I have said this before on here, an effective way to make us pax reduce the weight of baggage hauled around would be to weigh passengers and thier luggage at check in. Make it attactive by rebating "unused" allowance as frequent flyer miles - or carbon tax credits!

I'd also like to see have duty free ordering in the terminal with delivery at destination - which gives you something to collect while you wait for your luggage to show up!

I think the space saving is illusory - you shift the space needs from one area to another. The amount of space needed by a passenger pushing a trolley for the entire time up to boarding is rather greater than a passenger who only has cabin baggage. Shops would need to adapt as well - much lower density if everyone has trolleys.

And that's quite apart from the massive changes that would be needed to the premium lounges to fit everyone's checked baggage in.

Globes: "but the first security screening is bound to take much longer if pax are still attached to their checked baggage as well as their cabin baggage."

I was suggesting that ALL screening take place at the gate. Folks can carry what they want and get screened once and the hold/cabin split happens there and then.

The problems of adopting this way of handling bags would mean that it could only be done with a new build terminal. I can see that bag handling space would not all be saved.

Memetic: I agree! A fantastic idea to get credits for unused weight.

But Irish Steve was suggesting:-If hold baggage is not screened before the gate, then massive investment in gate-by-gate explosives screening for checked baggage would be needed, as opposed to the centralised machines available under the conventional system. Though I'm not sure how airports like TXL do it under current arrangements - maybe the juxtaposition of check-in desk and gate sin bin is slightly misleading in relation to the flow of checked baggage after it's been checked in.