[AD] So, you’re strolling through the airport, drop your bags at the check-in desk and make your way to duty-free. Grab a giant-sized Toblerone (which might or might not make it back to your house) and walk down to your gate.
After waiting for a while, you can now board your flight. Now you’ve had time to recharge your batteries and luckily just in time as you’ve reached your destination, picked up your bags and there you go, ready for your adventure – easy, right?
Well… yes. It sounds like you’ve had a hassle-free journey to your destination, which is great! But have you ever thought about everything that goes on behind the scenes to ensure you have this effortless and trouble-free journey? If you’re interested to know what happens behind closed doors at an airport, continue reading.
At Aviation Spares & Repairs, we have been working within the aviation industry for over 30 years. Within this time, we’ve gained a great amount of knowledge about what happens behind the scene at airports, and that’s what we are going to share with you today.
You might be wondering what happens when you drop off your suitcase at the check-in desk? Or perhaps you are questioning what goes on inside a plane after it has landed, how is it prepared for the next flight? All great questions – let’s go through them.
What happens to my luggage when I drop it off?
While you are dropping your suitcase at the check-in desk, an airline staff will attach a tag to your luggage and place it on a conveyor belt. This tag has all your flight information, from your final destination to any stop-over cities you might stop at.
Here’s where you say good-bye to your suitcase for now as the conveyor belt starts taking it away. Then, your luggage will enter the baggage handling system, where your luggage’s tag will be scanned to make sure it is routed in the right direction.
The baggage handling system is comprised of long rows of conveyors belts, which is able to route thousands of bags every day to their right destination by guiding them right and left, up and down within its system. If you want to see it with your own eyes, Mystery Nine published a video showing footage of the journey of luggage through an airport and this baggage handling system at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.
At the end of the baggage handling system, your luggage will go through x-ray machines to ensure that it doesn’t hold any illegal items. And then, it is sent to the collection area where a baggage handler will load it onto a baggage cart and later, to the airplane with the help of an aircraft belt loader.
How is a plane prepared before boarding?
Now that you’ve made your way to your gate and are waiting for the airline staff to check your documents and to open the doors, a lot is going on at the airplane itself. After it reaches the gate, many staff members will perform a number of daily maintenance tasks to ensure the plane is ready for the passengers to board. This includes cleaners, baggage handlers, caterers and refuelling technicians among others who will have to clean the toilets, restock the bar, perform pre-flight checks and much more.
According to an article on The Smart Local, everyone who has access to your flight will have to go through screenings, “this includes auxiliary officers and the cabin crew, who have their identities checked before boarding too.”
Hopefully, this article has answered some of the questions you had! Did you know that all of this went on behind the scenes at an airport? What else would you like to know?
This article has been written by Carolina Neves, lead copywriter at Ad Lab, a digital marketing agency based in Hertfordshire. She is a journalism graduate who enjoys writing about all things travel related.
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