I have a couple hours to kill before my flight so I thought I'd write up a little information sheet about how your checked bag is handled by AS. The procedure will needfully vary at different airports so I won't get too technical...just sort of an overview.

When you check your bag, it is immediately placed into one of three catagories. These won't matter until it clears through the TSA and gets to the "bagwell" (the room at the airport where the bags are sorted.) The catagories are:

Local Bags: A local bag (usually referred to as a "local") is a bag that has a final destination at a point where that aircraft will stop. For example Flight 100 out of ANC will have local bags for PDX and local bags for DEN because it stops in PDX before continuing on to DEN.

Online Transfer Bags: These are usually referred to as "onlines" and are bags that will stay with AS or QX but need to transfer to another flight. If you are taking Flight 100 to PDX and then getting onto Flight 2311 connecting to BOI, your luggage is considered online transfer.

Interline Transfer Bags: These are usually referred to as "ITB's" and they are bags that will at some point in their journey transfer to another airline. If you deplane Flight 100 in PDX to catch a NW flight to HNL, you would have ITB's.

As the aircraft is loaded, the bags are placed in different locations (called "pits") in the belly with things like passenger load, cargo load, number of bags, and fuel load (among others) all factored in.

The general idea is to load the local cargo first because it can be the last thing out. It's not usually as time sensitive as baggage. Exceptions to this might include parts for broken aircraft or human organs. Next loaded would most likely be local bags. Then online bags and then ITB's. Lastly you would load the claim at gate items.

When the plane lands and the off load begins, it's all in the correct order. ITB's, which need the most time to be taken to another airline come first, then online's and then local bags. If possible, we load the locals in their own pit in a different part of the aircraft so that they can come right away, too.

A quick word about "pits." AS aircraft have 6 pits. On 737's they are (listed in order from nose to tail) 1,2, and 3 in the front cargo hold and 4,5, and 6 in the rear cargo hold. MD-80's are (again listed in order from nose to tail) 1 and 2 in the front cargo hold, 3 and 4 in the middle cargo hold, and 5 and 6 in the rear cargo hold. On 737's, pits 2 and 5 are substantially smaller than the rest. We try to reserve them for small cargo items and claim at gate items. Animals in small kennels can ride in pit 2 but usually we put all animals in pit 1. We try to put HR (human remains) in their own separate pit whenever possible. We DO NOT put HR in the same cargo hold as live animals. We DO NOT put food (which represents a substantial amount of cargo for bush flights) into the same cargo hold as HR. We DO NOT stack cargo or bags on HR under any circumstances.

Okay, so now the aircraft has landed and the bags are coming off. There will be a "string" or "train" of carts for the local bags. They are taken off to "inbound" as soon as possible and put on the belt for pickup. There is another string of carts being towed along by the "Transfer Runner" who meets his/her assigned flights and takes away both the onlines and the ITB's. They are then taken to the bagwell to be resorted into the carts for their flights, taken to the other airlines bagwell (in the case of ITB's) or sometimes if a flight is late, they are taken directly to another plane where they are loaded on.

Cargo, US Mail, and live animals are all handled differently. This all just applies to checked baggage.

If you find this interesting, let me know. I'll write something up about how we handle animals or perhaps about the various signals you see people on the ramp making and what they mean. If this was boring...sorry.