If the walls could talk, airports would have infinite stories to tell. But there's a silent traveler, almost always unnoticed because it's a common "face" to encounter, embarking on an adventure all its own once it's checked in. We're talking about your suitcase, which begins a mysterious journey from the check-in counter to the belly of the plane. Are you familiar with it?
Check-In:
Here's where the journey of your suitcase begins. With a unique barcode printed tag that contains information about the flight, destination, and passenger, it's entrusted to the care of the airline. Its destination? A remote point, perhaps on the other side of the world, perhaps just around the corner.
The Conveyor Belt:
After check-in, a new character comes into play: the Baggage Handling System (BHS), responsible for transporting and sorting checked baggage from check-in to arrival. This system consists of a network of conveyor belts, scanners, and sorting devices designed to transport and process luggage throughout the airport.
From the belt in fact, the suitcase joins a diverse procession of other passengers...the baggage. It travels along the conveyor belt from the drop-off area to the baggage sorting facility, it rolls back and forth, through tunnels and curves, in a maze of kilometers of belts that sort thousands of bags every hour, while patiently awaiting its turn for boarding. The conveyor belt is its first catwalk, where it's exposed to all eyes in an epic dance among bags of every shape and color.
And how important is the label:
Along the way on the conveyor belts, the suitcase passes through scanners that read the barcode on the luggage tag to determine its destination.
This is the first fundamental step. The label created at the check-in, in fact, contains your information and that unique barcode and numerical code that belongs solely to your bag. The barcode is crucial because it's scanned by a system that then separates the bags according to the flight, through a series of mostly automated routes. In case a bag isn't automatically scanned, it's promptly sent to an operator and scanned manually.
Under the laser beams:
The baggage is checked with X-rays, just like the hand luggage during security checks. If a bag has something wrong, it's diverted to another path, and the staff can also manually inspect its contents.
A bit like in Willy Wonka's factory:
Once the baggage has passed the checks, it continues to travel through a whirl of belts, robotic arms, ramps, and carts until it reaches one of the sorting facilities, each corresponding to a flight.
The staff wait here for all bags to load them onto those trucks with trolleys that we see on the runway and transport them to the aircraft's hold. This entire process is monitored from a control room, where the staff ensures that the entire process runs smoothly.
Loading onto the Plane:
Upon arrival at the aircraft, baggage handlers load the suitcase into the cargo hold along with other checked luggage. Here, it's carefully placed among other bags, like pieces of an intricate puzzle, to distribute the weight appropriately. It's a moment of relative calm before the real adventure begins.The cargo hold is pressurized and temperature-controlled to ensure the safety of the luggage during the flight.
The Flight:
As passengers relax in their seats, some sleep, some eat, some read a good book—and often some try to calm down excited little ones on their first trip—our suitcase begins its journey in the darkness of the luggage compartment. Subjected to pressure and temperature changes, it travels through the clouds, unaware of the landscape passing outside.
Arrival:
Finally, the plane lands. The ground crew members, including baggage handlers and ramp agents, prepare to unload the luggage from the aircraft. They gather the necessary equipment such as conveyor belts, carts, and dollies to facilitate the unloading process.
The unloading process:
Once the aircraft is parked at the gate and the engines are shut off, ground crew members access the cargo hold through designated doors located on the underside of the aircraft. The suitcase, perhaps a bit askew and hopefully not too much, is unloaded and placed on the conveyor belts, carts, or dollies for transport to the terminal.
Sorting and Transfer to Baggage Claim:
As the luggage is unloaded, it is sorted based on its destination and flight number. Ground crew members may use handheld scanners or other devices to scan the baggage tags and ensure that each piece of luggage is correctly routed to the appropriate baggage claim area.
Reunion with your loved one:
As the passengers proceed to the baggage claim area to collect their luggage, your suitcase, typically delivered onto conveyor belts or carousels, completes its journey through the designated delivery belt. Here it can finally be identified and retrieved and it's the moment when it's reunited with its owner, eagerly awaiting it in the baggage claim area.
And so, the suitcase completes its journey, carrying with it the secrets and adventures of its transit through the airport. Boarded as dead weight, it emerges triumphant on the other side as your faithful travel companion, ready for new adventures.
Overall, the process is carefully coordinated and is highly automated, relying on advanced technology to efficiently handle and transport luggage throughout the airport. Baggage handling systems are designed to minimize handling and processing times while ensuring that each suitcase reaches its intended destination accurately and on time.
In a world of arrivals and departures, the suitcase remains a silent witness to human journeys, a tangible symbol of hope and adventure that continues to roll along the runways of airports worldwide.