New DIY Luggage Tag Kiosks - American Airlines

Many airlines already offer this service at various airports. American is expanding the program based on positive feedback. It should help reduce some of the lines and wait time for frequent travelers, especially business travelers. There are kiosks for printing boarding passes but now you can save some time checking luggage. Read the article for more details as they will be expanding into St Louis next year:

Passenger self-service continues to expand as American Airlines rolls out self-baggage tagging at Orlando International Airport.

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Following a successful, service test in Austin Bergstrom International Airport earlier this year, American on Tuesday introduced do-it-yourself machines in Orlando, Fla. "due to overwhelming positive customer and employee feedback," says Paul Stumbo, American's managing director-customer contact planning.

In Austin, passengers were able to speed up check-in times by as much as 55 percent by using the machines, Stumbo said.

Passengers will still be able to have their bags checked and tagged by an agent if they don't choose the self-serve option.

Under the self-service option, passengers use kiosks to print checked baggage tags during the check-in process. Here's how it works:

• When checking in at a kiosk, customers input their number of checked bags, pay any necessary charges, print the bag tag(s) and place the tag(s) on their luggage.
• Customers then take their tagged bags to a designated agent to scan their boarding pass, verify IDs and take the bags for inspection and boarding.
• Fliers are then free to head to their departure gate.

American plans to launch self-tag at additional airports in 2013, including Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York JFK, Miami, Boston, San Francisco, St. Louis and San Francisco. Other upcoming airports are Chicago O'Hare International Airport and Washington Reagan National Airport.