Provided is a system and method of optical character recognition of a bag tag, the method including: a) obtaining, by at least one of at least one processor, image data representative of at least one image of printed passenger information associated with an airline travel carrier on an originating hardcopy bag tag or a printed instrument comprising at least a portion of the printed passenger information on the originating hardcopy bag tag to create a digital passenger information (DPI) data record linked to the airline travel carrier, wherein the originating hardcopy bag tag is issued for a luggage item of a passenger, and wherein the DPI data record comprises an International Air Transport Association (IATA) license plate number, a passenger name record (PNR) number, an airline code, an airline name, a name of the passenger, or any combination thereof; b) accessing, by at least one of the at least one processor, passenger return flight information from a computer system associated with the airline travel carrier, based on the DPI data record; and c) printing, by a printing device, a return leg travel IATA bag tag for a return flight associated with the passenger return flight information.