In the “old days”, check in would consist of issuing of a Boarding Pass and Luggage Tags. Increasingly boarding passes are printed at home or available on a mobile phone.

Air New Zealand have allowed passengers to print their bag tags while checkig in. Qantas do the same.

Now Spanish airline Iberia lets customers print their own baggage tags at home. This occurs when checking-in online at iberia.com . Using a single sheet of A4 paper for each tag, you fold it into quarters and place it in a reusable plastic envelopes. These envelopes are to be found at all Spanish airports. According to Iberia, the reading of the tags proved to be 100 per cent reliable, regardless of the printer, paper, or ink colour used.

Called MyBagTag , the programme began last week on Iberia, Iberia Express, and Air Nostrum point-to-point flights to/from any Sppanish domestic destination. It will then go international.

This system was tested over several months at Madrid, Malaga, Palma de Majorca, Barcelona, and Alicante airports.