Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan - Alaska Airlines Offers Customers Self Bag-Tagging Option at Sea-Tac Airport

Link (https://splash.alaskasworld.com/Newsroom/ASNews/ASstories/AS_20120522_053107.asp)

Convenient alternative helps expedite travelers through check-in
5/22/2012 5:31 a.m.

SEATTLE - Alaska Airlines is debuting self-bag tagging for customers traveling out of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The process allows customers to print and attach their own luggage tags from a self-service kiosk in the airport lobby and then, in one step, show their identification and drop their bag off with an airline representative for security screening and loading onto an aircraft. Following a successful trial at Redmond/Bend Airport in Oregon last year, the airline intends to offer customers self-service bag-tagging options at more airports across its route system this summer.

"Customers who have used the service are delighted to be able to help themselves by tagging their own bags, dropping them off and going on their way," said Jeff Butler, Alaska Airlines' vice president of customer service-airports. "We are committed to making Alaska the easiest airline to fly on and self-bag tagging is another step toward that goal."

Alaska Airlines has received permission from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to implement self-bag tagging at other airports where Alaska and its sister carrier, Horizon Air, operate. Alaska is the first carrier to offer the service at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, its largest hub.

Self-bag tagging is part of the airline's customer-focused initiative toward making travel easier. The airline launched a new mobile website last month that allows customers to access their boarding pass from any mobile device, and recently began offering expedited security screening for ‘known travelers' at its airports in Seattle and Portland in partnership with the TSA.

Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK), together serve more than 90 cities through an expansive network in Alaska, the Lower 48, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico. For reservations, visit www.alaskaair.com. For more news and information, visit the Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Newsroom at www.alaskaair.com/newsroom.

I'm surprised there is no mention of Alaska's pre-9/11 self-check kiosks.

An enhancement that will result in employee lay offs as the airlines empower the customers to do what their employees does. Then when things goes south with cancellations, they end up being severly under numbered to be able to handle the volume of customers that needs to be rebooked.

Not a change that I really care about since I still will have to walk up to the kiosk, check myself in and my bags in as well, present my ID, etc.

The only improvement this will provide for me is that I won't have to wait for the agent to come by and physically tag my bags. In my years of travel, the longest wait I had to wait would be 30 seconds, maybe 45 seconds.

If they develop something that I could tag the bag at home before going to the airport then just dump the bags at the curb and go straight to security. That is something I would be thrilled about.

The airline has more to gain with the potential labor savings than the customers, IMO.

Great, now we can do AS employees work (for free)

Do we have to also weigh the bag ourselves and pay ourselves an overage fee? :confused:

Great, now we can do AS employees work (for free)Once upon a time, people probably said the same thing about printing out boarding passes.

The trend towards self service is evident in other industries, too: ringing up groceries, pumping gas (Oregon notwithstanding), or dialing direct.

Really?!? Now you can pay the additional luggage fee at the self-serve kiosk, tag the bag yourself, carry it over to an agent, and show your ID. I guess I wouldn't mind if there was NO additional luggage fee... However, I'm expected to pay an additional fee and do the work myself.

Next, we will have to take our luggage out to the plane... :D

I wish AS would work on making my travel experience easier rather than simply cutting their own costs. How about putting a little RFID chip (or heck, a barcode) on those luggage tags you send me every year and just use that as my permanent bag tag?

I doubt that everyone will be forced to use this service.

If you don't like the fees, you can always try shipping your bag to your destination. Self-tagging is a requirement there too though :p

I'm surprised there is no mention of Alaska's pre-9/11 self-check kiosks.

That was my first thought. The self-bag-drop at ANC was definitely convenient.

The only improvement this will provide for me is that I won't have to wait for the agent to come by and physically tag my bags.

Took me a minute to figure out what you were saying here. I guess I'm so used to the Airport Of The Future design that the traditional counter setup is not what comes to mind when I think of bag drops. Either that or you have been flying too much UA lately. ;)

Took me a minute to figure out what you were saying here. I guess I'm so used to the Airport Of The Future design that the traditional counter setup is not what comes to mind when I think of bag drops. Either that or you have been flying too much UA lately. ;)

With UA, they are not as good as AS when it comes to checking in at the airport, I'll admit.

But, my statements were based on my experiences at LAX when AS still operated out of T3 ;) I have not flown on AS yet since the move to T6 and probably will not :( However, the airport of the future program only exists at the hubs, so the majority of the stations will have the traditional experience.

Once upon a time, people probably said the same thing about printing out boarding passes...

