Alaska Airlines has a new $89 electronic bag tag. What is it, and do you need it?

05.12.2024 - 12:41 / thepointsguy.com

Alaska Airlines has started selling an $89 electronic permanent bag tag.

The carrier's pitch: "Now you can skip printing your bag tags in the lobby and tag your bag anytime, anywhere — directly from the Alaska Airlines mobile app."

It sounds handy. But what exactly is an electronic bag tag, and do you need it? And is $89 a fair price for this convenience?

Airlines transport more than 4 billion bags each year, and the airlines print enough of those adhesive luggage tags that, if combined, they could circle the Earth dozens of times, according to the International Air Transport Association.

The thermal paper stock used to print the tags is difficult, if not impossible, to recycle. Bags can also end up "mishandled" or missing when paper tags are torn off or barcodes become illegible during the journey.

There's also all that time spent waiting in line for printed tags at airport check-in counters and at self-serve kiosks.

Permanent bag tags might be a solution. For more than a decade, airlines, airports and technology companies have been testing and gradually adopting electronic bag tags that are a paperless alternative to paper luggage tags. The new tags can speed up the bag check process, cut down on the number of bags that go missing and may eventually make paper tags obsolete.

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Using the airline's mobile app, travelers check in for their flight and hold their smartphones over their personalized, permanent digital tag, which is then programmed with flight details and baggage destination information.

The tags use Near-Field Communication or Bluetooth technology to create the barcode and other needed tag information. The technology then "prints" it on the tag in electronic ink.

With their electronic bag tag, travelers can skip the bag tag printing kiosk at the airport; instead, they can drop off their tagged bag at a self-service luggage drop station or at the counter before going on their way. The tag then gets reprogrammed for the next trip.

Close to 20 international airlines — including Lufthansa, KLM, Qatar Airways, Icelandair, Austrian Airlines and Aegean Airlines — have already integrated electronic bag tags into their baggage systems.

After testing them for a couple of years and getting feedback from passengers, Alaska Airlines is now the first airline in the U.S. to wholeheartedly jump on the EBT bandwagon. According to an airline spokesperson, doing so is part of the carrier's larger goal "to help travelers get to security in five minutes or less."

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If you purchase an $89 electronic bag tag from Alaska Airlines, you'll be getting a Bagtag device and