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Express Bag Drop

mchan
Explorer A
Houston Hobby (HOU) is one of the next test cities for a new feature called Express Bag Drop.  Express Bag Drop allows Passengers who have already printed their boarding pass online to scan their boarding pass into a kiosk scanner.  The kiosk will then ask the Passenger how many bags they are checking.  After that, all the Passenger has to do is put their bag(s) on the scale, show the Customer Service Agent their I.D., and be on their way to the gate.  HOU still has the regular kiosk line as well as the full-service ticket counter line.  Oakland International Airport was the first to have the Express Bag Drop feature, and I hear wonderful comments about it.  I look forward to reading your comments about Express Bag Drop!!!!! 
8 Comments
joedal
Explorer A
Man this sounds so neat! It is great to see you guys allowing trust in your passengers and showing that you know that we're not as dumb as we think we are! Are there any plans to bring this to Love Field for testing? If so, I would love to utilize it. Since I generally only do weekend travel, I carry my bags on. But, there are times that I would much rather prefer to check my bag in, and having something like this would be great to have. How long are you guys looking at testing this new item, and would it be phased in or implemented all at once? I know it's a lot, but you guys really deserve as many comments for all of the things you guys do to try and make traveling easier in this post 9/11 era.

Joseph R. Meyers

Dallas, Texas

jwhitehurst
Explorer C
Fantastic, anything that makes getting to the gate quicker is OK in my book..
Anonymous424
Explorer C
How is this different from the regular manned kiosk checkin's (other than no boardin pass reprint option)?
Leah3
Adventurer B
That's a good idea! Maybe TUL will try this; I hope! :) By the way, I've decided to "retire" from the Blog. I've enjoyed posting/reading & I will always LUV SWA & fly it every chance I get; I will always LUV my friends who work for the Company in TUL, where I'm from, too. SWA LUV! 🙂
Laura_S_
Explorer C
How can I find out which cities have this feature? How else is this the same/different with checking in travel items with children? The feature seems like it makes more convinience for those who want to print online boarding passes but still check in a bag!
Anonymous3257
Explorer C
Great feature! Used it when I fly to Oakland from Houston Hobby and back over the long weekend. The lines weren't long at the counters but the express drop off is even faster and uses technology to provide an efficient yet still customer friendly process.
Anonymous4537
Explorer C
When are they planning to expand this service. I fly out of Tampa 2-3 times every year and always check in online. It is such a hassle to have to wait in line just to drop off your bags. I can't wait to see this at Tampa
Jason_Skidmore
Explorer C
They were doing this at Love Field on Friday when we checked into our flight. We were about to get into the normal line, but at the line entrance there was a SWA agent who mentioned the express bag drop off and pointed us over to some kiosks to print our boarding passes so we could use it. (We normally don't print our boarding passes at home) We printed our passes and came back and didn't have to wait AT ALL! The regular check-in line was probably a 5-10 minute wait but absolutely nobody was in the express drop off line. Dropped off our bags and were on our way. Makes me wonder why anyone was in the regular line. I assume that since it's so new, most people don't know what it is. If they did we probably wouldn't have been able to get through so fast. The representative still checks the weight, gives you claim tags and checks your IDs. It worked great for us because no one was using it, but I don't know how much time it would actually save once more customers start using it. I don't really see much of a long-term benefit unless it allows SWA to install additional kiosks due to a reduced cost, or perhaps it would require less employees to operate than the traditional ones. Short Term = Great Long Term = ????