My sister missed her connector flight earlier and is stuck in Detroit for the time being. I haven’t been able to talk to her about it, so I was just wondering about her luggage.
Do you normally pick up your luggage at the middle airport then check it for the next flight or is it automatic?
if not:
Does it continue on its way like normal or do they have some kinds of checks to see if the person actually makes the connector flight before loading that luggage on the 2nd plane?
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it depends sometimes…you never know whats going to happen.
If you miss the flight, then your luggage may go on. But in other instances, if you make a tight connection, your bags may not make it!
But if the athorities followed rules as strict as they think they do, no bag should go under the plane without its owning passenger on board.
The ‘Lockabie’ disaster happened when men checked a bag in filled with plastic explosives and did not boad the plane. But there bags still went under as the crewd did not know that the men failed to board the aircraft.
The plane exploded mid-air, the terroists on the ground, probably getting home from the airport.
It has become law since then that if the passenger is not on board and the bag is checked and in the aircraft, then that bag has to be un loaded.
But bags still end up at the destination well before the passenger!
Depends on the airport and the airline.
Some will have a system in place for loading it onto the same flight as your sister has been rebooked on, others will make her pick it up and check it in again.
It continues on its way. Happened to me once. Took me 2 days to get my luggage back.
Okay, this stuff happens everyday!!
First, why did she miss her connection? Was it becuase her first flight got to Detroit too late, or was it because she couldn’t get to the gate in time for that flight?? Those questions will determine what happens to her bags.
1.) If she got to Detroit too late and just straight missed the flight, then her bags along with her will be placed on the next available flight. The guys on the ramp know how many bags are on a particular flight that will need to transfer and to which flights. So they will know that her connecting flight had already departed. In this case, they will bring the bags over to the bag room and hold them there to be placed on the very next flight heading to your sister’s connecting city.
2.) If her plane made it to DTW on time, however, for whatever reason she didn’t make the connecting flight, then it’s very possible her bags went ahead of her. If that is the case, then her bags will be at her final destination waiting for her when she arrives, unless the airline makes a mistake and mis-loads it to another city. That also happens everyday!
Okay, as the answer above stated about checking to see if you’re on the plane, and then pulling your bags if you are not; well that doesn’t happen anymore.
The proper term for what he was talking about is PPBM, or Positive Passenger Bag Match. It used to be mandatory that all bags be pulled off of the plane if the passenger is not on the plane. Well that isn’t the case anymore UNLESS you are flying international. All domestic flights are not required to have the person in the plane if their bags are.
If this was the case, your sister would never get her bag because DTW couldn’t forward it on unless she was sitting above it.
Under normal conditions, when you arrive into your connecting city, the ground crew will unload your bags and put them into a connecting flight bag cart and drive them over to the connecting plane that your sister would be on. She wouldn’t have to claim her bags or anything as it would all be done for her.
I hope this clears things up a bit!