Alaska Airlines announced it is introducing E Ink-based electronic bag tags to make the entire baggage checking process at the airport a lot more hassle-free, TechCrunch reported. The airline stated there are going to be 2,500 of the e-bag tags that would be made available for free to its Mileage Plan elite members as of now. Eventually, all Mileage Plan members will receive the e-bag tags from 2023 onwards though they would be required to pay for the same.

Those who have the electronic bag tags will have to get their baggage deposited at the self-service bag drops present at the airport. Here the baggage is scanned and weighed automatically and the entire process has been made simple enough to take just about a few minutes only. Passengers will only have to check in on their phones as is the usual norm. Thereafter, they are required to hold the phone close enough to the electronic bag tags for the phone’s NFC chip to transfer the data to the e-tags. The same then gets displayed on the E Ink display of the e-tags in the form of a barcode, the sort of which that is present on a printed bag tag.

However, the good thing with the e-tags is that they don’t need a power source of their own for their operation. With the E Ink display on board, the phone delivers the requisite energy for the E Ink panel to display the bar code. The same remains on display for a long time, or until another set of information is transferred to it. The tag also comes with an RFID chip which the automated baggage systems rely on and is in operation in several airports already. Charu Jain, the senior VP of merchandising and innovation at Alaska Airlines the new electronic tags should make things easy for around 50 percent of its passengers who check in their bags regularly.

Such tags were already being tested by the airlines for the past few years though it is only now that the system has been made streamlined enough to make it operational. The authorities also took the time to enhance the tags itself. While the early prototypes came with integrated batteries, the current version does not need one. Also, the tags have been made from extremely tough plastic that makes it durable enough to withstand almost anything. That includes being run over by even jet bridge wheels as well. That makes them really long lasting and can help save paper usage significantly.

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