Checked Baggage Behind the Scenes: How Baggage Travels After Being Checked In

First, upon entering the airport, you need to take care of your checked baggage – find the check-in desk for your flight and hand it over. Once placed on the designated spot for baggage, it is weighed. If it exceeds the allowed weight, you will be asked to pay an additional fee or remove a few items. After scanning your ticket, a unique sticker with a barcode is generated, containing all the important information – destination, flight number, your first and last name.

Recently, self-delivery of luggage has become more and more common at many airports. Many airports have self-service stations where you can generate a luggage sticker, stick it on and put your luggage on the automatic belt yourself.

The self-directed suitcase journey starts with the conveyor belt

Once the luggage has moved, it is illuminated with special equipment. Cutting-edge technology is used to detect whether prohibited or dangerous items are being transported. Always check the list of prohibited items before departure. One of the most common items found to be unauthorised is an external rechargeable battery (power bank). It should be placed in your hand luggage. During the scanning process, the screener reviews the image on the screen and, if there are no suspicions, the baggage continues on the automated lane.

If there are any suspicions, your luggage is diverted to the hand check and can be opened for screening without your knowledge. The vast majority of checked-in baggage has no problems. Please note that it is recommended not to put expensive items, computers, bank cards, money, etc. in checked-in baggage.

The baggage conveyor belt system at the airport can stretch for several kilometres. All of this is located in areas invisible to passengers. Luggage moves along the conveyor belt past special sensors and scanners that read the barcode, and your suitcase is directed in the right direction. In most airports, this system is fully automated.

Once you arrive at the sorting centre, also known as the 'baggage room', staff sort your suitcases by flight. Airport staff scan the labels to make sure the suitcases are on the right plane for them. Luggage is loaded onto special conveyors that take it to the plane. Through the airport windows, at the departure gate, you can often see suitcases being carried and loaded onto the plane.

Most of the processes at airports are automated, but the loading of luggage onto the plane is done manually. Airport staff manually move each suitcase into the 'belly' of the plane - the baggage compartment. Depending on the flight and the number of passengers, this can be hundreds of suitcases weighing twenty kilograms or more.

Once the luggage is delivered, we forget about it for a while, it seems to disappear, but it continues its journey through the airport's well-organised, technology-based system. When the adventure is over, your suitcase is waiting for you at the baggage claim area in your country of arrival, ready to travel with you.

Lost luggage - why does it happen?

Sometimes it happens that luggage goes in the wrong direction at some stage. Sometimes it flies to another country, is delayed at the departure airport or even gets lost. This can happen for a number of reasons, including badly printed, illegible labels, gate changes, flight delays or technical system failures. However, such cases are quite rare and lost luggage is often returned to its owner within 24-48 hours. In the case of lost luggage, the incident must be registered with the ground handling company of the airline. When checking in, you will be asked to specify the characteristics of the baggage - size, colour, brand, special features. Tagoo experts therefore recommend that you have a photo of your suitcase on your phone and at least a rough idea of the size. Also create a special feature such as a sticker, tape, ribbon on the handle. It happens that suitcases with similar or even identical luggage from popular brands are picked up by other passengers, which they realise as soon as they leave the airport.

Tagoo wishes you pleasant flights!