Alaska Airlines has become the first carrier in the U.S. to introduce electronic bag tags.
This week, 2,500 Mileage Plan loyalty members will begin receiving their 3-by-5-inch tags. The initial participants are elite status Mileage Plan members who were among the first to register to use the device. However, Alaska says the tag will be available for purchase to all guests starting in 2023 on all of marketed flights.
The electronic tags, provided by Netherlands-based vendor Bagtag, allow flyers to skip the step of printing paper bag tags at the airport. Instead, users will check in remotely via smartphone, then simply touch that phone to their electronic bag tag. Information from the phone will then transmit automatically to the bag tag's screen, displaying the traveler's flight information.
Alaska says its electronic tag is estimated to reduce the time guests spend in airport lobbies by about 40%.
In a blog post, Alaska didn’t reveal its price for the electronic tag. However, customers interested in being early adopters can visit a special Alaska webpage to join the notification list when the devices become available for purchase.