Very true. But if I print my own boarding pass and there's a problem with it I can get another one at the airport. If, on the other hand, I print and attach my own bag tag and my bag ends up going AWOL I won't be at all surprised if I'm told that I must have done something wrong. As long as I can have an employee do the bag tag I'll go that route.

I'm personally cool with a self bag check (I have had to wait a few minutes for an AS agent in the past at PDX). However, I'm not cool with this resulting in substantial reductions to ticketing agent staff: if I am talking to an agent, it generally means something went really wrong (e.g., missed flight), something that a kiosk can't adequately fix.

If the RFID tags include a cleartext/inadequately encrypted AS MP number or other personal details, I'll pass (I like the idea, though).

Very true. But if I print my own boarding pass and there's a problem with it I can get another one at the airport. If, on the other hand, I print and attach my own bag tag and my bag ends up going AWOL I won't be at all surprised if I'm told that I must have done something wrong. As long as I can have an employee do the bag tag I'll go that route.

Maybe someone from RDM who's used the system can clarify, but my conception of how it works is you go to the kiosk, bring up your reservation, and, among other things, are presented with the option of printing out your baggage tag(s). If you decide to exercise the option. then the tag(s) get(s) printed out with the destination shown in the record. If it goes AWOL despite having a tag showing the correct destination, how can it be your fault or the tag's fault? How can they tell you that you've done something wrong?

I also imagine that they have QA checks built into the system to make sure the passenger-printed tag is correct and has been placed in the proper location on the bag. They would kick in when you hand your bag off to whomever it gets handed off to. More reason not to place the blame on you. If they see you've done something wrong, then they fix it (and show you how to do it right next time).

For now, I would not use the self-tagging option if I fly back to DCA via SEA, spend the night in SEA, and want to have my bag at the hotel. I'm sure the new system will provide that functionality, but maybe not right away.

Maybe someone from RDM who's used the system can clarify, but my conception of how it works is you go to the kiosk, bring up your reservation, and, among other things, are presented with the option of printing out your baggage tag(s). If you decide to exercise the option. then the tag(s) get(s) printed out with the destination shown in the record. If it goes AWOL despite having a tag showing the correct destination, how can it be your fault or the tag's fault? How can they tell you that you've done something wrong...

I hope you're right. I suppose I imagine my tag falling off in transit and being told that it must not have been attached correctly. For now I can't see any advantage to doing it myself, especially if it encourages AS to get rid of more employees. I can think of other things that would be much higher on my list for improvements in customer service.

I'm probably in the minority here but my last experience with a lost bag and SEA baggage claim staff was not a good one. One employee in particular seemed anxious to go into Blame-the-Customer mode. If I end up dealing with them again I don't want to have been involved in the tagging process. Yup, I'm a chicken.

Really?!? Now you can pay the additional luggage fee at the self-serve kiosk, tag the bag yourself, carry it over to an agent, and show your ID. I guess I wouldn't mind if there was NO additional luggage fee... However, I'm expected to pay an additional fee and do the work myself.

Next, we will have to take our luggage out to the plane... :D

This is a great point! At first I liked the idea as less time with some of the customer unfriendly AK agents at SEA would be great. However, AK does charge all these bag fees for people like me who fly them only a few times a year and now they want to make me do more work. It sounds absurd!

I will just stick to the airlines that I have status on when flying throughout the West Coast instead.

I will just stick to the airlines that I have status on when flying throughout the West Coast instead.Considering a variety of carriers have been working on self-tagged baggage, good luck avoiding it much longer.

An enhancement that will result in employee lay offs as the airlines empower the customers to do what their employees does. Then when things goes south with cancellations, they end up being severly under numbered to be able to handle the volume of customers that needs to be rebooked.

AS does not plan any layoffs. If anything, this frees up frontline employees to work with customers that require agent assistance.

I wish AS would work on making my travel experience easier rather than simply cutting their own costs. How about putting a little RFID chip (or heck, a barcode) on those luggage tags you send me every year and just use that as my permanent bag tag?

Doesn't speeding up and streamlining the check-in process make your travel experience easier?

The downside with permanent bag tags (with RFID or barcodes) is that it requires an electronic reader at every step of the handling process. With single use printed bag tags, baggage handlers can visually verify that each bag is be routed correctly. The best solution would be to have printed bag tags with RFID, but that is still cost prohibitive.

Very true. But if I print my own boarding pass and there's a problem with it I can get another one at the airport. If, on the other hand, I print and attach my own bag tag and my bag ends up going AWOL I won't be at all surprised if I'm told that I must have done something wrong. As long as I can have an employee do the bag tag I'll go that route.

