Washington D.C. (including Baltimore) - IAD Baggage Claim Announcements

Is it just me, or are they waaaaaay too loud?

It also seems like only some of the airlines make them (JetBlue and Southwest seem to be the most frequent--the rest, it's go and look at the board for your flight).

But wow, I felt like I was going to go deaf if I heard "Southwest flight 1013 from VIVA LAS VEGAS!!! bags are now available at bag claim #xxx!" yesterday. As often as I fly through IAD, I don't recall the announcements being so loud or so frequent before; they were being made every 5 minutes for that flight (a few others were mentioned while I waited for my ride, but that one was announced at least once for every pax on the plane).

You could probably hear the announcements in Centreville they were so loud!

Hopefully what they are announcing is at least correct. My LHR flight from a few weeks ago was really bad. The monitor said one thing, the announcement said another, and the staff member said another location. Yikes.

Southwest and Jetblue announce virtually every flight's baggage info in the Main Terminal. Fortunately, they have relatively few flights. Imagine what the stream of announcements would be if United annouced every flight there!

There are 2 ways to make announcements in the Main Terminal. The first puts the announcement into a computer queue of announcements, which then go out sequentially - intermixed with all the other announcements, both manually input to the system and automatically generated security announcements. The volume on these announcements is typically "normal". The second method is an "override" - where the announcement is broadcast as you speak it. The override mode is deliberately somewhat louder in volume - and should really be used only for "urgent" announcements. Unfortunately, Southwest and JetBlue announcements are done in that second mode.

Suggestion: Contact MWAA about it.

Hopefully what they are announcing is at least correct. My LHR flight from a few weeks ago was really bad. The monitor said one thing, the announcement said another, and the staff member said another location. Yikes.

were you not in customs? 4 conveyors all within sight of one another.

they frequently get the british flights on the wrong conveyor because the brits drive on the wrong side of the road

were you not in customs? 4 conveyors all within sight of one another.

they frequently get the british flights on the wrong conveyor because the brits drive on the wrong side of the road

I actually was in customs and coming off of a British Airways flight. Regardless, I shouldn't have to twirl around looking at four of them. As there are only four, less of a reason to mess this up.

In fact, there are six - which doesn't let IAD off the hook for not getting it right.