What Exactly Happens When You Check a Bag

Video written by Amy Muller

[mrjc]

Every time I have to check a bag I feel afraid that it's the last time I'm going to see it

[Nalehw]

"Checking It Twice" is a _fantastic_ name for a Christmas movie about checked luggage.

[johnharris]

Here is a bit of travel advice, always remove old bag tags and bar codes off your luggage. If a scanner reads that old bar code, your luggage could end up somewhere else.

[NathanielLovinIsAwesome]

I’m shocked the Denver to Half as Town plane is a full sized plane with actual overhead space and Carrie didn’t have to valet check her bag to be picked up at the jet bridge/planeside

[teamcoltra]

I used to work on the ramp in Bethel, Alaska for Alaska Airlines. Our baggage claim's conveyer belt was about 10 feet on either side. This was a much less complicated system. We still somehow lost bags. :|

[majorhelmet]

You forgot the part where they yeet it as hard as possible several times

[Jupa]

When I was a kid, another kid told me the check bags go in a plane that flies right underneath my plane and we just fly together.
I kept this as fact for an embarrassingly long time 🙃

[Glowblue]

This is only 7 minutes long, so I can see why you left it out, but the security process that checked bags go through is kind of interesting. The conveyor belts go through CT scanners that are completely surrounded in lead other than the conveyor entry/exit points, which have lead (or similarly dense material) curtains over them. These completely protected x-ray scanners are called "Cabinet X-ray", and the ones at the checkpoints are similar. Sometimes they're even CT scanners too as opposed to plain 2-D x-ray. So far, I've seen the CT versions in checkpoints in Atlanta and Detroit. There may be others.

The CT scanners themselves are somewhat similar to medical ones, but the output energy is higher (since the density of luggage can be quite a bit higher than water/people). They're also usually in a hard-hat-only part of the airport, so the TSA hangs out in a security room full of computers and remote feeds where they look at all the scans. If one of them is suspicious, they hit a foot switch to pop the bag out, they physically inspect it, put an inspection notice inside, and send it on its way. Usually. If they hang on to it, you may be getting a visit from the cops when you land.

Source: Used to consult for a company that made these scanners. Weirdest thing I ever heard about go through them was a child that was still in a car seat. Needless to say, that 'bag' was pulled pretty quickly. The child was OK - I wasn't nearly as worried about the x-rays as I was about the conveyors themselves, which move pretty fast with no regard for living things that may be in them, because there aren't supposed to be!

[noimdirtydaniel]

Baggage consultant here. DCV hasn't been active at DEN since 2005. Bags are transported with tugs to the terminal where they are manually loaded onto the claim devices. Would be happy to provide more detailed information if you're interested.

[TS]

As an avowed Hallmark movie non-enjoyer I'm a little ashamed at the emotional swell I had for Chet and Carrie at the end. Maybe involving airport logistics in the B-plot was the secret all along.

[_lunartemis]

I remember "losing" a bag after flying into IAD. The airport didn't really lose it, they just sent it to baggage carousel 2 when our United Airlines app said that our bags would be in carousel 1.

[Copperyfoxx]

Many years ago while working at the toy store at our International Airport - I accidentally shut down a large part of an airline’s baggage conveyors.
The toy store had a little pond, for showing toys that “swim”. We drained and filled this pond every day. Well I was opening alone at 7am and it got busy immediately… the pond took a few minutes to fill and had no overflow drain… you can probably see where this is going. It over flowed. Oops. I didn’t think too much of it beyond the carpet that was wet around it.
A while later a maintenance person came over to tell me that the overflow caused a short circuit and the conveyors were down for at least one airline. I felt so awful and embarrassed, but looking back at it I was a teenager and it was an accident waiting to happen given they allowed a pond with no overflow drain to be installed directly over crucial electrical systems. 😂😅

[MrFrancisp]

PSA: Using a Bluetooth tag to track my luggages is one of the best use I've made of those! Even if they are not lost, just late! You don't have to anxiously wait for your luggages to (not) show up! You go to the the desk tell the person where your stuff is, she agree and done! Then you look back and there's 25 people on that queue...

[Estrius]

As a ramp agent at smaller airport, it's interesting to know how it works at a hub like DEN or MSP. We only deal with final arrivals and initial departures at my station, so it's pretty simple. And even on that weird off chance we had a transfer, it's not really going to be too complicated since that bag doesn't really have to go far lol

[brianbeach]

To be fair, airlines only upload bags to WorldTracer if the travel was international, or after three days of not being found. Airlines have their own internal systems that are compatible with WorldTracer, but only bags uploaded to WorldTracer will be seen by other airlines. Additionally, bag tags are 10 digits long, with the 2-4 digits being the airline’s code (016 for United), the first digit being the type of bag (domestic, international, valet, wheelchair/scooter/baby carrier), and the final 6 the individual bag.

[Patterrz]

The amount of times an airline as lost my luggage I just assumed they just roll some dice to decide if they put it on the plane or not

[walizeeshan]

2:23 give an applause for the track on the squares making them flip 180 degrees at the ends of the ellipse tracks.

[elementalturnip]

The funniest thing that ever ended up at that Unclaimed Baggage store is probably the actual Hoggle puppet used in Labyrinth. Apparently the Jim Henson Company lost it while doing press tours for the movie and it was later found by Unclaimed Baggage. The latex skin had been partially destroyed after sitting in a hot suitcase for ages so they tried to restore it, albeit somewhat unsuccessfully. To my knowledge, it's still on display in the store.

[JoaoPessoa]

Carrie needs to learn how the bags are supposed to go in the overhead bins so she's not shoving them in a way that takes up the space of two-three other bags

[kevincronk]

In my experience, what happens is they get sent to several countries you have never heard of before being finally lost for good and then the airline does everything they can not to refund you even for the value of your items, much less how much it sucks not having everything you need