Baggage reclaim

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Baggage reclaim" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport

in 2002. The baggage carousels shown have since been replaced with more modern two-level units.

In airport terminals, a baggage reclaim area is an area where arriving passengers claim checked-in baggage after disembarking from an airline flight.^[1] The alternative term baggage claim is used at airports in the US and some other airports internationally.^[1] Similar systems are also used at train stations served by companies that offer checked bags, such as Amtrak in the United States.

Overview

A typical baggage claim area contains baggage carousels or conveyor systems that deliver checked baggage to the passenger. The baggage claim area generally contains the airline's customer service counter for claiming oversized baggage or reporting missing or damaged baggage.

Some airports require that passengers display their baggage receipt obtained at check-in so that it can be positively matched against the bag they are trying to remove from baggage reclaim. Many airports still recommend the baggage receipt is checked against the bag tag of the bag reclaimed. This serves two purposes: first, it reduces baggage theft, and second, it helps to prevent passengers from accidentally leaving the airport with another passenger's bag that bears resemblance to their own.

For international arrivals, the baggage reclaim area is a restricted area, after

facilities. This means that passengers continuing onto the U.S. from other cities must retrieve their checked baggage first, then re-check them in after clearing U.S. Customs.

Depending on the airport, the domestic baggage reclaims area may be located next to or shared with the international reclaim area, or sometimes located in the public part of the airport alongside car rental desks and airport exits, and only passengers at their final destination claim their bags here. In most large airports in the United States and in some small ones as well, the domestic baggage reclaims are located on a different floor than the ticket counter, usually lower.

Efficiency of baggage reclaim units

The efficiency of baggage reclaim units can be measured in a number of ways including the amount of time a unit is in use for a given flight or the amount of baggage a unit can hold.^[3] A number of factors can independently affect the efficiency of a particular unit:^[3]

• Aircraft seating capacity
• Proportion of passengers with checked luggage
• Proportion of passengers who are terminating at a given destination
• Average number of luggage pieces per passenger
• Average traveling party size
• Average number of people at baggage reclaim
• Average rate at which luggage are unloaded from the flight (this also depends on the physical properties of checked luggage)

See also

• Duty-free shop

References