AS to Roll Out Electronic Bag Tags
 

Rollout of the electronic bag tag program will happen in several phases. The first phase will initially include 2,500 Alaska Airlines’ frequent fliers who will begin using the electronic bag tags in late 2022. Mileage Plan members will have the option to purchase the devices early next year.

Alaska Airlines to roll out electronic bag tags to save time (and paper) at the airport – GeekWire

Alaska Airlines becomes first U.S. airline to launch electronic bag tag program – Alaska Airlines News

Sounds like a solution in search of a problem.

Sounds like good old monetization to me. "Mileage Plan members will have the option to purchase the devices early next year. "

It looks like they've pulled the story back. I can't follow the link or get to the story from their main news page. Did you happen to grab a screenshot? I'd be curious to see what (if anything) changes from the first draft of the release.

Happy to have this if it's free. Not sure I would pay anything for it.

Here you go - multiple outlets picked it up:

https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/19/alaska-airlines-new-electronic-bag-tag-will-let-you-speed-through-the-airport-lobby/

https://www.geekwire.com/2022/alaska-airlines-to-roll-out-electronic-bag-tags-to-save-time-and-paper-at-the-airport/

Thanks. I do think it's weird that there's no sign of it on the AS News page anymore. For a few minutes it was still showing as a banner on the front page, with the link going to a page-not-found error. Then the banner got pulled.

Anyway... in regard to the tag. Interesting. It really rises and falls on the self-serve scale and drop-off counter. If that doesn't work well, then the value is diminished. Being able to skip the counter altogether would be nice.

Also, I'd rather have an app enhancement that shows me where my bag was last scanned. That could be an universal enhancement, unrelated to electronic tags. I don't want to say that such an enhancement would be "easy," but I think it probably would have been a better use of R&D dollars.

Guesses on cost? $5/tag? $10/tag? More?

The retail cost of the BAGTAG Flex tag is about $66. Airlines receive a quantity discount and AS could offer them at a price of its choosing.

And I'll get one at a price of my choosing, which will be £¥€$0

Well... I know what marginally-useful piece of tech I likely WON'T be buying next year.

(Now that I think of it, I guess my $5 or $10 guess was woefully inadequate. There's a lot of tech packed into that little package.)

Maybe AS gives them to MVPGs as a perk.

Airlines would be much better off using this technology to hang from the lanyards of UM travelers ... and pets in the cargo hold.

These are pretty cool and I'd definitely take them for free, but I wouldn't pay even a little bit for it.

Straight from the linked article:

Will they pay for replacements when the tag gets damaged/destroyed/ripped off the bag during travel?

Don’t competitors have had this for a while? Assuming they have the data in a database (which seems like a safe bet) it really shouldn’t require any R, just a few D dollars.

$70??? That's 3 baggage guarantee failures to offset the cost!