How Baggage Tags Work

Next time you travel, take a moment to look at your baggage tags. They hold a wealth of information about your journey.

Here is a typical baggage tag. We have broken down the diverse elements included in the tag and how it is used.

Reconciliation Stub:

This stub includes the entire journey, passenger name, and a barcode matching the two larger barcodes on the tag. These stubs are often attached to your bag as a fallback if the main baggage tag gets detached.

Flight Numbers and Cities:

The tag displays the flight numbers and cities visited during the journey.

In this case, the bag transfers in Charlotte (CLT) and Heathrow (LHR) before arriving in Geneva (GVA). Cities are listed in order from bottom to top, allowing quick identification of the next destination. The topmost city is the final destination unless there are more than three cities, in which case a second tag, called a conjunction tag, is used.

Additional Information:

Though not visible in the picture, the top of the tag includes airline branding, the passenger's PNR (Passenger Name Record) for the journey, and the passenger’s name. The side of the tag includes the departure station and check-in time, found in the information area.

Airline and Baggage Number:

The airline (AA in this case) and a unique baggage number (493604 here) are displayed.

Barcodes:

These barcodes contain the baggage number, the airline’s baggage tag issuer code (BTIC), and the type of baggage tag. They provide critical information for tracking the bag:
-    Baggage Tag Type: 0, meaning an interline or online tag.
-    BTIC: 001 for American Airlines.
-    Bag ID: 493604

Some believe these barcodes contain detailed personal information, but they only represent a simple number. This number is an index into the digital world of baggage tracking, a topic for my next post.

This bag tag which seems so simple and is so commonly used is key to baggage handling! With just this label, handlers can determine which flights the bag should be loaded on, when it should be loaded, who the bag belongs to, and which airline issued the tag. If things go wrong, they can identify the owner and retrieve more information about the journey using the PNR.