Getting your baggage off the belt.
Getting your baggage off the belt.
At a small airport recently a 767 load and a U shaped belt with a crowd at least 3 deep all the way round. I chose to hang back out of the crowd but then my bag appeared. I was at the top of the U so I had maybe 10 seconds to get to the edge of the belt. I said "excuse me" and nobody moved so I repeated it and moved forward and, yes, I pushed my way through. I did get to the bag but I pissed at least one person off in doing so because as I wheeled the bag back out he put his foot out to stop me.
I suppose I could have simply waited until the crowd thinned. Or I could have positioned myself further round the belt so I had more time to work my way through the crowd. I wasn't in a rush - no onward connections.
What's your strategy?
Given the length of the belt and the size of the load is there anything you've seen at other airports to help the situation?
I suppose I could have simply waited until the crowd thinned. Or I could have positioned myself further round the belt so I had more time to work my way through the crowd. I wasn't in a rush - no onward connections.
What's your strategy?
Given the length of the belt and the size of the load is there anything you've seen at other airports to help the situation?
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I feel for you there mate.
My limit is two "Excuse me" requests. The second one in a loud voice just in case the people didn't hear me the first time. After that, I'm more than happy to barge through the crowd.
If he can't see what you're so obviously trying to do and accommodate you, then too bad for him. I've extremely little patience for people like this.
I've never had the balls, but I've heard that a very loud "I'm about to be sick" can gain one valuable personal space.
I said "excuse me" and nobody moved so I repeated it and moved forward and, yes, I pushed my way through.
I did get to the bag but I pissed at least one person off in doing so because as I wheeled the bag back out he put his foot out to stop me.
I've never had the balls, but I've heard that a very loud "I'm about to be sick" can gain one valuable personal space.
Paxing All Over The World
If I hear the 'sick call' I'll greet a fellow PPRuNer! 
With a checked bag:-
With a checked bag:-
- Take my time leaving the a/c. Often last off having a word with the folks who have been working.
- Stroll the corridors and pause on the travelators.
- If the carousel is still thronged, I always go to the extreme ends. At the emerging point you have to be fast but you save time. At the other end, you can see yours making it's way.
- Whilst waiting, I check the phone for messages, have a drink of water from the bottle in my handcase and chill. (Note: if at an Italian airport, take out a folding chair and read a book/sleep)
- If I have to elbow may way through? I do with Excuse Me's in whichever language I imagine is suitable!
Last edited by PAXboy; 8th Mar 2013 at 01:26.
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why people insist on standing so close to the baggage belt when there are clear guide marks asking people to stay behind, which if they did we could all see all our of bags/items and retrieve them a lot more easily.
I have very little patience in these matter, one loud excuse me, if they don't move someone usually gets a wack with my always overweight bag as I swing it off the carousel... And last time I travelled it was 39kg.... So my bags don't come soft.... MOVE AWAY FROM THE BAGGAGE BELT!!!
I have very little patience in these matter, one loud excuse me, if they don't move someone usually gets a wack with my always overweight bag as I swing it off the carousel... And last time I travelled it was 39kg.... So my bags don't come soft.... MOVE AWAY FROM THE BAGGAGE BELT!!!
I like to get close to the belt so I can see my bag clearly when it arrives. This is due to the fact I have had my bag taken by someone else on two occasions, both at ALC, because some passengers don't actually know what their own bag looks like!
Paxboy - spot on!
If I've checked bags I don't even stand up until everybody else has got to the door.
Sitting there quietly I often get enquiring looks from people who undid their seat belts as soon as they think the aircraft has come to a final stop and throng the aisle in their desparate attempt to get off first.
Strangely, 9 times out of ten, when I get to the carousel, all of those people are standing there, still waiting.
If I've checked bags I don't even stand up until everybody else has got to the door.
Sitting there quietly I often get enquiring looks from people who undid their seat belts as soon as they think the aircraft has come to a final stop and throng the aisle in their desparate attempt to get off first.
Strangely, 9 times out of ten, when I get to the carousel, all of those people are standing there, still waiting.
