Qantas unveils chic new frequent flyer bag tags

Qantas will begin issuing complimentary luggage tags to millions of its frequent flyers next month, with the fashionable tags colour-coded to reflect a traveller’s status.

The new-look Qantas Luggage Tags replace the iconic Q Bag Tags launched in 2010, although they lack the RFID technology through which those palm-sized discs streamlined the process of checking luggage onto a flight.

That tech’s effectively been made redundant since Qantas introduced app-based luggage tracking across domestic and international Qantas flights.

In fact, these slim new luggage tags aren’t meant for checked luggage at all (although you can continue to use your existing Q Bag Tags for bag drop functionality on domestic flights).

The new-look Qantas luggage tags.

Qantas says most frequent flyers have been using the Q Bag Tags for carry-on luggage (which honestly serves only to flag or perhaps flaunt their status) so the new tags have been designed for hand luggage and cabin bags.

“The new luggage tags will help our teams to spot our valued members, recognise their continued loyalty and deliver that signature Qantas service,” a Qantas spokesperson tells Executive Traveller.

Each tag carries an aluminium button (which we admit has a passing resemblance to an Apple AirTag) is colour-coded to reflect a frequent flyer’s status – from red for entry-level Bronze members to Silver, Gold and a dusky colour for Platinum – with a more lustrous button for Platinum Ones and black for Chairman’s Lounge members.

The new-look Qantas luggage tags are colour-coded to reflect your frequent flyer status.

The straps are made from recycled materials, with most frequent flyers seeing black strap while Platinum One and Chairman’s Lounge members get a caramel-coloured strap.

Platinum One members will automatically receive their new luggage tags in the coming weeks.

Qantas says frequent flyers who attain or retain Gold, Platinum or Platinum One status will be offered the choice of a Qantas Luggage Tag or a ‘leaf’ to accelerate their progress towards Green Tier status.

Members who attain Silver status will likewise be offered the choice of a Qantas Luggage Tag or a Green Tier leaf, while Bronze members can purchase a red tag from Qantas for $20 or 3,480 Qantas Points.

Qantas has yet to advise if luggage tags will automatically be issued to frequent flyers holding lifetime Qantas status. 

The new-look Qantas luggage tag is intended for carry-on bags.

Q Bag Tags ‘ahead of the curve’

Qantas was initially well ahead of the high-tech baggage tracking curve with the 2010 launch of its RFID-enabled Q Bag Tags as part of the streamlined domestic Next Generation Check-in initiative.

Each Q Bag Tag contains an RFID chip which synchronises the traveller’s flight details with their baggage, and then lets the bag be tracked by Qantas using RFID scanners and a ‘baggage reconciliation system’.

Qantas launched its smart Q Bag Tag 'coasters' in 2010.

However, there was no way for travellers to access that system and receive assurance that their bags have been loaded onto the plane or are headed for the luggage belt.

By comparison, Qantas says its app-based luggage tracking lets passengers receive on-screen notifications on their smartphone

• after their luggage has been dropped off at check-in
• when the bag is ‘in transit’, having been scanned in the baggage loading area ahead of being transferred to your aircraft
• and upon arrival, when bags have been delivered to the carousel

The Qantas App now helps track your checked luggage.

That said, this is still very different to the real-time tracking provides by gizmos like Apple’s AirTags – instead, the process relies on each bag being physically scanned at the airport – and the ‘in transit’ stage doesn’t actually indicate the bag has been loaded onto your flight.

In fact, we suggest no airline bag-tracking app will replace the utility value of AirTag-style trackers, which deliver (mostly) accurate geo-positioning of a bag with live ‘real-time’ tracking and have become an increasingly common part of the modern traveller’s arsenal.