Baggage handling and regulations
Baggage handling refers to the procedures and processes airlines use to manage passengers' luggage from check-in to arrival at their final destinations. This process is crucial for ensuring that baggage accompanies passengers on their flights and complies with safety and security regulations. When travelers check in, their bags receive computerized tags that contain essential information like the airline, flight number, and destination, allowing for efficient tracking throughout the journey.
The baggage handling process includes several steps, starting from check-in at curbside or airline counters to sorting and loading onto aircraft. Security measures play a significant role, with agents required to inquire about the contents and control of baggage to prevent safety risks. In the event of lost or misplaced bags, dedicated airline services assist passengers in reporting and tracking their belongings, with a high percentage of missing baggage typically located within 48 hours.
Airlines also have established baggage acceptance guidelines that dictate what items can be transported, how they should be packed, and the liability for potential loss or damage. These guidelines categorize items as acceptable, conditionally acceptable, or unacceptable, with strict regulations in place to ensure passenger safety. Different airlines have varying policies on the number and weight of checked and carry-on items, often charging fees for additional baggage. Understanding these regulations and procedures can enhance the travel experience by minimizing complications related to baggage.
Baggage handling and regulations
Definition: Airline procedures and processes for carrying passengers’ baggage from their points of departure to their final destinations.
Significance: Airline baggage handling procedures and regulations help to ensure that passengers’ baggage will accompany them on their flights and be at their destinations when they arrive. Airline procedures also ensure that all items accepted as baggage meet safety and security guidelines and regulations to protect passengers and airline personnel.
The Process
The baggage handling process begins when passengers present themselves to check in for their flights. Like passengers who receive seat assignments and boarding passes, baggage is also checked in. At baggage check-in, computerized destination tags are attached to each bag, and a claim check is given to the passenger. The baggage tag specifies the passenger’s airline, flight, connecting cities (if any), and final destination. Computerized tags may also display the passenger's name, date, time, and reservation information.
At some airports, passengers can have their baggage checked and tagged in either one of two places: at Skycap locations or airline counters. Skycaps are individuals stationed at curbside locations in front of airport terminals. They offer the convenience of immediate baggage checking, enabling passengers to proceed directly to their departure gate if they have pre-printed their boarding passes. Airlines also offer expedited baggage drop-off at counters inside the airport for passengers who have checked in and printed their own baggage tags at self-service kiosks before proceeding to the drop-off counter. Luggage drop-off and ticketing counters are often separated, making the process increasingly efficient. Curbside checking was banned at many airports for security reasons in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Airline ticket counters offer all baggage, passenger, boarding, and ticketing services.
Both skycaps and airline counter agents must follow certain precautions and procedures when checking baggage. For safety and security, they must ask all passengers whether anyone unknown to them has asked them to carry any items on their flight and whether any of the items with which they are traveling have been out of their immediate control since they were packed. To ensure that all of a passenger’s baggage arrives at its destination, skycaps and airline ticket counter agents use a procedure called “Ask, Tag, and Tell.” “Ask” reminds the skycap or agent to ask the passenger’s final destination and the number of bags being checked. Agents must also ask if a passenger’s checked bag contains lithium batteries due to fire risk. “Tag” reminds the skycap or agent to produce the correct number of tags to the correct destination and to affix the tags to the bags. “Tell” reminds the skycap or agent to tell the passenger how many bags have been checked to their final destination.
After the bags are checked and tagged, they are put on a baggage belt conveyor system. Bag belt systems transport bags from skycaps or airline counters to the baggage makeup area. Airline employees in a baggage makeup area sort baggage by flight numbers and destinations and place them into carts or other conveyor systems to transport the baggage to the aircraft. At the aircraft, baggage is further sorted for loading and unloading purposes. Bags going only to the aircraft’s destination are loaded in one section, usually called local baggage. Bags going to a connecting flight are loaded into another section, usually called connect bags. Messages are sent to the destination city after the plane takes off, telling where the different bags have been loaded. At this point, passengers who are frequent fliers of an airline or who utilize an airline’s app may get a notification that their bag has been loaded onto the plane.
Upon landing, the process is reversed. Local baggage is unloaded into specific carts or conveyor systems that transport it to the baggage makeup area. It is placed onto other conveyor systems that transport it to the baggage claim area. In baggage claim areas, passengers pick up their bags. Connect bags are unloaded into other specific carts or conveyor systems that transport them either to the baggage makeup area to be brought back to the connecting airplanes or directly to the connecting airplanes.
Missing or Lost Baggage
If a passenger’s bags do not arrive with the passenger or a bag arrives without a passenger, airline baggage service offices in baggage claim areas handle missing, lost, or found baggage reports. These reports document how many bags are missing or found, the tag and flight numbers from the claim checks, descriptions of the bags and their contents, and passenger contact information. This information is entered into bag tracing systems that are intelligent databases. These systems constantly search themselves to identify and match missing or found bags to the passengers who checked them. In 2023, airline carriers collectively reported a mishandled baggage rate of 0.58 percent, down from 0.64 percent in 2022. Further, most missing baggage is located and reunited with passengers within forty-eight hours. Still, in 2023, over 1.5 million passenger bags were lost, late, or damaged by airlines, a number that has increased in the 2020s. Some passengers have begun placing tracking devices within their baggage to ensure it can be located.
Baggage Acceptance Guidelines
Airlines have established baggage acceptance guidelines for the safety and security of an airline and its passengers. These guidelines concern themselves with baggage contents, how they are packed, and liability for damage or loss.
Baggage acceptance guidelines address what are known as acceptable, conditionally acceptable, and unacceptable articles. Acceptable articles are considered personal property necessary or appropriate for the passenger’s travel. Typical acceptable articles are clothes, shoes, and personal or business items. Airlines accept a liability of $3,800 per bag for damage or loss. Conditionally acceptable articles are those items considered irreplaceable, fragile, perishable, or improperly packed. Conditional acceptance also addresses the condition or quality of the receptacle containing a passenger’s contents. Any suitcase or box must be of reasonable durability, must stay closed or sealed, and must be able to withstand normal handling. Conditional acceptance limits the liability of an airline for damage or loss. Unacceptable articles are those considered hazardous to passengers or aircraft. At no time are they ever accepted for transport.
Other acceptance guidelines address airline and aircraft security. These include requirements that passengers cannot check a bag onto a flight for which they do not have a ticket and that bags may not be checked to a destination other than the passenger's. For most international flights, bags are not loaded until it is known that the passenger checking them has boarded the aircraft. There are also time requirements that specify how early or how late passengers may check their bags.
Other acceptance guidelines address how many, heavy, or large baggage may be. Each airline has its own guidelines for determining how much luggage a person can have under the aircraft and carried onto a plane. They also vary in their considerations of weight and size. Most airlines allow passengers one free checked bag, although some allow two. Others do not allow any free checked bags. All airlines charge for additional bags over what they allow. Additionally, most airlines allow one carry-on item with dimensions allowing it to fit in the overhead compartment, and one smaller personal item that can fit beneath the seat. Extra baggage charges, which may be significant, are incurred when baggage is overweight or oversized. Some exemptions allow for special items, such as wheelchairs or other devices a passenger may require.
Bibliography
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