AAdvance Bag Check

Fort Worth, TX-based American Airlines recently launched AAdvance Bag Check, a service that allows passengers to check bags and pick up boarding passes before heading to the airport, the article stated.

The bag check started last year for passengers on several cruise lines, according to research.

AAdvance Bag Check services is provided by Baggage Airline Guest Services, Inc., (BAGS), a hospitality firm based in Orlando, FL, literature states.

For a list of locations go to aa.com/aadvancebagcheck.

You can check your bags up to 24 hours early at a remote location, one expert states.

Convention and trade show attendees also can check their bags at participating hotels or convention centers, according to public relations materials.

American customers also can receive their boarding passes at the remote check-in sites and go directly to the security check point when they arrive at the airport, a website boasts.

The program is available at more than 34 locations including the Hyatt Regency in Dallas, according to a hotel manager.

The cost for the service ranges from $10-$20 per person, research reveals.

The newly created Transportation Security Administration eased restrictions requiring passengers to check their own baggage in early 2002, according to one report.

In March 2005 BAGS entrepreneur Craig Mateer announced “an aggressive growth strategy” for his fledgling baggage-handling business, said writer Bob Mervine.

Today Mateer says his privately held BAGS is doing thousands of transactions a year, writes Mervine.

Mateer, who founded the 500-employee company less than three years ago, said last year that he expects the addition of Walt Disney World’s hotel package business and several cruise lines will grow the number of transactions to three million to five million within a year, wrote Mervine.
The Disney service which kicked in May 5th last year “is a big deal,” Mateer told Mervine. “We already have commitments from several major cruise lines.”

Disney announced its complimentary “Magical Express” program in Dec. 2004 and was already testing it last year, reported Mervine.

“Disney officials won’t estimate the number of transactions it expects to provide,” he said. “Travel industry experts say Mateer’s business should resonate with an industry desperate to reduce operating costs.”

‘The hardware is on the ships,” Mateer said. “So wherever the ships go, the service goes.”