AsiaTraveler

Has anyone used the print your bag tag at home program recently? I'm wondering what happens at the airport for drop off and I can't seem to find recent experiences with this. Thanks!

chrisl137

I did it a few weeks ago, and I'm not really seeing the advantage vs the airport.

You print the tag at home, fold and insert it in the plastic holder, and go to the airport. At the airport you go to the bag drop line where you still have to do the ID and I think BP as if you're checking a bag and they're printing it. It was at BUR, so it's not like there's ever much a of a line at check-in anyway. Maybe at a busier airport there will be people checking in for multiple flights and a long line at regular check-in and a short one at bag drop.

ETA: I realized I've done it recently at both BUR and LAX and it was about the same at both, but not much faster than if they print the tag.

pdx1M

It works well particularly at stations where the kiosks are not directly en route to the bag drop and you have bulky bags to maneuver (PDX is an example). I do wish they would honor 1st class bookings at the bag drop so you don't wind up in line when the drop does back up. What is whacky is that some stations seem to feel obligated to draw lines on the bag tag itself (e.g., KOA). This has them opening the plastic folder (which is designed to be hard to open so it stays closed once sealed) pulling the paper part way out, scrawling a line or 2 on it and then putting it all back together. That act takes longer than just printing a new tag on which they can directly doodle (they still seem to want to do that). I have no idea what the lines on the tag is supposed to accomplish. It's like TSA writing on paper passes while (thankfully) not feeling the need to autograph your phone screen.

ctporter

But it is better than having the stripe on the tag holder itself, I have several with red sharpie lines on the holder. It does not wipe off

pdx1M

Ouch! That really is the equivalent of TSA writing on the phone screen (though at least cheaper). Wish I knew what they thought that scrawl was accomplishing/

pcoll

Dalo

ctporter isopropyl alcohol will usually remove sharpie ink . To all , I've worked on baggage conveyers , anything that sticks out will get ripped off . Zipper pulls , luggage name tags , those dinky padlocks pile up all through the non public conveyer areas . I can't avoid zipper pulls but I do not attach padlocks ,ribbons , name tags to my luggage . So far,so good

channa

I suppose if you were going to cut it close and there was no bag drop line, it could make sense to use the home tag. But ordinarily I don't see the point.

SFO a couple weeks ago was not letting people with self tag or home tag bags use the F/Elite line to drop bags even if they were in F or an Elite. I'd never had a problem with this before.

The bag drop line was very long and since the F/Elite line was much shorter, after getting scolded and being told to go to the bag drop line despite being both F and Elite, I took off my tag and told the agent that I'll be doing a full-service checkin instead. She was literally speechless. I had them generate a new tag at the counter. It was much quicker than standing in the bag drop line.

beckoa

I haven't done this since AS got rid of the mileage bonus.

I don't see the point using my ink and paper.

Maybe if there was an F/Elite dropoff line I'd be tempted, but too often the line is rather long. Sure it should go fast, but I'd rather go over to the F/MVPG line myself.

AsiaTraveler

Thank you for all the helpful feedback, folks! I have no idea what the bag drop lines are like in STL & GEG, so I won't count on it saving me any time if i do it.

ctporter

Often at GEG an agent will come out to the people standing in line and if it is tagged will scan it on an iPad, and let you go without having to wait. At other stations they ask you to drop the bag once it has been scanned on a belt for TSA or take it to a TSA screening conveyor. This happens with both the self printed tags at home in the plastic holder and the ones you have printed at the kiosk, it does not matter which so, I'd go with the tags from the kiosk.

pfpdx

Way to call the bluff. I would do that too, much to my wife's chagrin.

pfpdx

I tried print at home once. Didn't really save any time (and have to hook up my printer). Still at the mercy of bag drop line. Now that I have MVP for the moment I make a game time decision, no bag drop line? I'll print them myself. Bag drop line and short MVP line? MVP check in it is.

In my experience printing the tags is never the choke point, it is the dropping of the bags.

Now if they ever do a wider rollout of the e-ink tags, i'd be game for that. https://blog.alaskaair.com/alaska-ai...onic-bag-tags/

chrisl137

I would think just about anybody would do that - they shouldn't have been surprised.

beckoa

I'd like what QF has