Interesting idea, but it would never work.
First and foremost, the airlines cannot afford to hire additonal baggage staff. As it stands there are currently some serious union problems between baggage workers and the air carriers. As I understand things, AS just fired all of their baggage staff at SEA at 3am and brought in new employees. The AS baggage staff out outlaying stations are conducting work-slow downs and causing havoc through-out their system to protest the SEA firing.
Secondly, this doesn't address theft or the potential that someone may introduce something into your luggage. As it stands we can't lock luggage with the TSA and this is a serious problem, especially for those who travel overseas to airports where theft is a problem or airports in countries where drugs being inserted into ones luggage can result in the death penalty. Even "TSA approved" locks get cut at times - $10 a pop, but luckily Brookstone has been good at replacing them for me even though the lock isn't always put back in my suitcase.
Until we can lock luggage and know our belongings will be secure, people will continue to not check luggage.
Third, lost luggage / misplaced luggage will always be a problem. The more checked luggage the more luggage that goes walk-about. Sometimes this occurs because of irregular operations (i.e. flight cancellations, re-routes), other times this happens because of sloppy and slow luggage handling. When I check luggage via AMS and interline it between NW & KL or NW & MA, it's always a miracle when it does make it.
The last time I interlined luggage between Malev and Northwest at AMS, my luggage was walkabout for a week. I was flying Budapest-Amsterdam-Boston. No luggage at BOS. I had business to take care of in BOS and then flew to SDF the next day. The baggage first had to be sent to BOS once located at AMS. By the time it arrived at BOS it had to overnight there and was sent out to SDF the next day where I was. By the time the luggage reached me, I was ready to depart for another trip.
When I fly NW to AMS and connect onto BCN with KL, my checked luggage makes it less than 50% of the time, even with a 2-3 hour connection. I then must file paperwork at BCN and wait until the evening for the baggage to be delivered to my hotel or bed & breakfast - sometimes it overnights at AMS is flown to BCN and is then delivered the following day.
If we look at checked luggage within the US, when I travel via ORD with UAx I almost always run into irregular operations because of weather or ATC delays. It is a miracle when my luggage makes to the destination with me. If returning to SDF, I often just go to the airport to pick my luggage up because UAx is so slow at delivery. When the baggage does arrive I go to the airport on my dime and typically grab it out of a large "unsecure" pile in the baggage claim area, which anyone could grab and walk off with. When my luggage doesn't arrive via UAx/ORD, I try to be the first at the UAx counter because I usually end up with 25+ passengers behind me in line. I now avoid ORD and UAx unless absolutely necessary - which is sad because ORD is a great airport and offers many excellent international connections.
Nuff ranting about walkabout luggage, but this is a big issue for me.
As far as overseas flights turning in 30 minutes, I suspect you're talking about shorter intra-European flights. Some European LCC like EasyJet and Ryanair do have short turns like WN because they fly small planes (737s) and follow the WN model in many respects. Even 'legacy' carriers like KLM which fly primarily 737s within Europe have quick turns on many routes.
For true long-haul international flights which last anywhere between 12 hours to 16 hours in duration, it is simply not possible to do a 30 minute turn on a 777 or Boeing 747-400 (aircraft likely to fly 14+ hr routes). Even for short flights on the 777 or 747-400 short turns are not possible, but can be done in some markets depending on the level security. PPBM, positive passenger bag matching, will slow the process on a large aircraft which uses containers in the cargo hold. If someone doesn't board, it also means taking a delay for removal of luggage. Many factors come into play when it comes to aircraft turns.
Last - many airlines can't even get luggage tagged priority off first. If flying a US carrier in a premium class of service, chances are they'll get it off priority at the hub for immigrations and customs, but once you re-check it that priorty tag often means little upon arrival at final destination. However, several overseas airlines are able to get this correct when flying J or F.
Until then, I use my full size roll-a-board and carry on a backpack. Roll-a-board goes up above, backpack goes under seat in front (unless in bulkhead) and when INTL I often have duty free on top of that (goes overhead).
SDF_Traveler