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Baggage Claim-BWI

TIm9as
Explorer C

Has anyone else experienced long wait times at the BWI Baggage Claim for Southwest?   For the last couple of years the Southwest BWI baggage claim has been slow, but this last trip set a record.  We waited for over an hour for our bags.     

11 REPLIES 11

Re: Baggage Claim-BWI

elijahbrantley
Aviator A

I do not have that experience there, but I have noticed that things can get dicey at Southwest-heavy airports. For example, pre-COVID, I always expected to wait longer at HOU for my bags that I might elsewhere. There were a couple of reasons (from my view): 

  1. We would always be flying in on a Friday night (busy).
  2. I could not begin to tell you how many flights would be coming in right around the same time, putting pressure on the crews.

Of course, the airline no doubt tries to plan for this, but if there are delays involved, sometimes the number of arrivals can skyrocket at any given moment.

 

I have only ever grabbed a checked bag from BWI maybe once, and I remember the wait being reasonable. There might be others here who have more extensive experience specifically with that airport.

 

-A List, Companion Pass holder

Re: Baggage Claim-BWI

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@TIm9as wrote:

Has anyone else experienced long wait times at the BWI Baggage Claim for Southwest?   For the last couple of years the Southwest BWI baggage claim has been slow, but this last trip set a record.  We waited for over an hour for our bags.     


Maybe a little longer, but never an hour that's obviously in the category of something went wrong not normal timeliness. 

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.

Re: Baggage Claim-BWI

dfwskier
Aviator A

@DancingDavidE wrote:

@TIm9as wrote:

Has anyone else experienced long wait times at the BWI Baggage Claim for Southwest?   For the last couple of years the Southwest BWI baggage claim has been slow, but this last trip set a record.  We waited for over an hour for our bags.     


Maybe a little longer, but never an hour that's obviously in the category of something went wrong not normal timeliness. 

 

 


Ground stops can cause this. Airline employees will not be unloading  baggage from aircraft when there is the risk of  lightening strikes.

Re: Baggage Claim-BWI

Foxyepoxy
Explorer C

This is my home airport and we have the slowest baggage service of any airport I have ever experienced, only it’s been worse than ever during Covid. Not sure who is at fault - BWI or Southwest. I’d love an explanation beyond what I have been told which is that our gates are close to baggage claim therefore one walks there quicker and thus the wait seems longer. I’m not buying it. 

Re: Baggage Claim-BWI

55611765
Explorer C

I have always liked Southwest BUT I just recently waited 90 minutes for my bag. I assumed that they would deliver my bag to my home.

NOW I  can't get through to Customer service or baggage claim at BWI.

THIS IS RIDICULOUS. 

Re: Baggage Claim-BWI

parpitt1
Frequent Flyer A

Never a good idea to "assume" they would deliver your bag to your house, I know I would not make that assumption unless a SWA representative told me that specifically and I confirmed the destination address.

That being said, BWI is in fact the worst airport for baggage claim that i travel to domestically, (it's my home airport too.)

Always slow, often misdirecting customers to the incorrect carrousel, often baggage "jams" some where between the plane and claim area, and non attentive personnel milling around the area to boot. 30 to 45 minute waits once I arrive from the gate are pretty standard and I walk slowly because I know there is no reason to rush. Just awful.

The "busy SWA hub/airport" argument does not hold water. At Midway, DAL, & Orlando less than 30 minutes is pretty standard, (at those airports in 30 to 45 minutes I am usually in my rental car and all but clear of the airport all together.)

I love SWA but can't stand BWI baggage claim and really I don't know that SWA has any control over it.  

Re: Baggage Claim-BWI

Alex_in_AUS
Explorer C

My partner travels to BWI 12 times a year and I accompany him on about half of those trips.  Most of the time we’re getting in pretty late on a Friday or Saturday and the baggage claim areas are packed with people.  Today, it’s mid-afternoon on a Friday and it’s not busy, but also not empty. 

40 minutes after arrival, they’ve just made the first announcement saying there was a mechanical problem with the belt loader at our gate and that we should “sit down” and “be patient” and that “we’re not doing this on purpose”.  Bags from a flight that landed 15 minutes ago are dropping in front of me. 

Each of my last 3 experiences at this airport with checked baggage have required me to try and get a hold of airline and airport employees that are few and far between in the baggage claim areas to get an update on where things stand.  Bags are missing for an entire flight and no one seems to know what’s going on.  I’ve reached out to their support team via phone and racked up half a thousand dollars in Luv Vouchers for my troubles, but they don’t know what’s going on either.  Luckily, my partner keeps a car nearby, so we use what we know will be an hour wait to send one of us to get the car that is 30 minutes away so we don’t lose so much time.

 

It is laughable how bad it is here and/or how bad my luck is.  If mechanical issues plague this airport, Southwest needs to invest serious capital in overhauling their facilities.  Regardless of the cause of the issues, Southwest needs to provide better voluntary announcements about the status of checked bags when they are delayed beyond 25-30 minutes.  Today’s has been a better experience than the last few flights as a result of those announcements, but it still took too long for the first one.

 

Once my partner gets rid of the car close to BWI, we’ll start flying a different airline to different airports.  It probably will not resolve all of our problems, but this is getting old!!

Re: Baggage Claim-BWI

Sehugie
Explorer C

We fly southwest 20 times a year out of BWI and NEVER wait less than an hour for bags.  Almost always 1.5 hours.  And it’s nothing to do with weather.  Heaven help

you of you check skis.  Ground crews here clearly lack motivation to do their jobs

and southwest clearly lacks the motivation to do anything about it.  Plan for the worst.

Re: Baggage Claim-BWI

Mooney
Explorer C

I am wondering if this has improved at all.  The last time I flew into BWI (my home) on Southwest was 9/3/2022.  I waited 45 minutes and there was no sign any bags from my flight.  After checking with the baggage clerk, I finally went home (about 25 minutes away) and returned the next day for my bag.

I have friends arriving tomorrow and want to tell them what to expect.