I've had the unique opportunity to see the SEA bag system "behind the scenes." It is indeed an interesting system and leaves little to the imagination as to how bags sometimes get damaged. It looks like it could be the baby brother to the DEN system, except without the derailed "mine cars." It uses mechanical arms to redirect the bags from belt-to-belt and from belt-to-gate.

On the arrival side, my recent personal experience when arriving on AS has been about 40 minutes. From observing the unloading operation while waiting for other flights, it looks as though it's usually around 10-15 minutes before the first baggage train is full and pulled away from the aircraft. Their first priority is going to be on running any connecting bags to the connecting flights, assuming there is not a designated runner, and then delivering the bags to the arrivals belt.

I know from recent reports that the SEA baggage system is already at/exceeding its design capacity, partially due to the recent uptick in checked baggage volume, although this would probably have more of an effect on outgoing bags.

AS uses an outsourced baggage contractor (ASIG, I believe) in PHX and the bags usually seem to arrive pretty quickly there. It could be the nature of the operation there (non-hub, usually only 1 flight at a time), the layout of the terminal, or the contractor that contributes to the quick delivery.

Hopefully we'll see an improvement in SEA soon when things settle down.

:-: I participate in FlyerTalk on my own time and do not represent Alaska Airlines in any official capacity.