British Airways believes the automated baggage system at Terminal 5 will end the nightmare of mislaid luggage.
Rather than place your bag on a belt at check-in, luggage goes into a lift and is lowered to the luggage system. That should cut delays from belt breakdowns, but the real difference lies elsewhere, in the system’s use of technology.
If that rings alarm bells, the process consists of two parallel systems with the same information on both in case one fails. The theory is it would take a catastrophic failure to cause a breakdown.
“The baggage system is integral to the running of the terminal,” says a BA spokesman. “The old terminals at Heathrow had bag systems installed. This terminal has been built around the bag system.”
Bags will be tagged electronically and dispatched, stored, retrieved or given priority automatically.
“If a bag is late now it gets spat out and needs manual intervention to ensure it is on the flight,” says BA. “The new system will read the electronic tags, recognise the time and rush through late-running bags.”
Bags checked in early will automatically be transferred to a store and picked out at the right time. Late bags will by-pass the system and go straight to the stand.
The system is not new – similar versions are already in operation at Amsterdam Schiphol and Toronto airports – and BA and airport operator BAA have been testing it for more than a year, with thousands of bags loaded and unloaded every day.
Baggage reclaim should also be slicker. Screens will indicate the time the first bag from a flight should be on the carousel along with the time of the last bag.
Heathrow Terminal 5 pictures
