lol, wow thats makes for an interesting twist. So we have to get to a point where we can see (hopefully) the baggage door get opened which (I guess) really means we have to see the baggage handler start his stopwatch (unless the baggage door triggers some sort of clock itself?) this will be fun I'll try it tomorrow SEA - PHX

You shouldn't wouldn't worry about that one occurance, it was just a misinformed agent unfortunately. Timer starts from the IN time (seat belt sign off). Although the cargo door open time is recorded electronically and monitored (like all doors), it's not readily viewable by many employees, and not involved in the BSG.

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Yeah... We just need more AS crews in Hawaii... ;)

ok great ~ thanks for the clarification dc -arriving in PHX yesterday they had the baggage door open before I stepped off the plane (from row 6) and in the 10 minutes it took me to walk to baggage claim half the bags were already on the carousel - amazing!

Had a Horizon flight (EAT to SEA) last week (still not posted btw) that my checked bas took more than the 20 minutes. I really wanted to go under the C concourse and see what the hold up was since those are all new conveyors! LOL

CTP

I cursed myself. The very day I posted this, SEA-SFO arrived at the gate a good 20 minutes early. However, the baggage claim belt was having all kinds of problems and we easily waited 30 minutes for bags. Someone had to come out and pull a bunch of the bags up the belt from the hold to the carousel by hand.

1/22/11 AS 129 SEA-FAI, about 12minutes after arrival, there was an announcement by the carousel that the baggage door was frozen shut and they were still working on it. Part of me grumbled at the delay as I was eager to get to bed and another part lit up as I thought that I'd get an easy 2k miles... I loitered on the side of the carousel nearest the baggage desk. I overheard a passenger ask about the guarantee after 20 minutes had passed. The agent said the guarantee didn't apply because the door was frozen shut- "otherwise we'd give these out all the time! [the two agents laugh to each other, extensively]". Oh well, I got my bags ~30min after landing, not terrible, but they could do better... especially given that -30F in Fairbanks is common during the winter. Not that AS is responsible for alaska's weather, but seasonally chilly conditions are a kind of a lame out for them.

relevant T&C of the guarantee:
Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air reserve the right to suspend the Baggage Service Guarantee in the event of airport baggage system malfunction, severe weather, or other conditions out of the airlines' control that prohibit timely baggage delivery

Did a frozen door constitute severe weather/conditions out of their control? I imagine they have to take steps to operate in this environment or they'd very dependably have delayed baggage, troublesome boarding doors, unopenable fuel ports, and *eek, hopefully not!* inoperable emergency exits (??) in the winter...

AS 876 HNL-PDX. Waited in the boardroom. Finished off the soup, grabbed a beer and went to baggage claim and no HNL bags were out yet. Walked to baggage counter as it was 21 past arrival time as posted on flight status section of the website and was handed the compensation. So easy. Might have to check bags more often.

Well they did give you a bit of an update which is nice... I'd say freezing is a weather issue- wonder how they forced it open...

:D

Exactly... any reports on AUS... not sure how long I should wait in the AAdmirals club after my flight - if the bags are typically longer then 20 mins, perhaps I'd go down there sooner to watch :p

It probably helped that OGG and HNL got in at the same time

An AS supervisor at ANC said that the time metric used for baggage timeliness calculations (and so, by extension, the BSGs given out by baggage agents) isn't when the last bag arrives on the baggage belt but rather when the last bag is placed from the baggage cart onto the belt in the bag well that leads to the carousel.

If the last bag is dropped on the belt in the bag well at T+19 but doesn't arrive out at the carousel until T+21 (i.e. it takes two minutes to transit through the airport-owned network of conveyors and out onto the carousel), then it is still considered on-time. Alaska is only responsible for the time it takes their agents to move the bags and not the time it takes the airport-owned equipment to move the bags.

Thus, if the frozen door that caused the delay is a door that is part of the airport-owned infrastructure, then technically, AS is not liable, as long as they got the bags to the belt within 20 minutes.

Of course, enforcing the timeliness of the bags being dropped on the airport's conveyor is not practical for BSG-granting purposes, so the baggage agents will hand out a BSG if the bag is not visible on the carousel at T+20.

AS 139, ORD-ANC, on 2/16/11: Dropped bag off at T-55 (8:35am). Arrived in ANC to news that AA had not gotten my bag to AS in ORD in time for it to make my flight.

Agent begrudgingly gave me a BSG (I think she was a little less hesitant once I said I'd be fine picking up the bag myself rather than having it delivered)...

How does this work arriving in HNL where there arent any AS agents? Can you get a BSG or are you SOL?

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Find the counter- IIRC its manned by DL but they have AS signs. The agents should be familiar with the process as I've collected them there before.

great thanks ^ If its like my last experience ther before the guarantee it took about 45 minutes to see bags