News

Austin is first U.S. city to let fliers tag own bags

March 10, 2011

American Airlines announced today that it's the first U.S. airline to allow passengers to check their own bags. According to USA Today, the airline's six-month trial program in Austin, Texas, includes nine self-service kiosks with tag-printing capabilities.

While self-tagging is common at airports in many countries, including Canada, only airline agents have been allowed to do it in the United States.

After printing their tags from kiosks, passengers may place the tags on their luggage without agent supervision. However, they must still see an agent, who checks IDs, scans the tags for validation and sets bags on a conveyor belt.

Agents scan the tags that each contain a bar code and the destination airport code as bags go through the screening process.

The Transportation Security Administration has also approved a similar trial for Alaska Airlines and Air Canada, according to the International Air Transport Association, an airline trade group.

"It is one of the areas in the travel process that our customers have been asking us to streamline and provide them with better controls," said Craig Richey, American Airlines Austin general manager. "Our agents remain available for customers opting not to use self-tag."

Richey said the airline chose Austin as the trial site because of its "open layout and efficient passenger flow."