Originally Posted by
cordelli
Most airlines have the ability of mobile boarding passes, people can choose if they want to use their phone or whatever or print a paper one. They scan their phone at security and at the gate. So saying they will invest to make mobile boarding passes happen any time soon is just wrong, they have already invested the time and it is a reality on many airlines in many locations.
My bad with a typo there, I meant mobile baggage tags. Original post has been corrected.
Originally Posted by
cordelli
Luggage tags can never be paperless. They need to physically attach something to the bag so as it goes through the process the tag is read and it gets on the right plane and it's tracked. You don't need a copy of the tag on your device, as your device is not being checked.
I am not suggesting (or at least not meaning to) that baggage tags that are attached to bags are useless and should go away. I am talking about the reclaim stub.
Originally Posted by
cordelli
You get a claim check when you hand a bag to somebody to check it in. Any other way, printing them ahead or whatever is ripe for fraud the only way to make sure a bag was checked is to tag it and give the proper receipt when it's accepted.
What you are suggesting would require them to somehow get you the reclaim check on your phone after you drop off your bags, and before they close the door of your flight and the phone has to be shut off. That isn't something I think they will want to spend any time with at all given that it's no extra thing for them to print the reclaim check, it's just at the bottom of the luggage tag. I think you are proposing a solution to a problem that nobody else considers an issue.
Not necessarily. Unless I am mistaken, the information on a baggage tag (and its corresponding reclaim stub) is static. It does not change with time unless changes are made to the flight itself. So, in effect, an electronic copy of the tag can be generated as soon as the flight is booked.
The workflow that I am suggesting -- just to clear up any confusion -- is like this:
1. I book a flight
2. When it comes to checking in, I specify that I have baggage to check in and indicate number of bags.
3. I complete the check-in process, go to the app on my phone and download the boarding pass and the reclaim stub.
4. I show up at the airport with my bags, hand them over to the check-in desk agent who scans my mobile boarding pass and the reclaim stub.
5. He/she prints the hard copy to the baggage tag and affixes it/them to my bag(s)
6. Off I go to security, lounge, etc.
If printing stuff at the airport was never considered an issue, why did airlines start to allow people to print their own boarding passes at home? Why did they bring mobile apps with boarding passes functionality to the masses? While it may not be an "issue" per se, it is definitely added convenience and thus value. Speaking frankly, I am more likely to lose or forget the location of a small rectangle of paper than my phone.