I was just booking a flight from LAX-DCA on AA and unfortunately my times didn't match up for either of the non-stops and I was looking at some of the options I had for connections and had a couple non-hub connections offered (MCO, LAS, BDL). The other day I was going DCA-DFW-OKC and the inbound was late and I was going to miss my connection in DFW but could have made it going DCA-PNS-DFW-OKC which would've been inconvenient but I would've gotten to OKC.

Both these situations got me thinking about how ramp agents at these non-hubs know to be looking for connecting luggage when they're typically used to just taking everything straight to the baggage claim. Do they have a print out beforehand telling them there will be X amount of connecting bags or do the new scanners alert them when they scan it coming off the plane?

Appreciate the info!

OKCDCA wrote:

Both these situations got me thinking about how ramp agents at these non-hubs know to be looking for connecting luggage when they're typically used to just taking everything straight to the baggage claim. Do they have a print out beforehand telling them there will be X amount of connecting bags or do the new scanners alert them when they scan it coming off the plane?

I guess they just put everything on the baggage belt sorting system, and all bags are automatically sorted after that.

When you go through an outstation like PNS, there isn't a lot of bags, so once bag bags are downloaded, the ramp crew usually leaves the ones not going to baggage claim, on the concrete. if the plane is continuing on to the next hub. or on the tug so that it can taken to the aircraft right next door that is probably going to the other hub as the gates are not all that far.

But if you are able to pack everything you need in your carry on and not need a checked bag, then you don't need to worry about baggage transfers.

I am always amazed that I can fly an aircraft with 182 or 228 people on board going from major city to Orlando, and only have 30 checked bags in the cargo hold, everyone has elected to carry their baggage on, but there's still plenty of room in the overhead bins for lots more roll-aboard suitcases..

OKCDCA wrote:

Do they have a print out beforehand telling them there will be X amount of connecting bags or do the new scanners alert them when they scan it coming off the plane?

Bit of both. Some smaller cities don't use scanners, in that case the ramp can print an inbound transfer bag report, depending on the airlines software. Day one ramp training usually starts with "touch a bag read the tag", meaning every time you are physically handling a bag take a look at the tag to make sure its correct. In theory, this should help spot transfers. Additionally some airlines use special bag tags to make transfer bags more noticeable.

Woodreau wrote:

I am always amazed that I can fly an aircraft with 182 or 228 people on board going from major city to Orlando, and only have 30 checked bags in the cargo hold, everyone has elected to carry their baggage on, but there's still plenty of room in the overhead bins for lots more roll-aboard suitcases..

That amazes me too, because that's not my usual experience at all. Normally I find that the last 10 minutes of boarding is taken up by a very small number of passengers who are frantically playing tetris in the overheads, trying to squeeze their giant rollaboard into overheads that are entirely full. I just check mine, and it's been mishandled maybe 3 times in the last 20 years.

Generally, the lead will get a printout of what bags are where. Especially in a station where we have underline transfers. For example, you're flying SHV-DFW-SEA on AA with a connection on AS in SEA to EAT, the crew for the AA inbound will have been made aware that there are X amount of transfer bags and where they're located. Once aircraft arrives, the bags will be pulled from that location and either be dropped at the AS underline drop or if a tight connection, run to the departure gate.

If the aircraft happens to operate DCA-PNS-DFW, the bags will be notated on the inbound load sheet as "thru" and will remain onboard, but if it has to go to a different aircraft, the bag will show up as a transfer and will be ran to the departure gate.

Sancho99504 wrote:

Generally, the lead will get a printout of what bags are where. Especially in a station where we have underline transfers. For example, you're flying SHV-DFW-SEA on AA with a connection on AS in SEA to EAT, the crew for the AA inbound will have been made aware that there are X amount of transfer bags and where they're located. Once aircraft arrives, the bags will be pulled from that location and either be dropped at the AS underline drop or if a tight connection, run to the departure gate.

If the aircraft happens to operate DCA-PNS-DFW, the bags will be notated on the inbound load sheet as "thru" and will remain onboard, but if it has to go to a different aircraft, the bag will show up as a transfer and will be ran to the departure gate.

