luggage to a bag-drop counter.

Now British Airways is trying out something even newer this month: an electronic bag tag that might dispense with paper tags. The idea is that travelers hold their smartphone over the electronic tag to update the barcode.

“This is a fantastically simple, yet smart device that gives each customer the choice to have their own personalised electronic baggage tag that changes with the swipe of a smartphone -- every time they fly,” British Airways Managing Director Frank van der Post said in a statement.

[For the record 3:30 p.m. July 18: An earlier version of this post said Alaska Airlines allows passengers to print out baggage tags at home for flights from Seattle to Hawaii. An airline spokeswoman said it has “temporarily suspended our home bag tag program and we’re working to resolve issues to comply with some new TSA requirements.”]

Mary.Forgione@latimes.com
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