Last edited by Captivep; 8th Mar 2013 at 15:00. Reason: spelling
Paxing All Over The World
Thanks Captivep. Yes, I enjoy reading my book a bit longer and looking out the window (99% of the time I'm in the window) and watch the world go by.
In the old days of biz travel with a carry on, or day trip with a brief case, I was off and out with the best of them but that was 10 and 20 years ago and I'm happy to let the young turks do that now.
In the old days of biz travel with a carry on, or day trip with a brief case, I was off and out with the best of them but that was 10 and 20 years ago and I'm happy to let the young turks do that now.
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This has been a pet peeve of mine since Pontius was a Pilot - just why do people do it ? It's a World Wide disease.
I often say in a loud voice - Why do these idiots stand so close ? Doesn't make me any friends, but what the Hell. When I do see my bag I cause as much disruption and Boadecia type flailing carnage as I can.
When I'm a Station Manager I'll arm the staff with Tasers to use against those who dare step less than about 8 ft. from the edge of the belt, and any that dare take a trolley anywhere near it !
Sheep have more sense.
Funny too, how everyone always seems to have identical looking luggage, that changes with the years. Was once the blue Globetrotter, then the great Samsonite Oyster, and now these mini-pantechnicans, wheeled monsters in an identical black canvas look. A bit of gaily coloured graffiti sprayed on the sides helps, after all it's a tool not a fashion statement, who cares what it looks like.
I used to wonder who trained the loaders to put them on the belt upside down, until recently, when I questioned a loader about this as he threw my bag from the X-ray machine on to the moving belt - deliberately upside down,
'cos of the wheels, he said, they roll off very easily now, better upside down with the wheels in the air.
Makes sense, so from now on I'll pack it upside down !
I often say in a loud voice - Why do these idiots stand so close ? Doesn't make me any friends, but what the Hell. When I do see my bag I cause as much disruption and Boadecia type flailing carnage as I can.
When I'm a Station Manager I'll arm the staff with Tasers to use against those who dare step less than about 8 ft. from the edge of the belt, and any that dare take a trolley anywhere near it !
Sheep have more sense.
Funny too, how everyone always seems to have identical looking luggage, that changes with the years. Was once the blue Globetrotter, then the great Samsonite Oyster, and now these mini-pantechnicans, wheeled monsters in an identical black canvas look. A bit of gaily coloured graffiti sprayed on the sides helps, after all it's a tool not a fashion statement, who cares what it looks like.
I used to wonder who trained the loaders to put them on the belt upside down, until recently, when I questioned a loader about this as he threw my bag from the X-ray machine on to the moving belt - deliberately upside down,
'cos of the wheels, he said, they roll off very easily now, better upside down with the wheels in the air.
Makes sense, so from now on I'll pack it upside down !
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If people stood a few ft away from the baggage belt, everyone could see their baggage clearly and there is no need to selfishly stand on too of the belt blocking other passengers view.
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Fly to Scandanvia and you will all be in Heaven I know I was.
Everyone stands at least a meter back in loose formation and when you spot your bag you move forward and retrieve it. If there is a coffin dodger going forward you grab thier bag for them and dump it on their cart and you get a smile and what I presume is thankyou in the local lingo. You reply with "nae bother love" in English and you get a "Thankyou young man" in reply and a load of locals nodding there head in an approving manner.
Compare that to the hell that is the domestic arrivals in Gatwick with a pishie belt that dumps the bags off at the other end with a couple of 737's and a couple of Q400's pax all fightng to get to it even though there is sod all chance of thier bags arriving for another 40 mins.
Everyone stands at least a meter back in loose formation and when you spot your bag you move forward and retrieve it. If there is a coffin dodger going forward you grab thier bag for them and dump it on their cart and you get a smile and what I presume is thankyou in the local lingo. You reply with "nae bother love" in English and you get a "Thankyou young man" in reply and a load of locals nodding there head in an approving manner.
Compare that to the hell that is the domestic arrivals in Gatwick with a pishie belt that dumps the bags off at the other end with a couple of 737's and a couple of Q400's pax all fightng to get to it even though there is sod all chance of thier bags arriving for another 40 mins.
