Originally Posted by
Widgets
(At least before RFID) ramp agents checked the destination/flight on every bag tag being loaded. Transfer runners might look for HOT bags to drive to the next gate. Other bags might be sent to sortation.
Hah...I was wondering about the "DB" part, too. HOT made sense to me.
Now that I think of it, I'm relatively sure that on a recent trip, I had a long connection outbound, no HOT tag, and noticed in bag tracking that I had an entry for "Routed to Carousel" at my connection airport, 15-20 min before "Bag on Plane".
On the return, I just had "Bag on Plane" at my origin, and then maybe 20 mins after parking at the gate, "Bag on Plane" for my connection - no status in between.
I know different stations scan at different points, so didn't make much of it at the time. But would make sense that HOT bags are transferred directly from plane to plane when possible.