Thank you for the info. I remember talking with a WN ramper a couple years ago and he was telling me how transfers, bags going to the belt and bags staying on board going thru all had certain spots in the hold to make it easy and help with the turn times which makes complete sense.

Now I'm curious though... Hadn't really thought of transfers between airlines and using your example: 1) why would the AA crew loading bags in DFW care about putting the bags to AS in a special place because to them that flight is not going to another AA hub and the chances of connecting bags is slim to none and 2) would it be the crew chief for that flight at DFW who would be responsible for letting the crew know to be on the lookout for those bags and they need to placed separate from the local bags?

Crew chief gets a load sheet, the load sheet will tell you which bags to put where.
At a hub, with a flight going from hub to spoke, usually all of the bags will be local bags, meaning for a DFW-SEA flight, the SEA bags are local bags. The load sheet will say something like:
Bin 1: 35
Bin 2: 75
Bin 3: 125
Bin 4: 35

I've not worked for AA, so I can't say what their load sheets actually look like.

At DL, if you look at the tag, you'll notice that on the tag, next to the hub city, there will be either a number 1-6 or HOT in bold, each bag is grouped by the number, so it's easier to sort when it arrives at the hub.
Say you're on SMF-ATL, you'll see it like this:

Bin 1: 5, 6
Bin 2: 2, 3
Bin 3: 1, 4
Bin 4: HOT

That allows the transfer runners and local runner to know whether to show up to the front or rear bin before the aircraft arrives

Sancho99504 wrote:

Crew chief gets a load sheet, the load sheet will tell you which bags to put where.
At a hub, with a flight going from hub to spoke, usually all of the bags will be local bags, meaning for a DFW-SEA flight, the SEA bags are local bags. The load sheet will say something like:
Bin 1: 35
Bin 2: 75
Bin 3: 125
Bin 4: 35

I've not worked for AA, so I can't say what their load sheets actually look like.

At DL, if you look at the tag, you'll notice that on the tag, next to the hub city, there will be either a number 1-6 or HOT in bold, each bag is grouped by the number, so it's easier to sort when it arrives at the hub.
Say you're on SMF-ATL, you'll see it like this:

Bin 1: 5, 6
Bin 2: 2, 3
Bin 3: 1, 4
Bin 4: HOT

That allows the transfer runners and local runner to know whether to show up to the front or rear bin before the aircraft arrives

Very interesting. Thank you for the insight!

AA just, put bags randomly, and if it non rev/priority, they have non rev tags/priority and etc. AA agents unload bags see if, bag is being transfer and sets it the side for the person who runs bags. Person then picks it up, delivers it to whatever flight. Though obviously, they tried too keep priority bags in separate cart or load them last, so they are first on the belt.

VSMUT wrote:

OKCDCA wrote:

Both these situations got me thinking about how ramp agents at these non-hubs know to be looking for connecting luggage when they're typically used to just taking everything straight to the baggage claim. Do they have a print out beforehand telling them there will be X amount of connecting bags or do the new scanners alert them when they scan it coming off the plane?

I guess they just put everything on the baggage belt sorting system, and all bags are automatically sorted after that.

I think a lot of people would be surprised how many bags are sorted and run by hand in the States, even at larger hub airports. People who work at the hubs can speak to individual hubs, but there are some big stations that that sort virtually all transfer bags by hand.

Cubsrule wrote:

VSMUT wrote:

OKCDCA wrote:

Both these situations got me thinking about how ramp agents at these non-hubs know to be looking for connecting luggage when they're typically used to just taking everything straight to the baggage claim. Do they have a print out beforehand telling them there will be X amount of connecting bags or do the new scanners alert them when they scan it coming off the plane?

I guess they just put everything on the baggage belt sorting system, and all bags are automatically sorted after that.

I think a lot of people would be surprised how many bags are sorted and run by hand in the States, even at larger hub airports. People who work at the hubs can speak to individual hubs, but there are some big stations that that sort virtually all transfer bags by hand.

Interesting. Cargo handlers at Billund Airport in Denmark don't even have to lift the bags any more. They have some fancy new baggage carts that accept the bag straight from the belt, and in turn can deposit the bags directly onto the conveyor belts again without any manual labour.

https://vimeo.com/234278445