Ash666, spies have reported back. Not ideal but your Salzburg flight arrived "off schedule" - about 25 minutes early. On a Saturday night in winter there are not hoards of staff sitting around doing nothing as you and I pay for them in higher ticket prices if there are. So what might have been a simple case of the same team finishing the LHR departure at 2000-2005 (STD-10 to -5), then meeting the inbound INN schedule arrival 2005 followed by the SZG at 2020 went to pot. If it was your business and airlines were forcing you to reduce your margin - would you have one or two baggage crews at that time of night? Ironically, if your flight had been just 10 minutes late it looks like the bags would have been in the baggage hall at the same time as they actually were. Anyway, at least you did get away from the airport little more than 10 minutes later than you would have done had your flight been on time but I agree it is very frustrating whilst waiting in such circumstances as all you want to do is get home and 50 minutes can seem like an eternity. I travelled through Newcastle from Heathrow on Saturday evening and the bags were coming onto the belt as I passed through baggage arrivals and I was nowhere near the back of the aircraft. Having said that, it was the last arrival of the day so extra incentive for the loaders I guess to shift things quickly!