Digital recreation of original bag tag identifier

1. A method comprising:

a) electronically acquiring, by at least one electronic acquiring device, an originating hardcopy bag tag identifier (OP-BTI) associated with or printed on a printed bag tag from a travel carrier that is on a luggage item of a passenger to create a digital BTI data record linked to the travel carrier;

b) accessing, by at least one processor, passenger return flight information from a computer system associated with the travel carrier, based on the BTI data record; and

c) printing, by a printing device, a return leg travel International Air Transport Association (IATA) bag tag for a return flight associated with the accessed passenger return flight information.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the OP-BTI associated with the travel carrier on the luggage item of the passenger is acquired from a radio-frequency communication.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the travel carrier is an airline carrier; and the electronically acquiring, by at least one electronic acquiring device, includes one of:

a) scanning, by a barcode scanner, the OP-BTI on a printed paper bag tag from the airline carrier that is attached to the luggage item;

b) scanning, by the barcode scanner, the OP-BTI on a printed marker from the airline carrier that is attached to the luggage item;

c) receiving, by a radio frequency identifier (RFID) reader, RFID information associated with the OP-BTI; or

d) receiving, by a near field communication (NFC) reader, an NFC signal associated with the OP-BTI.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the OP-BTI includes an IATA license plate.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the accessing, by the at least one processor, the passenger return flight information includes accessing a B-type message using the digital BTI data record, the B-type message containing a passenger name record (PNR) number.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the B-type message includes a baggage source message (BSM).

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of checking in, by the at least one processor, the passenger for the return flight with a return flight carrier.

8. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising, during the check in, the steps of:

obtaining boarding pass information for the return flight of the passenger; and

communicating, by the at least one processor, the boarding pass information to an electronic communication device of the passenger.

9. A method comprising:

a) electronically acquiring, by an electronic acquiring device, an originating hardcopy bag tag identifier (OP-BTI) printed on an originating printed bag tag from travel carrier that is on a luggage item of a passenger to create a digital BTI data record linked to the travel carrier;

b) accessing, by at least one processor, information of the originating printed bag tag of the passenger populated in a manifest file; and

c) printing, by a printing device, a return leg travel IATA bag tag for a return flight linked to the originating printed bag tag from information in the manifest file.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the travel carrier is an airline carrier; and the electronically acquiring, by the electronic acquiring device, includes one of:

a) scanning, by a barcode scanner, the OP-BTI on a printed paper bag tag from the airline carrier that is attached to the luggage item; or

b) scanning, by the barcode scanner, the OP-BTI on a printed marker from the airline carrier that is attached to the luggage item.

11. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the OP-BTI includes an IATA license plate.

12. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:

checking in, by the at least one processor, the passenger for the return flight with a return flight carrier.

13. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising, during the check in:

obtaining boarding pass information for the return flight of the passenger; and

communicating, by the at least one processor, the boarding pass information to an electronic communication device of the passenger.

14. A system comprising:

an acquiring device to electronically acquire an originating hardcopy bag tag identifier (OP-BTI) printed on an originating printed bag tag from a travel carrier that is on a luggage item of a passenger to create a digital BTI data record linked to the travel carrier;

at least one processor to access information of the originating printed bag tag of the passenger populated in a manifest file; and

a printing device to print a return leg travel IATA bag tag for a return flight linked to the originating printed bag tag.

15. The system according to claim 14 , wherein the travel carrier is an airline carrier; and the electronic acquiring device includes a barcode scanner to scan the OP-BTI.

16. The system according to claim 14 , wherein the OP-BTI includes an IATA license plate.

17. The system according to claim 14 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to check-in the passenger for the return flight with a return flight carrier.

18. The system according to claim 17 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured, during the check in, to:

obtain boarding pass information for the return flight of the passenger; and

communicate the boarding pass information to an electronic communication device of the passenger.

19. The system according to claim 14 , wherein the information accessed in the manifest file includes that for a cruise ship.

20. The system according to claim 14 , wherein the information accessed in the manifest file includes that for a lodging entity.

21. A method comprising:

a) electronically acquiring, by an electronic acquiring device, an originating hardcopy bag tag identifier (OP-BTI) printed on an originating printed bag tag from an airline travel carrier that is on a luggage item of the passenger;

b) utilizing, by at least one processor, the OP-BTI as a unique identifier to query a database to retrieve return flight data; and

c) printing, by a printing device, a return leg travel IATA bag tag for a return flight from the retrieved return flight data.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the database is queried by at least a substring of integer characters comprising the OP-BTI.

23. The method of claim 21 , wherein the database is a travel information system of the airline travel carrier.

24. The method of claim 21 , wherein the return leg travel IATA bag tag includes a human readable character string.

25. The method of claim 21 , further comprising the step of formatting the return flight data to an IATA bag tag specification prior to printing.