If travel providers are going to continue to offer cheap travel options, including cheap airplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, and cheap vacation packages, costs are going to have to be minimized. To that end, airlines are increasingly shifting the responsibility of tagging checked luggage onto their customers.
Already, airline passengers engage in such activities as booking their own flights online, checking themselves in via airlines websites prior to departing for the airport, and printing or downloading their own boarding passes.
Checking your own bags appears to be the next trend in self service air travel. Recent examples include:
WestJet commenced self tagging for U.S. bound customers in Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg on November 30th. This marks the first time this service has been extended to passengers traveling across borders.
American Airlines added a self tagging program in mid November to Orlando after testing the program in Austin, Texas. American expects to roll out self tagging to Reagan National and Chicago OHare airports in the first quarter of 2013.
Alaska airlines introduced a self tagging program in Seattle in May and recently added this service to San Antonio and San Diego. A further roll out to Anchorage, Minneapolis, and Portland, OR, is expected in January.
Industry experts have found that by having passengers self tag their own checked baggage that the check in and bag drop process is faster.
While the specifics of self tagging programs vary by airline, in most cases passengers enter their travel information into an airport kiosk, receive and attach the tags to their bags and take their luggage to a bag drop area where airline employees verify photo IDs and scan luggage into the system. In some cases the kiosks come with scales that allow passengers to weigh their bags and pay any additional required fees.
Alaska Airlines found that there is a first time learning curve for passengers but that afterwards they adapt pretty quickly. Its bag drop area usually provides a faster check in process than traditional ticket counter bag check in.
Airlines contend that in addition to greater speed and convenience, self tagging is desirable because it allows passengers to take more control of their travel experience.
The roll out of self tagging mirrors the trend that has drivers pumping their own gas and shoppers scanning their own groceries. Such self service measures are viewed as a convenience by some while others view it as a cost cutting measure that results in fewer employees and less personal service.
A recent survey found that 52 percent of air travelers would like the ability to print out their baggage tags at home. Hopefully loading bags onto planes will continue to be an airline provided service.
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