TagForLife stays on the bag for life and is rewritten over the air for every flight. Check in from anywhere, drop and go, and follow your bag door to door. No printing, no re-tagging.
Every day, airlines print a paper tag, stick it to a bag and throw it away a few hours later. Then they do it again on the next flight. It’s one of the last single-use habits in a modern airport, and it quietly costs carbon, space and passenger patience.
Single-use waste
Hundreds of millions of paper bag tags are printed every year, used once, then binned. A visible, everyday obstacle to Net Zero commitments.
Queues and crowded halls
Because a tag has to be printed, passengers are anchored to desks and kiosks, creating queues at the busiest points and filling valuable floor space.
Little visibility
A barcode gives airlines only a handful of reads between check-in and the aircraft. Passengers get almost none.
How it works
From home to destination, without a queue
One tag stays on the bag for its whole life. Each trip, it simply rewrites itself.
Check in anywhere
At home, a hotel or a remote site, with the TagForLife app or your airline’s app.
Your tag updates itself
Flight details are written to the e-paper over Bluetooth. RFID and barcode are set for the journey.
Drop and go
Ultra-Wideband detects and identifies the bag as it arrives, for touchless bag drop in seconds.
Tracked door to door
Airport anchors and find-my tracker networks follow the bag. You see when it’s loaded on board.
Handled on arrival
Know when it reaches the carousel. Rush bags and re-flights are rewritten over the air.
The film
See a journey with TagForLife
Two minutes, from checking in at home to collecting the bag in New York.
Captions are built into the film, so it works with the sound off.
For airlines & airports
Built to move your KPIs
One durable device that cuts waste, frees up the terminal and gives everyone better visibility of every bag.
Less paper, lower environmental impact
One durable tag replaces a fresh paper tag on every flight, for years. Retiring single-use tags across a network is a simple, visible step towards Net Zero.
Space back in the terminal
When passengers check in at home, a hotel or a remote site, far fewer need a desk or kiosk. Shrink check-in and bag-drop footprints and redeploy the space for security, retail and experience.
Shorter queues
Off-airport check-in and touchless bag drop take the pressure off peak hours. UWB identifies the bag as it arrives, so drop-off takes seconds.
A superior passenger experience
Check in from home, drop and go, then head straight to security. The app confirms when the bag is loaded on board and, on arrival, when it will reach the carousel.
Home pickup & delivery made easy
A bag already tagged for its flight can be collected from the passenger’s door. One display can show a delivery address for a rush bag, and find-my tracking gives precise geo-location from collection to doorstep.
Fewer mishandled-bag headaches
Low-cost beacons spot a bag that missed its flight. A report is filed automatically (re-flight integration is being developed with SITA) and the tag is rewritten for the next flight. No re-tagging.
Bag data, shared the industry way
Bag locations flow to airlines and airports through IATA BIX messaging, and phone-based tracker networks can detect the tag worldwide.
No infrastructure change
The T-Code barcode, IATA RP 1740c RFID and standard Bluetooth® LE mean today’s scanners, baggage systems and departure control systems keep working.
Read first time
Why double‑sided matters
In a baggage system, the automated tag reader has to see the barcode, but a tag can land on the belt either way up. A single-sided electronic tag that lands face-down can’t be read, and that bag is sent to manual encoding.
Barcode on both faces in a “T” layout that mimics the paper tag, so it faces the scanner whichever way it lands.
Anti-reflective, chemically strengthened glass on both faces, so bag-hall lighting doesn’t wash out the barcode for the camera.
More bags read first time, fewer sent to manual encode, and fewer delays and mishandled bags.
Image stays with no power. E-paper holds the tag even if the battery runs flat.
Single-sided tagLands face-down
No read → manual encode
TagForLifeEither way up
Read first time
Technology
Every airport touchpoint, in one device
Optical, RFID, Bluetooth® LE and Ultra-Wideband, engineered into a rugged, rechargeable tag that is designed to fly.
Four e-paper displays
Two 2.7-inch displays on each side, written separately: bag tag barcode, flight details, airline branding or a courier address.
Displays
4 × 2.7″, two per side
Colours
Black, white, yellow, red
Resolution
264 × 176 px each
UHF RFID to IATA RP 1740c
A battery-assisted passive RFID tag, readable by airport RFID infrastructure. It only backscatters: there is no intentional transmitter.
Standard
IATA RP 1740c
Band
860–960 MHz
Type
Battery-assisted passive
Ultra-Wideband location
Ranging with TagForLife anchors locates a bag to about 30 cm, even on a moving conveyor: the basis for touchless bag drop and pin-point tracking in bag halls.
Accuracy
About 30 cm
Band
6.0–8.5 GHz
Bluetooth® LE 5.4
Links the tag to the app for check-in and display updates, talks to airport anchors and works with find-my tracker networks so the owner can locate the bag.
Band
2.4 GHz
App
iOS and Android
Secure by design
Every write to the tag (display image, bag weight, buzzer, unpair) is authenticated with a unique per-device key using HMAC-SHA256, with replay protection over an LE Secure Connections link. Firmware updates are signed.
Keys
Unique per device
Firmware
Signed, anti-rollback
Debug port
Locked in production
Designed to fly
A built-in accelerometer manages the radios: no Bluetooth or UWB transmissions from aircraft door close to arrival. The sealed battery is well below airline limits.
