Why the Denver hate for luggage?
 

I just got back from an overall good NW business trip. Good enough that after a year of boycotting NW for stupid decisions like the original Coach Choice and the passive-aggressive take-it-out-on-the-customer labor/management (dropping a level and requalifying only from DL and CO flights), I actually might resume flying NW itself on a somewhat regular basis. Upgraded in advance (at more like 36-48 hours rather than 24) as a lowly Silver on all 4 legs DEN-MSP-RDU-DTW-DEN. Actual food in F at mealtimes with choice of two entrees. Friendly and attentive cabin crews.

But what the heck is it with NW at DEN in terms of baggage delivery? Consistently, whenever I take NW back home and have to check a bag, it's between 30-45 minutes before the carousel even starts spinning, and almost an hour before all the bags are out.

Last night was no different. NW485 pulls up to the gate right on time if not a couple of minutes early at 8:30pm. Carousel 19 doesn't start spinning until 9:07 pm, no bags at all until 9:10. First Priority-tagged bag doesn't appear until 10 minutes later, and it sure wasn't mine.

Yes, NW is all the way out at Concourse C. But so are DL, AA and US, and when I've flown them, bags start appearing in 20 minutes after arrival. NW is always at least 30 and that's on a good day, 45 is typical.

This one issue right here could send me back to booking away from NW if I need to check a bag. Not that they're great in BOS either. But at DEN NW is consistently and ridiculously slow.

you are right BOS is not so fast either, but PHX seems to take the same amount of time as you say it takes in Den. I have taken to picking up the rental car in PHX leaving someone at the airport to collect the bags then coming back to pick them both up later. :td:

It is one of the slower places, but I can name a few that are worse The late flight into LAS comes to mind.

HNL is by far worst. Some flights don't see their bags in bag claim until 1 hour past arrival...

And in NBO, where the vibe is "baggage, pole pole," they would ask why the HNL folks are rushing so much. :D

Flew HA from SYD on Friday arriving in HNL. The bags were announced
to arrive on carousel #3. When I spotted #3 there was a newly arrived flight from Japan on #3. I asked several of the HA baggage folks what was going on.
They said "it happens every day, two flights on the same carousel"
A complete disaster in HNL !
The same problem happens upon arrival.

Another issue, is with with the HNL World Club. I've been using this club since 2000. I've probably been to the HNL NW WC well over twenty times. The AC does not work, it never works. It was over 80 degrees in the HNL WC on Friday, and with two flights one to KIX, and one to MSP, it was wall to wall people.
Fortunately, the HNL PC is very comfortable.

So basically you are saying that NWA is 10 minutes to 25 minutes slower than DL,AA and US. If from 10 to 25 minutes is that much of an issue at the end of your trip than maybe you should book someone else.

Of course you may want to remember that you were upgraded, therefore, you were in the front of the plane. If you were on an airline that you were not in the first few rows than it could have easily taken you 10 to 20 more minutes to even get off the plane. So I guess it really boils down to what is more important in your travels. A comfortable flight with food and good in flight service or waiting a few minutes at the baggage claim? That is a personal decision. I'm sure DEN is a satelite site for NWA. Which probably means the staff is multi-tasking and they could even be contracted from a service company or another airline. I've never really bothered to time luggage arrival and just add it into the price of commercial air travel.

Quite the NW apologist in the above post. I have my reasons for staying with NW as my secondary airline. Mostly due to WP, not the onboard or on-ground experience - thus my pleasant surprise at the onboard and on-ground experience finally getting better. In the 90K or so flown this year across *A and ST, it's only NW that has been this bad with consistently slow baggage delivery. And that's the same story I saw in 2005 as an NW Gold during the year I did make NW my primary airline. There's a problem here, even if the apologists don't want to admit it.

An airport being a satellite site doesn't excuse their inability to deliver competitive levels of service. Everywhere is a satellite to somewhere. Are you saying we should only expect quality service at hubs?

Perhaps your time at the end of a multi-day multi-location business trip just isn't a concern to you. It is to me. It certainly was to a large portion of the grumbling people milling around carousel 19 last night. NW does have consistently poor baggage delivery times compared with the other airlines of similar quality and network size operating out of the same concourse. Not being an NW apologist I figured that a) people should know that NW is failing compared to its competition here on this particular measure of service, and b) because NW has been improving in some other areas, I was wondering if someone might have insight on why they aren't doing as good a job as their competition and if anything might be in the works to fix this problem.

