While many of us will look forward to our summer holidays, we can often begrudge the boring and even stressful travelling and navigating airports that come with it. You'll more than likely be stressed with regards to your luggage's location after handover at the check-in desk, while hoping that your flight flies over with no turbulence.
Then there's also the impatient gauntlet which is the reclaim carousel, constantly watching the conveyor go round and round while waiting to snag your bags. And while we're sometimes lucky and see our bags first off the plane, we can sometimes wait for what feels like an eternity to be reunited with our belongings.
However, one travel expert has recently shared a few tips to ensure your suitcase waiting times are slashed substantially, meaning you can get to your glorious hotel as soon as possible.
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The Mirror reports that while it might seem natural to get to the airport as soon as possible, one of the expert suggestions was to arrive as late a physically possible to the check-in desk. Escape.com say that if you check in last, then in theory your bags should be off the plane first, as they would be loaded last.
Ramp worker and gate agent, Thomas Lo Sciuto, told Quora: "Bags will always be loaded front to back on the bag carts so if you check in last your bags will be in the last bag cart."
This is obviously hailed a 'high-risk strategy' as checking in at the last minute can put you at risk of missing check-in all together - which could of course tarnish your summer holiday. A less stressful suggestion is to 'gate-check' your bag, which means handing it over at check-in to put in the cargo hold.
This typically sees the bag left beside the access door, ready for a swift unloading upon landing. While this may mean some extra security checks for your bag, and potentially an extra charge, it will mean your bag should be one of the first to be freed at the other end.
Some airlines also allow passengers to pay an additional fee to have their luggage delivered first, especially those travelling business class or who have signed up for a loyalty scheme. Sometimes, this even means you have a separate luggage carousel altogether.
News.com.au also suggest that asking for a 'fragile' sticker for your luggage could speed up waiting times at the carousel - as the sticker will affect the order in which bags are packed onto the plane. Baggage which is identified to be fragile always goes onto the plane last, meaning it will come out the other side first.
Finally, to help identify your bag at the reclaim system quickly, you should opt for a suitcase which stands out from the crowd - and remove all old tags from your luggage.