There's no difference in the bag tags printed by a kiosk or another method. If you can't figure out how to attach a bag tag or you pick up and attach the wrong bag tag, you probably won't notice if your bag doesn't make it. ;)

AS does not plan any layoffs. If anything, this frees up frontline employees to work with customers that require agent assistance.

In the short term, yes, but in the long term, no. By switching over more front line employee work to the customers the less work front line employees need to do will eventually result in a slow downsize in front-line staff. They might not lay them off, but as someone leaves or retires the position simply won't be replaced.

Same thing will happen when they start self boarding where a customer can scan their BP/Phones themselves, no need for an employee to do it for you. That will easily free up 20-30 minutes of labor time, which will result in employees idling as they watch passengers do what they used to do for them. It will be perceived as excess and a cost saving potential.

In the late 90s, every single ticket counter was staffed when everybody had to see an agent to obtain their boarding passes, the kiosk came, over 10 years we saw the number of agents working the ticket counters slowly shrink. Now, we'd be lucky to see 3-4 agents working in an area with 20+ kiosks.

Even at some airports, airlines have gotten so cheap that there would only be 1-2 actual ticket agents, and you would see 2-3 men standing by the conveyor belts who would shrug their shoulders or shake their heads if a customer tries to ask them a question. They are contracted out employees who would take care of all of the bags after the agent tags them. Those stations are the worst stations when I need assistance or if I have a question. The UA counters at MIA is one of them, I think UA does this at IAD :rolleyes: IIRC, LAX had them when they were in T3, but now they are in T6, so things might be different with the new Airport of the Future setup.

This is just another step in the continuous downsizing of front-line non-contracted employees.

In the late 90s, every single ticket counter was staffed when everybody had to see an agent to obtain their boarding passes, the kiosk came, over 10 years we saw the number of agents working the ticket counters slowly shrink. Now, we'd be lucky to see 3-4 agents working in an area with 20+ kiosks.
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This is just another step in the continuous downsizing of front-line non-contracted employees.Guess what the number one thing the traveling public wants? No, it isn't an agent at every possible ticket counter position--it is low fares.

Guess what the number one thing the traveling public wants? No, it isn't an agent at every possible ticket counter position--it is low fares.

Then all of sudden, when the dung hits the fan, what does the same people want?

My point is, the number of agents serving the counters is thin enough as it is and adding more programs like this will not help keep the number of agents at the counter at this current level. It will make it much harder for front line managers to justify the current level of personnel they have at their respective stations with the reduced daily workload as the customers become more empowered.

I pay more to fly on legacy carriers for a reason and a better support system in IRROPs with plenty of back up options is one of them. The same goes for people who dumps lot of greenback and business travelers. Unfortunately for me, phones are not easily accessible.

In the short term, yes, but in the long term, no. By switching over more front line employee work to the customers the less work front line employees need to do will eventually result in a slow downsize in front-line staff. They might not lay them off, but as someone leaves or retires the position simply won't be replaced.

AS has been pretty clear their focus is moving customers through the airport faster and easier. Perhaps you should wait before passing judgment until AS makes a decision about airport customer service staffing. Don't forget, the customer service employees have a union to advocate for their interests too...

Then all of sudden, when the dung hits the fan, what does the same people want?

When something goes awry, it seems like a lot of people instinctively queue up in the ticket counter line because it's all they know how to do. If I can solve my issue using an automated kiosk or the airline's website, I feel much more empowered waiting in a long line.


My point is, the number of agents serving the counters is thin enough as it is and adding more programs like this will not help keep the number of agents at the counter at this current level. It will make it much harder for front line managers to justify the current level of personnel they have at their respective stations with the reduced daily workload as the customers become more empowered.


One of my biggest gripes is how the so-called full service ticket counters are often understaffed. The FC/Elite line at SEA usually has about two agents working it, and it seems as though they're always tied up with some super-complex issue that takes 10-15 minutes to clear up. If I can tag my own bag and simply hand it over to someone with minimal fuss, then I'm all for it. Perhaps it will mean that they can reassign a few of the bag drop agents to work the full service line so I won't have to wait an eternity when I actually do require that level of assistance.

I pay more to fly on legacy carriers for a reason and a better support system in IRROPs with plenty of back up options is one of them. The same goes for people who dumps lot of greenback and business travelers. Unfortunately for me, phones are not easily accessible.

The way I see it, their big strength is not their legions of customer service agents, but their capability to handle rebookings due to IRROPs automatically. Empowering customers to take care of their own issues without needing an employees full attention makes the whole operation more efficient for everyone.

