Do you remove old airline bag tags or let check-in do it for you?

The Flight Detective

One of the unavoidable parts of air travel with luggage is having to get your bag tagged. Without one, your suitcase is not going anywhere, so it begs the question, what do you do with the old airline bag tags after the flight?

In addition to the tags around the handle, you can also sometimes get random barcode stickers added to the outside of your bag. Presumably these also help with the scanning process somewhere along the line.

Old Airline Bag Tags

Occasionally at an airport, I’ll see someone pulling along a bag absolutely festooned with the little barcode stickers. I’ve always been of the firm believe these should be removed after flight, just in case they interfere with tracking.

I’m the same when I arrive at my destination with the old airline bag tags. While they are usually stuck on very tightly, with a bit of wiggling they come free and I throw them in a nearby rubbish bin. There’s no need to keep them.

I recently came across a forum post online about this. The person in question was affronted when check-in said, “it wasn’t their job to remove the baggage tag from the previous flight from the suitcase (and) that they wouldn’t put it in the bin for me and I’d have to go find one”.

Quite frankly, I am team check-in agent on this one. You should be arriving at the airport with the bag cleared of all tags and ready for a new one. Expecting someone else to clean up your mess is a bit rich!

Overall Thoughts

Quite frankly, I thought everyone removed the tags before going to the airport. I was astonished when I read that post where someone expected the check-in people to remove the old tags for them. The level of entitlement is off the scale on that one!

What is your take when it comes to old airline bag tags? Are you like me and remove them either at the airport or when you get home? Or are you like our friend on the forum post, who leaves them all on the bag for someone else to remove? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Ralf Roletschek via Wikimedia Commons.

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