What happens to your check-in luggage at the airport ???

Hi all,

Have you ever wondered how do the airlines make sure that every bag makes it into right plane ? After multiple layers of security scan !...In this post I will explain how it is done

The most important thing that baggage handlers need is INFORMATION; They find it in a remarkable piece of technology- "The humble Baggage Tag"..So the bar code has all your important information (regarding your travel,not personal info 😺) like PNR,Sequence and some airline related stuffs...And most importantly it has your destination city code,which will be in three letter like DEL for Delhi,LHR for London Heathrow like that,So these bar-codes are very unique system picks up the details and sends the baggage through particular belts

When your bag gets checked in and goes down the conveyor belt, there are two ways the bags are sorted; 

1- By Automation :- Scanning of the label will track that bag and send it down the correct route to a loading bay designated for that flight.

2- Belt System  :- All the bags get sent down to one of the large carousels (like where you pick up your bag at the other end) and are sorted manuals by ground staff either into ULD's to be loaded onto the aircraft or onto baggage trailers to be taken out to the planes

Baggage handlers are trained to check the printed airport code on each bag as they load the bags into the aircraft. 

Once sorted they are transported over to the aircraft by ground crew. You have probably seen them trundling along in small trucks towing multiple trailers.

When your plane lands, its all pretty much the same in reverse. The stacker puts the bag on belt, workers at the bottom load up the trailers which then take the bags to a specific belt in the baggage hall, gently place the bags onto that belt which takes them up and your bag appears on the baggage reclaim carousel for you to pick up and begin the run to freedom out of the airport.

Note : All the bags which you check-in at the airport has to be scanned prior (Pre-scanning) or after dropping the bag(In-line screening)