Even more amazing in airports like SFO where baggage claim is after security, such that anyone can wander in off the curb and pick up a bag. I think this is uniquely American though.

Have to remember though, that its just as easy to steal anything nobody is watching. It is not the incapacity to steal the only thing that stops stealing.

True, but when you're boarding the plane on the other end there is no sign that says 'remember, your bags will be left unattended in a public space upon arrival'.

Schiphol does it about equally dumb where the baggage carousel is past the last security check and 10 meters from the public spaces. It would be trivial to take one or more bags that aren't yours and walk out.

I have some ideas and a provisional patent on two things:

1) “Meet your baggage” a simple system that can be bolted on to most existing processes that lets you know which airport your luggage is at, where it is in the process, and when your luggage is coming out and on what carousel. So you can be standing by the chute expecting it.

2) A system for seats to recline starting from the back, letting people switch seats and pay $ and go to sleep in a comfortable reclining position, which I find is really crucial for a long flight and people are willing to pay for.

If you’re interested and have some connections with the airline industry email me at greg+airline the at symbol qbix.com

> So you can be standing by the chute expecting it.

This doesn't always work. Many times the luggage is at the carousel quicker than you are.

As for '2', airlines don't like people switching seats, before take-off they use the 'weight and balance' argument, and after take-off because it will slow things down tremendously when de-planing to sort out where everybody's carry on luggage is.

Obviously the patent already thought about these things. I will just briefly address them.

1) Luggage doesn’t come out until your phone indicates that you’re ready or went through a checkpoint. This way you can coordinate the variable time you have (eg detained or in a long line) with the baggage before it is placed on the chute. The throwers simply sort the luggage by having cleared to go down the chute, as you move through the process. They can also see on a screen for each luggage where each person is in the process. Usually it’s far easier to delay luggage than expedite it.

2) People are woken up before descent begins and the seatbelt sign is turned on. For the vast majority of flights, this can be predicted in advance. Switching happens in an orderly fashion, and people end up near their baggage before the flight ends. They actually can even pay per minute for naps in the back, requesting a sleeper seat is like requesting a flight attendant, except it lights up the request for the next seats in the back, and whoever accepts your offer can even get a cut of the $. Typically though the airlines would sell the back seats for cheaper (because you have to move) and charge far more for the people who want to sleep on the flight. Often a good relaxed sleep is worth far more and is an impulse buy on the plane.

There is no 'hold' stage for luggage other than for stuff that is suspect, it is a pretty straight line from the plane to the belt in most airports. So you'd have to redesign the airport to account for the person that wants to go and eat a steak in the taxfree zone until they exit the airport.

Anyway, good luck with your patents, I hope it works out for you.

There are also no reclining chairs in the back of planes. These things would be incremental additions, obviously SOME changes need to be made.

Thanks!!

> which I find is really crucial for a long flight and people are willing to pay for.

Which is why airlines sell properly reclinable seats for $8,000 a pop on long flights. It's called Business Class.

Proof that people will pay ahead of time.

And many will pay while on the plane!

While others can pay less by agreeing to give up their seat to someone who wants to sleep.

Do you think this is why guidelines say never to put valuables in your checked luggage? I always thought it was because fragile and valuable have a high overlap, but this public unattended space idea might make even more sense.

> Do you think this is why guidelines say never to put valuables in your checked luggage?

It's part of the reason.

Other parts include:

(1) Even with “positive bag matching” in place which should in theory prevent this, bags end up going elsewhere or elsewhen.

(2) Theft by airport and security services employees between check-in and delivery to the carousel.

but with all the security cameras in place, i imagine the risk to the thief would be too high and not worth it.

Given that someone got his macbook stolen and nobody nudged, I would not rely a lot on security cameras.

Claim you thought it was your suitcase. This probably happens by accident at least a few times per month at a busy airport, there are only so many variations on the theme of 'suitcase' and not everybody has the foresight to make theirs recognizable without opening them.

It's done this way in Canada as well.

Source :): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trailer_Park_Boys

I've traveled with rifles in checked luggage occasionally. The case is required to be locked, but the locks on these cases will only stop a casual check. 30 seconds with a hammer and screwdriver are enough to get most of them open. Usually you have to pick these up from a specific point and show your ticket stub to claim them.

At SFO they claimed they never received my rifle case. 15 minutes later I found it circling on a luggage carousel.

I often travel with firearms, and even when I don't "need" to I will sometimes put an AR-15 lower receiver in a large Pelican case so I can securely lock it. A stripped lower can be had for $30 if you shop around, and I've met others why travel with sensitive electronics that have done the same thing.

This is typical of pretty much all US airports. It's very rare to have baggage claim inside security.

The deterrent is that there are a large number of security cameras covering that space, and that continues out to parking structures, so it's a very high risk crime and not reasonably repeatable.

I traveled and was in Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and Spain airports few years ago, it's exactly the same: ribbon with bags, you have to spot your own. I even picked up wrong bag, then realized that it wasn't mine and put it back.

I don’t know about you but when I travel there is never anything valuable in my checked luggage (except for the luggage itself I guess).

I once flew from Chicago to Dushanbe via Istanbul. My bag was checked and a sticker for it was attached to my boarding pass. While traversing through Turkey, they required both my incoming and outbound boarding passes, and kept that one. So in Dushanbe, they wouldn't give me my bag, since I no longer had the sticker.

I had to wait until every single person was off the plane and had exited with their bags, and there was only one bag left, and me. Then they believed the bag was mine and let me take it.

All of this made me slightly anxious, since I don't speak Tajik, but it worked out, I guess.

I had a situation recently where someone accidentally took my bag thinking that it was theirs, and they eventually came back to baggage claim about 15 minutes later after they realized it.

If you think about it, there's a pretty serious security issue there. Someone could walk into an airport with a bomb in a bag, toss it on the baggage carousel while nobody is paying attention, and then walk out. It wouldn't get noticed by security looking for unattended baggage because it's expected for there to be unattended baggage there.