The effect of passenger-baggage arrival correlation on reclaim performance

Baggage reclaim processes have barely changed for decades, even though there have been many innovations in systems and processes for outbound baggage. Airport developers are increasingly asking if innovations in the baggage arrivals process are possible and whether they will deliver benefits in terms of either better utilisation of space or better passenger experience. Furthermore, the introduction of E-gates for immigration can lead to passengers reaching baggage reclaim more quickly which starts to expose limitations in the current arrivals baggage process. In this paper, analytical and discrete event simulation models of the arrivals process are developed. The analytical results offer useful “rules of thumb†when considering the sizing and performance of reclaim facilities and processes, while the discrete event model allows a wider range of scenarios to be modelled than can be handled analytically. The impact of the degree of correlation between the passenger and baggage arrival times at reclaim is investigated since this has a material effect on passenger waiting times. The impact of the degree of correlation on waiting times should therefore be considered when modelling the reclaim process. We find that a seat-order loading and unloading approach for bags can offer material reductions in passenger waiting times at reclaim, can be operationally plausible and does not require major changes to equipment or capital expenditure.