Baggage for Beginners

Hey kid, want some bags? This guide will walk you through the basics of baggage.

Introduction

Hey kid, want some bags?

Why are you here? Who knows. Hopefully it will help you... with bags. For further help with bags, see any spelling or grammar errors, or just want to talk about bags, use the comments section at the bottom. This guide is being updated as you read this on 1.0. As of now, it appears only minor UI changes. I also saw some people complaining about sarcasm/being arrogant. It's just humor. If you have the brainpower to download the game, you can figure this stuff out. While parts of this guide were made pre-1.0 launch, it should be accurate.

0. The Absolute Basics

I don't think this is really necessary, but you never know.

0.1. Get a Commercial License

Research Commercial License. Go to the R&D screen and click on the Click To Start New Project button. Click Commercial License then Start Project. Remember, you will need to hire Administrators and give them an office.

0.2. Unlock Baggage

Now that you've finally completed the prerequisites for baggage, you can research it. I would assume that is why you are here, but again, some of y'all are weird. Go to the Operations screen and click R&D. Unlock Baggage Handling Service by clicking on it and Start Project. It even has a convenient picture of a bag (same picture as the thumbnail for this guide now only slightly different than the thumbnail picture; no clue why that had to change), so even your dog could probably figure it out.

1. Actually Getting Somewhere

I should specify, the bags are getting somewhere. Not you.

Note that the pictures below have arrows pointing in the direction the belt moves bags. Press B to get the arrow overlay.

1.1. Check-In Desks

So, you go to the airport. What do you do with your bags? You give them to the check-in desk. They weigh it (so they can charge more, something we can't do unfortunately) and place it on a conveyor that goes somewhere. Where do they go after that? Doesn't matter for now. What matters now is getting a medium desk or dozen up and running. Note that people can walk over the conveyors. You are probably using small check-in desks because they are available before baggage. You will need to add medium check-in desks upon unlocking baggage. Removing small ones is a hassle; you'll need to destroy them when there is no flight scheduled. Do this once you've placed some medium ones so it'll be easier. The device on the right is an conveyor down (recolored). It sends the bags on the belt down a floor, if you couldn't tell by the name. You never know...

1.2. Baggage Bay

Now we'll discuss where bags go after they are loaded onto the belt. No, they don't go to a bag fairy. You will eventually get money for the bags, as if it was the tooth fairy, but you have to transport the tooth/bag. Anyway, they go straight to a baggage bay through scanners (more on that below, just leave some room for them where a security guard can go). At the bottom of the screen, there's a now unblocked tab that looks kind of like a bag on a conveyor. What a coincidence! Click on it and build a conveyor belt connecting all your check-in desks. We'll discuss baggage security later. For now, build a baggage bay in a terminal. You can delete the walls on either edge for space efficiency, as shown below. This is the best set-up I have found to date. This is now the required setup. Roads on either side are now required, not optional. Go figure. If anyone finds a better one, post it below and I may add it to the guide later and credit you. As they say, a broken clock...
(Christmas tree is optional, but highly recommended.)
As of 1.0, it appears that only a maximum of 12 small stands, 8 medium stands, or 4 large stands can be serviced by one baggage bay. A combination of the sizes can be used, adding up to 12 points with stand sizes being worth 1, 1.5, and 2 points respectively.
Note: I should've put the baggage bay in a better place for a picture to fit in with the 1.0 update, but where I have it in my current run will cause traffic issues and should not be taken as advice. Use this (dated) picture as opposed to where it is in the other screenshots. I would recommend against having two baggage bays immediately adjacent to each other (roads touching). From my experience, the AI treats the two road segments as a regular road and will try to drive on the right side only, causing traffic jams.

1.3. Connect the Desks and Bay

Connect the check-in desks and baggage bay with conveyor belts. Remember, the bags are going from the check-in desks to the baggage bay. Press B to show the directional arrows on the belts. You do not need to build belts on a terminal floor, so you can cheaply do it underground as shown below. Keep in mind where you want your baggage claim area so you can have a simple belt system with minimal crossings. Also have an idea of where you're placing the baggage scanning area as security officers will be needed for scanning bags with a Scanning Station (requires R&D for Baggage Security Tier 3, highly recommended before you enable baggage handling).

