Handling is the way how products are stored and protected all the way to the store. I wanted to know how it works with the luggage in an aircraft, so here is a short resume of the baggage handling in Amsterdam Schiphol.
In Amsterdam Schiphol more than 57.000 people work to take care of your baggage. More than 40.000.000 items of baggage are transported every year. 5 Different handling baggage companies work on about 120.000 items of baggage a day.
What has to happen with your baggage before it comes to in the plane or when you want to get it in the arrival hall?
Departing baggage
Before the departure, you have to check in. You can do that at the self-check in with your passport or at the check in desk. Then you have to drop your luggage at the drop-off point where an employee puts a label on it and the baggage goes into the baggage system. In the future, you will be able to do everything by yourself and you can place it on the baggage system yourself.
The barcode contains all the passenger’s details and during its journey, the barcode is scanned so that the baggage is going to the right place. In the future also this will be changed, the RFID chip, a chip that contains more information than the barcode will be used. It’s more durable and it can be tracked across the world and read under any conditions.
After the scanning, the Xray macines hold the baggage if they are suspicious. Know that your baggage always is scanned to be sure that you don’t travel with suspicious objects.
After that the baggage is going to a band that is reserved for every flight. The suitcase is placed on this band at the right moment, so that an employee can load it into a cart or container. After that the baggage is loaded in the aircraft on the platform.
Arrival baggage
When you arrive to your final destination, you want to be able to pick up your luggage as fast as possible, but what happens with it?
There are regulations in the airport that say that the baggage has to be on the baggage belt 25 to 40 minutes after arrival. This means everything is timed! The first thing that happens is directly everything is unloaded and is going to the ‘unloading dock’ in the basement. These unloading docks are connected with the baggage collection carrousels in the arrival hall, where you will arrive right on time to pick up your luggage. Sometimes you have to wait some minutes, but know that that’s because of all the different steps that are happening for your baggage to arrive. So remember while you are waiting for your turn at the passport control your baggage doesn’t stand still for a minute.
Transfer baggage
To end there are also the transfer flights. For intercontinental flights, the employees usually have about 15 minutes for the baggage to be in the second plane. For European flights, they have some more time, which is about 40 minutes.
In Schiphol this is almost a fully automated system. The baggage is first put into a cart or a container from the aircraft to the transfer unloading dock. There a scanner scans the barcode to transport the suitcase to the correct baggage hall. Each piece is transported on the ‘bag-track system’, which is a lot faster than the traditional handling system.
When the connecting flight is ready, the system transports the suitcase. At the end an employee scans the barcode again to be sure that the baggage is going to be on the right plane and to be sure that the passenger is on the plane, because we don’t want a suitcase traveling without passenger.
Now the transfer process if finished and the passenger maybe had a coffee or something to eat and didn’t have to stress about anything.
References
(2010). Bagage handling at Amsterdam Schiphol. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqejei5WNcw
Chege, G. (2014). How materials handling systems (MHS) enhances productivity in a logistic system. Retrieved from http://godfreychege.blogspot.com.es/2014/12/illustrations-how-materials-handling.html
Hasan, G. (2017). Storage and handling systems (palletized). Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/GaziSanaulHasan/storage-and-handling-systems-palletized
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