Last edited by mad_jock; 13th Mar 2013 at 10:20.
Está servira para distraerle.
In the US these days, I'm afraid that by the time you get through immigration, which is no fault of the officials there, your bags will have long ago come up on the carousel and will have been taken off and dumped somewhere. I have no idea how long before the bags are carted off to a storage depot but if the queues at immigration get much longer, it'll happen. Last week at JFK at 16.30 landing, it took two hours to get through passport control. This is not that onerous but finding your bag in a depot somewhere would be.
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Someone above wrote that putting graffiti on the bag stops people from taking the wrong one, that's a great idea. I usually put some ribbon and/or coloured tape on my bags. Makes them easier to see, and less likely for someone else to pick them up by mistake.
As for the crowds, why fight them? Give it a few more minutes and then there's plenty of room and time to get your bags easily.
Trying to be first, or earliest, is like driving at 85 on the motorway, risking a ticket, instead of going 75. Over a half hour trip you save a whopping 3 and 1/2 minutes. If you really need to get there that fast, leave earlier.
As for the crowds, why fight them? Give it a few more minutes and then there's plenty of room and time to get your bags easily.
Trying to be first, or earliest, is like driving at 85 on the motorway, risking a ticket, instead of going 75. Over a half hour trip you save a whopping 3 and 1/2 minutes. If you really need to get there that fast, leave earlier.
Paxing All Over The World
Interesting point, Newforest2, but I can't say that it has. The most intensive questioning I ever had was coming back from a long weekend in Geneva (late 80s) with a girlfriend. We got stopped and when my passport revealed it was my birthday that weekend, he was convinced that we MUST have bought an EXPENSIVE watch that we were concealing. Naturally he did not believe me when I showed him the 20 year old watch that I had on - further proof that I MUST have bought a new one. I'm sure that many do conceal new watches.
Other than that, I can't think of more than one other peremptory 'stop'. So perhaps I just have the natural face of the genuine innocent ...
Other than that, I can't think of more than one other peremptory 'stop'. So perhaps I just have the natural face of the genuine innocent ...
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One gripe that my son pointed out to me when he visited from Oz flying into Manchester was that the luggage trolleys need a one pound coin. How many foreign tourists are going to have a one pound coin on them the moment they step off the aircraft?
The only times I flew into and out of Manchester, I was so under impressed that I've never been back. That was 1993, though.......Wasn't Manchester the one where the one time head of security had been sacked from a police force and convicted for fiddling expenses?
I do find it interesting that if you check in early at Heathrow flying out or flying in, using BA Club Class, they put 'Priority' labels on the bags. That means that they are usually amongst the last out.....Possibly understandable coming back where they use the usual incompetent handling agents such as Menzies, but not going out....
I do find it interesting that if you check in early at Heathrow flying out or flying in, using BA Club Class, they put 'Priority' labels on the bags. That means that they are usually amongst the last out.....Possibly understandable coming back where they use the usual incompetent handling agents such as Menzies, but not going out....
Last edited by radeng; 13th Mar 2013 at 22:56. Reason: spelling
cavortingcheetah:
Hmm. At SEA, the customs people like to watch the crowds around the baggage carousel. They walk around with the sniffer dogs and keep an eye out for anyone who might think twice about picking their bag up and leaving without it. As a result, there seems to be an extra effort to have the bags available when the PAX are there to pick them up.
In the US these days, I'm afraid that by the time you get through immigration, which is no fault of the officials there, your bags will have long ago come up on the carousel and will have been taken off and dumped somewhere.
My (least) favorite part of the checked bag scrum is when a large family is meeting one (1) arriving pax with one (1) checked bag - and everybody from little sis to grandpa (and the dog) line up shoulder-to-shoulder six inches from the baggage belt to make sure they grab it the first time around. There must be some sort of folk belief that bags that aren't plucked off the belt in the first revolution are fed to some sort of shredder and destroyed.
My strategy is to look for the part of the belt around the back, furthest from the exit, because there is usually no one there.
TWB
My strategy is to look for the part of the belt around the back, furthest from the exit, because there is usually no one there.
TWB