Customers flying to New York on British Airways flights from London City Aiport can now tag their own bags.

For the first time anyone travelling on the airline’s business class double daily flights from the Docklands airport will benefit from the self-help technology.

London City was chosen as the second airport on British Airways’ global network to offer its customers the baggage technology which went live on European flights in March. It was first launched at Gatwick Airport in October.

Now customers on the airport’s only long haul flights can print and attach tags to their own bags at a self-service kiosk and deposit them at a bag drop desk.

It means customers can literally go from kerbside to airside, even with checked-in bags, in 20 minutes thanks to technology which was designed specifically for British Airways.

The IT strategy at both London City and Gatwick airports follows the ‘Fast Travel’ initiative, which is part of the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Simplifying the Business Programme, and involves introducing automated and self-service capabilities into an airport to simplify and speed up the passenger experience. In recognition of British Airways investment in new technology at Gatwick, IATA was awarded the airline a ‘Gold’ award in October.