Baggage unloading order at DXB
 

I was wondering in which order the suitcases in the hold are unloaded from an A380-800 at DXB.

The reason I ask is because of the following two observations from recent trips:

1. There is an extraordinary gap between sets of suitcases appearing on the carousel. I imagine this is down to the truck going back to the aircraft to get another batch of suitcases, but I would have thought they'd employ a more efficient system.

2. A priority tag doesn't seem to make much of a difference. On a couple of occasions I've had a priority tag on my suitcase and it still appeared near the end on the carousel.

So, is there a particular order or process that's followed by the baggage handlers at DXB or is it fairly random?

Not sure of order but basically nearest the cargo door first. bags are in containers, not loose, there is supposed to be a priority container

It seems that there is only two kinds of container : priority and non priority.
So, JCL luggage with very short transit are loaded last, and they often appear before FCL bags at outstation.
I never had any issue at DXB.

The only exception I've seen is I/O. They are always delivered way ahead of others.

iO bags usually go in the very front cargo compartment that has free space (not in container) - sometimes where pets go in the pressurised one - and can be taken off immediately and driven to baggage reclaim separately to the containers.

Technically F class bags are supposed to have a separate container. There exists a protocol to create containers for quick transit in Dubai if there are a lot of connecting passengers. So I could see that if you're connecting to an onward destination that both J and F bags are mixed into the same container as Y bags.

I thought all cargo holds were pressurised (although not always heated). Is that not the case?

My toothpaste was ICE cold about an hour after arrival just the other day, so anecdotally, definitely not heated.

Sorry, I misspoke: on an A380 and 77W passenger variant the entire hold is pressurised - I meant there is a cargo compartment which can be climate controlled separately where they sometimes put pets and things without specialised containers: iO bags usually go in there for quick access as you don't have to wait for container transport and unloading.

Depends on what cargo is in the hold. If there is food, flowers or pharmaceuticals they will keep that hold cool. If there is pets or other cargo that requires a higher temp they will heat. Each hold (front and aft (the aft bulk is normally just part of the aft hold with some netting to stop things moving, so is the same climate region)) can be separately controlled.

The the cabin and holds is a single pressure vessel so the pressure will be the same throughout.