When something goes awry, it seems like a lot of people instinctively queue up in the ticket counter line because it's all they know how to do. If I can solve my issue using an automated kiosk or the airline's website, I feel much more empowered waiting in a long line...

The way I see it, their big strength is not their legions of customer service agents, but their capability to handle rebookings due to IRROPs automatically. Empowering customers to take care of their own issues without needing an employees full attention makes the whole operation more efficient for everyone.

^^

The Delta Nervous System handles IRROPS rebookings automatically. All you have to do is scan your BP at one of the automated machines, and it'll spit out a new BP and even meal vouchers (if applicable). If you don't like what the automated system suggested, you can go to delta.com and see a ton of options. Delta makes it easy to do yourself.

United isn't automated (although they claim to be working on something like that), but a call to the elite phone line can take care of pretty much any issue without requiring you to stand in the long line. Elite desk agents are perfectly capable of protecting you on other flights, making same-day changes, and other things to keep your trip going smoothly.

AS, in contrast, does neither. Your only option is to visit a ticketing agent. Ever try calling the Gold desk during IRROPS? They are powerless. They don't have access to airport systems and can't do anything except tell you what flights may still have seats for sale, but they can't make any changes without charging you the fare differential.

AS makes it impossible to avoid waiting in long lines at the customer service desks (and makes it worse by not having an elite lane at the post-security customer service desks--when they're even staffed).

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When something goes awry, it seems like a lot of people instinctively queue up in the ticket counter line because it's all they know how to do. If I can solve my issue using an automated kiosk or the airline's website, I feel much more empowered waiting in a long line...

The way I see it, their big strength is not their legions of customer service agents, but their capability to handle rebookings due to IRROPs automatically. Empowering customers to take care of their own issues without needing an employees full attention makes the whole operation more efficient for everyone.

^^

The Delta Nervous System handles IRROPS rebookings automatically. All you have to do is scan your BP at one of the automated machines, and it'll spit out a new BP and even meal vouchers (if applicable). If you don't like what the automated system suggested, you can go to delta.com and see a ton of options. Delta makes it easy to do yourself.

United isn't automated (although they claim to be working on something like that), but a call to the elite phone line can take care of pretty much any issue without requiring you to stand in the long line. Elite desk agents are perfectly capable of protecting you on other flights, making same-day changes, and other things to keep your trip going smoothly.

AS, in contrast, does neither. Your only option is to visit a ticketing agent. Ever try calling the Gold desk during IRROPS? They are powerless. They don't have access to airport systems and can't do anything except tell you what flights may still have seats for sale, but they can't make any changes without charging you the fare differential.

AS makes it impossible to avoid waiting in long lines at the customer service desks (and makes it worse by not having an elite lane at the post-security customer service desks--when they're even staffed).

Nor can one make ticket changes in the Boardroom unlike competitors lounges :(

Won't be self tagging again anytime soon. One person handling the self-tagged bag drop and the line was painfully slow.

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Won't be self tagging again anytime soon. One person handling the self-tagged bag drop and the line was painfully slow.

Where is it? Didn't see it on Wed...

Where is it? Didn't see it on Wed...

Far left side --- where the old "Horizon only" kiosks were (or where I perceived them as being).

More details on Self Bag Tagging (Alaska calls this "Streamline") are now available online. Evidently you can print at home if you're going from Seattle Hawaii, or at a kiosk if you're departing from SEA or SAN to anywhere.

http://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/before-your-trip/self-tag-online.aspx

•Select the Streamline Self Tag option during Web Check-In
•Print and fold your bag tags.
•Bring your printed bag tags to the airport. We will have re-usable bag-tag holders available for you at the Streamline Self Tag Bag Drop.
•Attach the tag holder to your luggage.
•Fold and insert your bag tag into the holder and attach it to your bag.
•Drop your bags* at the Streamline Self Tag Bag Drop at Sea-Tac Airport

This sounds like an awful lot of work just to avoid talking to a human. Print the tags out at home or the office. Bring them with you to the airport. Find the bag tag holders. Put the bag tags in the bag tag holders. Put the bag tag holders on the bags. Then just drop your bags!

If AS distributes some holders to elites, I could maybe see doing this at home. But I don't really check bags often so I'm not sure I will see much advantage.

"There are two kinds of bags: carry-on and lost," Peter Greenberg, travel journalist and editor for NBC's Today Show, said about checking his luggage with airlines. Instead, Greenberg ships his luggage before he leaves and finds his bags safely inside his hotel room when he gets to his destination. "It's not about cost. It's about value," he said. "I save two and a half hours of my life every time I fly."