Geeky Question - Interlined Tag
Dec 9, 2009, 11:42 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: UK
Programs: BA Blue, VS Silver
Posts: 2,575
Geeky Question - Interlined Tag
Hello All,
I think this if my first posting on QF forum, recently travelled from LHR to CHC, BA to SIN, the QF to New Zealand. My luggage was interlined to CHC, when we picked up our luggage, it was tagged with a "Lateral 43".
What does this mean? Curoius more than anything else.
John
I think this if my first posting on QF forum, recently travelled from LHR to CHC, BA to SIN, the QF to New Zealand. My luggage was interlined to CHC, when we picked up our luggage, it was tagged with a "Lateral 43".
What does this mean? Curoius more than anything else.
John
Dec 9, 2009, 11:53 am
#2
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: London
Posts: 6,265
Here's what I believe happened:
A Lateral is just a place where bags for a certain flight are stored. Normally machines sort the baggage automatically into the right places.
If your bag was early for your flight (ie they hadn't started accepting baggage for it), then they may have tagged it and put it in a pile of luggage that later needed to be resorted and placed in the right area.
Someone else might know more!
A Lateral is just a place where bags for a certain flight are stored. Normally machines sort the baggage automatically into the right places.
If your bag was early for your flight (ie they hadn't started accepting baggage for it), then they may have tagged it and put it in a pile of luggage that later needed to be resorted and placed in the right area.
Someone else might know more!
Dec 9, 2009, 10:44 pm
#3
Join Date: Jul 2006
Programs: QFF
Posts: 95
Hey johnny5a
These sorts of queries are also of interest to me-part of the intricacies of modern travel.
I also have the impression that it refers to the sorting bay area that the bag gets allocated in the automated process.
These sorts of queries are also of interest to me-part of the intricacies of modern travel.
I also have the impression that it refers to the sorting bay area that the bag gets allocated in the automated process.
Last edited by gladstoneyoung; Dec 9, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Dec 9, 2009, 10:51 pm
#4
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Portland OR Double Emerald (QF and AA), DL PM/MM, Starwood Plat
Posts: 19,589
Why a human-readable tag for an intermediate storage place in an automated baggage sorting process? Presumably at SIN all the sorting is automated, and there isn't human intervention to place bags into laterals 
Dec 10, 2009, 1:10 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: UK
Programs: BA Blue, VS Silver
Posts: 2,575
Here's what I believe happened:
A Lateral is just a place where bags for a certain flight are stored. Normally machines sort the baggage automatically into the right places.
If your bag was early for your flight (ie they hadn't started accepting baggage for it), then they may have tagged it and put it in a pile of luggage that later needed to be resorted and placed in the right area.
Someone else might know more!
A Lateral is just a place where bags for a certain flight are stored. Normally machines sort the baggage automatically into the right places.
If your bag was early for your flight (ie they hadn't started accepting baggage for it), then they may have tagged it and put it in a pile of luggage that later needed to be resorted and placed in the right area.
Someone else might know more!
Dec 10, 2009, 2:18 pm
#7
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Portland OR Double Emerald (QF and AA), DL PM/MM, Starwood Plat
Posts: 19,589
With a 2 hour connection at SIN there was zero chance of the bags going into a lateral. Most likely it was at LHR; perhaps the bags were checked in before the flight was assigned for sorting. I know T3 has severe baggage space issues and limited sorting capacity (there is a several hundred million dollar upgrade underway but not done yet).
Dec 10, 2009, 2:45 pm
#8
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Australia
Programs: QF LTS, Marriott LTP, ALL GOLD
Posts: 2,440
Some times the baggae reading system is down and manual lateral tags have to be added. Has happened at SYD a few times where the baggae master system could not read the airlines tags and instead eveyrone had to use laterals. Each airline/handling company has a lateral number where their bags will drop.