Alaska Air Debuts Self-Tagged Bags with a Bonus

Alaska Airlines has a new idea for checking bags. And it’s offering bonus miles to flyers willing to try it out.

The new idea: Tag your bag at home. According to the airline:

We’ve taken a whole step out of your check-in process by giving you the option to tag your own bag before you get to the airport and drop it off with one of our Customer Service Agents at a Bag Drop location.

It’s simple, just check in online at alaskaair.com, print out your bag tag(s) at home before you leave for the airport, then attach it to your bag and leave it with us at the Self-Tag Express bag drop area in the ticketing lobby.

We even have reusable bag tag holder for you to use. You can have some mailed to you ahead of time, or just pick them up at the airport.

The online self-tag option is available for departures from most airports served by Alaska, with the rest “coming soon.”

The bonus: 1,000 Mileage Plan miles for each web check-in that includes one or more self-tagged bags, up to a total of 5,000 bonus miles per account, through October 20.

Regular members of Alaska’s Mileage Plan program must pay to check bags ($25 for the first bag, and so on), so the bonus only makes sense if you already planned to check your bag through. Or if you’re an elite Mileage Plan member or a first-class passenger, in which case the checked-bag fee is waived.

Alaska received some well deserved positive press for its 20-minute bag-delivery guarantee. The self-tag option is a nice complement to that initiative and burnishes Alaska’s status as a small airline with big ideas.

Reader Reality Check

Will you self-tag your bags when flying on Alaska Air?

This article originally appeared on FrequentFlier.com.