Battery
2.68 Wh Li-ion polymer
Airline limit
100 Wh
Charging
USB-C
Full technical specification
TagForLife technical specification
Physical
Size (in silicone skin)
117.5 × 87.4 × 14.9 mm; strap lug 56 × 16 mm
Weight
Target ≤ 120 g with skin
Enclosure
Polycarbonate base and lid, flame-rated (UL 94 V-1 or better) around the battery
Display window
Chemically strengthened, anti-reflective glass on both faces
Outer skin
2 mm silicone, no small detachable parts
Ingress protection
IP44 (IEC 60529) with skin fitted and USB-C port covered
Durability
Designed for 1.0 m drops onto concrete and baggage-conveyor impact; strap lug designed for ≥ 250 N pull
Displays & controls
Displays
4 × 2.7-inch black/white/yellow/red e-paper, 264 × 176 px, two per side; image persists with no power
Barcode
Bag tag barcode on both faces in a “T” layout for automated tag readers
User controls
Locate buzzer (30 s tone), SOS switch, red and green status LEDs, reset pinhole
Sensor
Accelerometer for motion wake-up and flight detection
IATA RP 1740c, battery-assisted passive tag, 860–960 MHz, backscatter only
Flight mode
No Bluetooth or UWB transmission from aircraft door close to arrival
RF exposure
Total available power below the EN 62479 low-power threshold (20 mW)
Power
Battery
Single-cell Li-ion polymer, 3.7 V, 2.68 Wh (≈ 725 mAh), sealed, with protection circuit (over-charge, over-discharge, over-current, short circuit)
Charging
USB-C, 5 V; charges only between 0 °C and 45 °C (charger and cable not supplied)
Security & privacy
Authentication
Unique per-device keys, no universal default passwords; all writes authenticated with HMAC-SHA256 and replay protection; LE Secure Connections bonding
Key storage
Protected key storage on the tag; hardware-backed iOS Keychain / Android Keystore on the phone
Firmware
Signed updates only, with anti-rollback, delivered over Bluetooth from the app
Privacy
No personal data readable in clear text; unwanted-tracking protections; factory reset clears pairing, keys and personal data
Design standards
Designed to EN 18031-1 and EN 18031-2 cybersecurity requirements and UK PSTI rules
Environment
Operating temperature
−20 °C to +60 °C
Charging temperature
0 °C to +45 °C
Storage
−20 °C to +45 °C at 30–60 % charge
Altitude
Designed to withstand 11.6 kPa (UN 38.3 T1)
Materials
Mercury-, BFR- and PVC-free; designed to RoHS and REACH
Specifications describe the production design (model TFL-EBT-01) and may change before release. Compliance information will be published on our compliance page.
Tracking & data sharing
Bag data, shared the industry way
Reads and locations from the tag reach the systems airlines and airports already use, through standards-based IATA messaging.
TagForLife tagBluetooth beaconing and UWB ranging
Anchor networkLow-cost beacons in bag halls and gateways
TagForLife cloudConsolidates reads, locations and bag events
IATA BIXStandards-based bag location messaging
Airlines & airportsLive notifications in departure control and operations systems
For travellers
Skip the queue. Drop & go.
TagForLife comes ready to travel, with everything you need to fix it to your bag and get going. Pair it with the app, check in, and your tag updates itself.
TagForLife electronic bag tagRechargeable via USB-C
Want one for your next trip? Register your interest and we’ll let you know as soon as TagForLife is available to buy.
About us
The baggage people behind TagForLife
TagForLife is designed in the UK by Shabstec, a team with over 25 years’ experience delivering products and services to the aviation industry. We help airports digitise and optimise baggage system performance, with cloud-based solutions that help clients deliver exceptional passenger service.
Baggage domain experts, delivering at some of the world’s busiest airports and airlines.
Standards-led, building on IATA and industry standards and working with SITA and IATA working groups.
In live trials, with UWB triangulation trials locating bags in a bag hall to 0.3 m.
FAQ
Electronic bag tags: your questions answered
What is an electronic bag tag?
An electronic bag tag (EBT) is a reusable, battery-powered tag that stays on your suitcase and shows the airline bag tag barcode on an e-paper display. Instead of printing a new paper tag for every flight, the tag is updated over Bluetooth from your phone when you check in.
How does the TagForLife electronic bag tag work?
Pair TagForLife with the TagForLife app or your airline’s app, check in from home, and the bag tag is written to the tag’s e-paper displays. At the airport you drop your bag and go. UHF RFID, Bluetooth LE and Ultra-Wideband let airports read, locate and track the bag along its journey.
Why is TagForLife double-sided?
A bag can land on the conveyor either way up. TagForLife shows the barcode on both sides, behind anti-reflective glass, so automated tag readers can read it first time and fewer bags are sent to manual encoding.
Is TagForLife safe to fly with?
Yes. It uses a sealed 2.68 Wh lithium-ion polymer battery, well below the 100 Wh airline limit, and its Bluetooth and Ultra-Wideband radios stop transmitting from aircraft door close until arrival.
Does TagForLife work with existing airport systems?
Yes. Its T-Code barcode works with today’s automated tag readers, its UHF RFID follows IATA RP 1740c, and bag location data is shared through IATA BIX messaging, so scanners, baggage handling systems and departure control systems keep working.
How do airlines and airports benefit from electronic bag tags?
Electronic bag tags remove single-use paper tags, cut check-in queues, free up space in check-in halls, improve read rates and give airlines and passengers better visibility of every bag, from home pickup to the carousel.
Can I buy a TagForLife electronic bag tag?
Online sales are coming soon. Register your interest using the enquiry form and we’ll let you know as soon as TagForLife is available to buy.
Get in touch
Let’s retire the paper tag. Together.
Talk to us about a proof of concept, from a single bag-hall UWB trial to a network-wide rollout. Or register your interest in buying a tag. We’ll reply within two working days.
