In real life, baggage claims are outside the secured area. That means after the one-way securituy exit.
As I know Schiphol best, I will use that as an example, but is the same order in most other airports.
The baggage claim area is situated right behind the one-way doors. Once you are in the baggage claim, you cannot go back, After the baggageclaim, there is "the “Goods to declare/ nothing to declare” section, where you go through a passage an then the sliding doors (single set) where you enter then shopping centre and meet your familiy or friends. It is technically possible to go back from the outside terminal to the baggage claim, however airport staff will stop you and ask what your purpose is. In some airports it is even easier to rach tot baggage belts from outside.
So the order of things is: Secure area → one-way doors → baggageclaim (-> customs) → public area
Sorry, but you’re replying as if your example is the correct one, while it has been pointed out that baggage claim can indeed be in a secure area. I know that in most of the major airports in my country, baggage claim is before a security exit, since you usually need to show your baggage number, and I’m talking in the context of domestic baggage claim.
Eg. in Frankfurt Terminal 1, A Area and when Iam right also B, it is possible to go from normal unsecured area (Check-In-Desks, Shops etc.) in the middle of this hall one floor down to the baggage claim. The stair faces to the one-way door. There are automated doors and only sometimes open, when passenger routed (normally only Schengen/ Domestic flights) a different way. Most in high frequent times.
i think its bristol airport uses an over under kinda idea so boarding is on top and departures is underneath at least for a little bit? or was it france? i know i have seen this some where and now cant remember where it was.
on the baggage claim 90% of the time i have travelled (mostly international) it has been in a secured zone.
this is mostly so that customs can kick the hell out of you if your bringing naughty things into there country…
AKA New Zealand will search your bag if they see hiking boots in your luggage as your going into there country becuase they dont want containments there ( wear the dirty ones as they less likely to check )
That is exactly what I am talking about here - I build it exactly that way but found out you can’t build a “one way” out of the baggage claim.
So what happens is all the people go out and leave the baggage claim to return freely when the bags arrive.
I don’t think that is safe and I haven’t really seen anything like that on any major airport I know of. As me123 mentioned it might work this way on some domestic airports in UK but I would definitely not feel that is a good idea. All the airports I ever visited, even the small ones, had the customs / other way of separating the baggage claim from complete outsiders. The airline and airport does in fact have the baggage in their caring until you pick it up so letting anyone wonder in freely is IMO quite a horrible idea.
If you want concrete examples of baggage claim existing outside of the secure zone of an airport there are plenty, but these only usually occur in domestic terminals. E.g. Every Australian Airport, NZ Airport, LAX domestic, JFK domestic can all be accessed by the general public. (these are all airports I have travelled through btw)
Baggage claim is generally put behind security when the port of arrival is serving as a first point of entry to a country, and thus requires customs to be cleared etc. As @me123 has said, it’s actually got nothing to do with risk of theft.
That said, I do of course agree that there should be later facility to build secure baggage too, but that will come
In every airport I’ve been in the USA, deplaning passengers are mixed with departing, and baggage claim is in unsecured. There is no 1 way worldwide as I’ve learned. Arriving international passengers in USA need to clear customs and immigration so that system is different from domestic travel.
Sometimes my local airport is able to do that though.
I know Fredrik or Olof mentioned something about there actually being two kinds of baggage claim, one for secure zone, and another for unsecure zone. I cannot find that reference though.
Going back to the original post, would it be possible to add an arrivals zone option with which you could at least force arriving passengers to follow a more direct path to the security exit gates?
One could just program arriving passengers’ behavior to never use any toilets, shops, or food cafe inside a secure area, but I don’t think it is easy to implement. Furthermore, this makes things complicated when the toilet is in the secure area or near the baggage claim which could be in the secure area.
I haven’t flown to Orly for five years or so, but I am pretty sure that the (Schengen) baggage claim area was accessible to everyone in the arrival main concourse.
But it’s the only example I can think of, and I am a pretty frequent flyer.
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