If you don't find waiting around at a baggage claim at 9 or 10pm for 45 minutes a problem, then good for you. When that means to me is that I'm waiting as late as the 10:15 pm shuttle back to the park-n-fly to my car for the 90 mile drive home into the mountains for an 8:30 arrival. Yes, I find that an issue at the end of the trip. That can cascade into getting home after midnight as opposed to getting home at 10:30 when my bags come out at 8:45 and I hop out door 506 to the shuttle.

80% of the time I don't check bags but sometimes it's necessary. I don't think we should give NW a pass in this area just because they upgrade elites into the 2nd-worst domestic F of the legacy carriers.

Perhaps NWScoop or some other "connected" could look into why this is consistently so bad here?

You are right, 10 to 30 minutes at the end of a 48 hour plus trip is not a big enough concern for me to switch airlines. I was not condoning NWA's performance just trying to state facts (as reported by you) that it is a 10 to 25 minute difference, and that you stated that you thought the food and inflight service was good. Those items are more important to me than how long I wait for a bag to come up. As I tend to stop by the WC/PC (if open) before I even go to the bag claim. So I really don't know how long it takes baggage to be offloaded since by time I get there it is either spinning on the carousel or sitting at the baggage office.

As I stated in my previous thread if luggage arrival times are your deciding factor and you are not happy with them than you should book another airline.

Living far from the airport is a factor and all factors of the flight do add up to your total experience. You should definitly fly on the airline that your total experience is the best for you. That does not mean that your factors and my factors are the same. Personally I have always prefered to fly in ANY F cabin over ANY Y cabin whether it is the best in the industry or the worst, if I have an option I will always choose the F cabin.

MarkXS, I understand your concern and I do agree with the fact that luggage handling is sub-par at NW, from several points of view. (Another example is the fact that priority tags are useless half the time, where as CO gets it right most of the time.) This is indeed a negative spot and I really wish NW did something about it!

But let's be fair here. You're saying that typically NW bags start rolling after 45 minutes, while other airlines do it in 20. That's twice the amount of time and it can be frustrating, but the difference here is 20 minutes. 20 extra minutes would not delay your 10:30pm arrival at home until after midnight - that's over 90 minutes. It just doesn't add up.

If you think DEN is bad... try DTW.

The best experience has been PBI and AVL. And that was years ago. I'm a Plat, and haven't checked bags in years.

Steve B.

Guess you don't take too many 2-3 week business trips to Asia or Europe. ;)

I'm always amazed at folks who say they never check bags --- I guess you are really lucky. Don't get me wrong, I always carry on if possible. Unfortunately, my Tumi roller board can only fit so much. Maybe, I'm just a clothes whore. :D

Or OTP. That's the worst in my experience.

OTP is very inconsistent. It's been drastically slower lately because BBU is closed for renovations and OTP has to handle all the BBU flights as well. It's also been very crowded compared to what it's like under normal circumstances. Usually it's not bad. When BBU reopens I expect things to go back to normal. I think it's better than airports that are consistently bad... BOS is the first one that comes to mind.

Baccarat, I have not checked a bag in 7 years (the first and last time an AL lost my bag) and it is totally possible to do 2-3 week trips to China on a roll-aboard and a lap top bag. There are tricks to it but it can be done (I spend a lot of time in China/Europe).

1. The TUMI is not the best bag for "stuffing" as it is shorter than regulation because of the curve.
2. I will put boxers and socks in small plastic bags in my Lap top bag. I can also get a pair of shoes in there if positioned just right.
3. I can get 6 sets of cloths (including what I am wearing) into my roll-on board.
4. I will wear my jacket if possible.
5. I then do a 5 day cycle of sending out my laundry.
6. I have my shirts dry cleaned and "boxed" prior to the trip. You can stack them nicely.


At 70 trips per year I figure I save 60 minutes per trip (30 minutes each way) waiting for my luggage or 70 hours...Almost 2 full work weeks!