We met with BagTag at the show last year (BagTag Wants to Add Tags to Bags…..). The company makes E Ink-based bag tags that can be attached to bags and updated using NFC or Bluetooth by smartphone apps, allowing the tag to be created and updated without the need for a paper label. The tags can be stuck onto a bag using tape (the same tape that is used for attaching GoPros to helmets, apparently) and since last year, the firm has developed the tag so that it can be fixed to a strap around a bag or screwed into a softer bag. The tags have a five year life, with two updates per day.
The company has been continuing to work with ‘a number of airlines’ and is ‘very close’ to going live – it will be the end of this month or early May. The company is in talks with a lot of airlines, but testing and approvals are “taking a very long time”. The company has its own SDK for airlines to use to add an updater to a smartphone app, and that allows the tag to be updated straight after check-in. It means that if the airport is correctly set up, all you have to do at the airport is scan the label and weigh the bag. Last year, the firm said it took 8 seconds to check in a bag that already has a tag.
Although last year BagTag told us that it expected that airlines might supply the tag free to frequent flyers and that it might cost €35 if sold directly, this year, it said that the likely costs is ‘more than €70’ and there was no strong sense that airlines want to buy them to give them away, so the firm is now looking more to selling to travellers.
BagTags at the show. Note, colours and logos are just for demo and don’t mean that the companies will adopt the tags. Image:Meko
