Iberia’s latest attempt at innovation: Print-at-home baggage tags

Iberia Airlines, the Spanish carrier better known for slowing air travel with winter strikes and dragging down profits at parent company IAG, launched a new service for printing baggage tags earlier this week.

The airline touts that it’s the first to allow passengers to print luggage tags before they get to the airport, but the launch is relatively simple in a time when flyers are looking for more digital solutions to speed up the flight process. The airline also confounded customers earlier this week when it launched five single-function apps, a decision we described as “fairly insane.”

The MyBagTag service is straight-forward: Flyers weigh their luggage at home and print the label. Upon arrival at the airport, they place the paper inside a plastic envelope and have the barcode scanned by an attendant at the fast bag-check counter.

The initiative comes as part of the airline’s Agora project, which aims to increase flight punctuality, improve the efficiency of ground operations, and upgrade customers’ airport experience. The improvements won Iberia’s Terminal 4 at Madrid-Barajas third place in Skytrax’s 2013 World Airports Awards.

The video below outlines the benefits of the print-at-home baggage tags for what appears to be a single mother and solo male traveler: