Does our luggage fly with us? Logistics at the airport

For people, the matter is simple: check-in (often online, before you even go to the airport), check-in of checked baggage, security check and possibly passport control. But what does it look like for our luggage?

We arrive at the airport with our suitcase, then go to the check-in desk. There, our bag is weighed. This is the moment of truth: have we managed to close within the limit set by the airline or not and will we face a surcharge? Will we pack a few souvenirs on the way back or will we have to fit them in our hand luggage? Then, covered with stickers, our suitcase disappears into a hole in the wall and we get a slip of paper with a barcode confirming it has been checked in.

We go to the control and, in the meantime, our suitcase, bag or backpack begins its journey. A journey that it will undertake with us, although in a completely different place and along different airport roads. A journey that will culminate in a meeting at the destination airport, although sometimes this does not work.

Does our luggage disappear into a black hole?

No, although it might seem that way when, after dispatching, it heads for a hole in the wall and there disappears from our sight. It will travel almost the entire route on conveyor belts. At London Heathrow Airport, the largest airport in Europe, they are almost 20 km long. Heathrow also boasts a 1.2 km-long underground tunnel for baggage only. It connects terminals T3 and T5. Suitcases glide through it at a speed of 700 m/min.

(Note: each airport has its own baggage transport system, more or less elaborate and automated; in this text we describe the general rules).

After disappearing behind the wall, our suitcase will go to the baggage room and security check. It is screened in the same way as hand luggage to make sure it does not contain prohibited items (more on these later). If the inspectors have any doubts, they scan it again, and if this does not dispel them, they call the owner to the baggage checkpoint.

The checked suitcase is on its way. It travels, automatically guided by the system on the basis of the barcode or RFID tag read from the sticker attached to it at check-in (which is why it is a good idea to tear off unnecessary stickers after each journey, so that the system does not accidentally direct our baggage to another aircraft). Finally, it arrives at the sorting area where all the baggage from our flight is collected. There, the ground staff scan them and transfer them to the trolleys in which they will go to the plane.

While passengers are already waiting at their gate to board, the luggage is loaded into the hold. Employees have little time to do this, as the aircraft on the tarmac usually only stands for half an hour, and it still has to be unloaded.

Although time is running out, suitcases and bags must be arranged in the hold according to the crew’s instructions. This is important because pilots calculate the machine’s centre of gravity and take-off weight before every take-off. This is because factors such as fuel consumption and the time it takes to take off and reach the correct altitude depend on it.

Once the aircraft has landed at the destination airport, the next team quickly sets about unpacking the hold. Bags and suitcases are taken to the terminal, put on another conveyor belt and then emerge at the baggage carousel, where passengers are already waiting for them. Well, unless they continue on their way – in which case, instead of being taken to the owner, they are directed to the next plane and set off again on a conveyor belt through the airport, to the plane.