1.3.1. Connect the Desks and Bay

I know what you're thinking. "WISD0MTREE is off his rocker. We just did this." Nope, the joke's on you. We're not done with this part and I don't even have a rocking chair and I no longer have a rocking chair as of 1.0 :^). This is one of the most likely reasons why you are here. You built a physical connection of belts between the check-in desks and baggage bay in the previous part. If you haven't, you will get an error in this part. Now you have to assign each check-in desk to a baggage bay. This may become a bit more complicated later when you get several baggage bays, but you should be used to the concept by that point. With multiple terminals, you can set up a system where each terminal will have a separate check-in area.

Anyway, you need to click on a check-in desk. To the right of the main panel that shows up, but left of the gray and yellow boxes, there will be three round buttons. This is shown below. The top will be a green (or possibly red) on/off button for the desk. The second will be a purple button to build a queue for the check-in desk. The third is an orange button with a picture of a bag in it. That is what we are looking for. Click on it.

Then there will be a red line following cursor from the check-in desk. Move your cursor to the baggage bay. Click on the baggage bay to confirm the assignment. After you click on the baggage bay, you should no longer be dragging the cursor. You can confirm this worked by returning to the check-in desk and seeing if a fourth round button has appeared (not shown below). It should be a blue button with a bag. Do not click this, as it will undo what we just did. If you are dumb enough speed-running the guide too fast and clicked it, redo 1.3.1 from the beginning.

1.4. Connect the Stand and Bay

Connect each stand to baggage bay in the same way you connected the check-in desks to the baggage bay. Same orange button, same red line, same baggage bay. See 1.3.1 for more in-depth description on how to do this.

2. A Brief Case for Baggage Claims

A brief case. Briefcase. Talking about bags. Get it? Anyone?

Anyway, so you're sending bags around the globe. It's only a matter of time before they start sending bags back at you on those intercontinental* baggage missiles planes. Let people get their bags, unless you want to stockpile bags for some reason, you weirdo. (People also hate not getting their bags and will leave bad online reviews or something, dropping your ratings. You don't want that.)

*probably not intercontinental yet until you get international flights

Build a Baggage Claim Area

Drag it out like it is a normal room outside of security. Be sure you make it large enough to place belts. Don't forget to turn it on, as they're off by default. People usually can't use off things. They typically have a loop with the bags entering at one point. My design pictured below will work for smaller aircraft. Larger ones may be desired for larger aircraft because dozens of people in a small space looks weird. You should also place seating around there because, if you've just been sitting in a small, cramped space for hours, you obviously want to sit more. Weirdos.

You need to connect the baggage claim area to the baggage bay, just like how you connected the check-in desk to the baggage bay. Use the orange button on the baggage claim menu to connect it to the baggage bay. Refer to 1.3.1 for any help. You also need a physical connection, just like the desk. Who knew the bags needed a physical way from point A to B?

Note: There is a tilt-tray in this image. We will discuss these more in depth later in the guide.

3. I'm Ready, Right?

No.

3.1. Bag Loading/Unloading Infrastructure

How do bags get from the stands to the bay? Baggage trucks, you idiot. Make sure you buy some. The number needed will depend on your transportation layout, due to traffic. How do they get from the plane to the baggage trucks? Ramp agents. Make sure you have enough ramp agents to manage the bags. How many do you need? I would suggest at least double what you currently have to be safe. If you have medium or large stands, ensure you get belt loader trucks. I prefer one per stand for simplicity, but this is not necessarily optimal.
//This part will be expanded in the future

3.2. Make Sure Everything is On

Make sure your baggage bay and baggage claims are on. Make sure bags flow from the desks to the bay (through security) and from the bay to the baggage claim. Once all of the above is done, you can enable Baggage Handling Service under the Operations tab. Make sure your bag fees are where you want them. It defaults to $10 per bag, but is changeable with the CFO. I would HIGHLY recommend having Tier 3 security before enabling baggage. See security below.

4. Advanced Bags

4.0 - Baggage 2.0

Lots of numbers and big words, sounds futuristic.

Security

Bags going to the baggage bay need to be scanned. In theory, the bags should flow as follows: Bags from the boarding desk go into a T1 scanner. Bad bags from the T1 scanner go to T2 scanners, while the good bags proceed to the baggage bay. Bad bags from the T2 scanners get sent to the T3 scanner. The good bags from the T2 scanner go to the baggage bay. The bad bags from T3 get destroyed and good bags get sent to baggage bay.

Hopefully you were able to follow that. I'm hesitant to say this is the best way (hence "in theory" earlier) or provide a picture because you will still likely get a few fines for dangerous bags this way. Some people will swear by scanning bags twice, looping bad bags back again, using two T3 scanners (seems popular, they probably know what they're doing) or other methods. I'm still experimenting to see what works best.

User MKH1020 has a guide here that describes security well. Thanks for showing me it!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2137354432
In any case, be sure your security staff are highly trained, as that plays a role in how effective your T3 scanners operate.

Tilt Trays

This section will be added soon. Basically, they go in one side and (by default) will route to their destination on the other 3 sides, allowing you to have one scanning area for several baggage bays. You do NOT need Tilt Trays to merge melts. You need them to split belts. Again, this section will be added with more detail later.

Automation

If you have automation unlocked and are using the kiosks, you will need at least one separate baggage drop for each baggage bay. You can (and probably should, especially if you turned up pax count in settings or notice long wait times) have multiple baggage drops for each baggage bay. They effectively work the same as a regular (medium) check-in desk. See section 1 on how those work.

Finally

This should give you a basic baggage system up and running. If you are experiencing delays, you likely have either too few ramp agents, too few baggage trucks, or too much traffic. This guide will be updated in the near future to include a troubleshooting section. I hope this helped.

5. Troubleshooting

This is a work in progress. It's kind of like the road near me that is "under construction". When will it be done? Who knows. Have I made any progress on it? No clue, looks about the same. Why am I not working on it now? It's probably too hot (it being my computer in this context). I'm checking to make sure the previous sections are correct before fleshing out this section.

Key points:
-Check zoning
-Check number of employees (ramp agents do bag stuff)
-Check connectivity, both physical (belts) and logical (see 1.3.1)
-Check traffic (baggage trucks can get stuck, causing delays)
-Check number of baggage trucks
-Check tilt tray settings (right click on them, should be "Destination" in almost every circumstance)

If all else fails, reload the game. If the issue persists, feel free to ask on the Steam discussions page, official Discord (link in the Steam discussions page I think), developer forums (again, link in the Steam discussions page I think). When asking, be sure to include screenshots of your belt network and zoning layout.

Ramp Agents Ignoring Baggage Bay

This seems fairly common. Make sure the baggage bay is in a secure zone and the path to it is secured. A common mistake is placing a door on a wall, making the area under the door unsecured. Follow with your mouse a point from a security entrance to the baggage bay, ensuring the path is secure the whole way. This includes sidewalks and across streets. If you want them to cross an insecure zone, you will need a security exit and another security checkpoint.

Suspected/Unreplicated Bugs

"Baggage Reaching Passenger drops then rises unexpectedly!"
I am pretty sure this is a bug. I'm trying to replicate it to report it. If you experience this and you're sure everything is hooked up correctly, don't worry about it.

[GenerallyThrawn]

is it necessary to scan arrival baggage too? or just a good measure? I've always done so by default, but I'm wondering if i actually need to or not.

[mathstrains19]

@Ladripper, (I suspect you don't need it now, but anyone else reading this might) - each large stand is worth 2 points, with up to 6 large stands per baggage bay

[Ladripper]

"As of 1.0, it appears that only a maximum of 12 small stands, 8 medium stands, or 4 large stands can be serviced by one baggage bay. A combination of the sizes can be used, adding up to 12 points with stand sizes being worth 1, 1.5, and 2 points respectively."

if 4 large added to 12 points, then each large would have 3 points instead of 2. Either that, or you can have 6 large stands per baggage bay. Which is it?

[WISD0MTREE]

@dilipnam The only way I know is to delete then replace the belts, unless you mean placing them, then you just rotate as any other object.

[dilipnam]

VERY SIMPLE Q? how do i change conveyor belt flow direction shown by arrows

[Bootlegger]

angieee5, I had this issue also. It seems to happen when ,multiple terminals> are researched. turn off the auto assign to terminal slider at top of staff and vehicle pages. auto assigning gives them equally to each terminal. what is needed is assign to needed task. fixed with switching the slider. hope this solves for you.

[gonavy-beatarmy]

Okay, now do underground baggage handling where the employees have to cross zones. Please.

[Josh.]

When I;m done the tutorial it says I need ramp agents but when I hire like 10 of them but they still won't go to the baggage bay.. please tell me what is happening,

[WISD0MTREE]

@Johny M CIV-18 | 2B-305
I've been unable to reproduce this. What version of the game are you running? Only non-bug I can think would be if you have baggage switched off in the operations tab. If the issue persists, I'd suggest submitting a bug report.

[Jagrodz]

For some reason, my baggage drop (Automation unlock) won't work. They walk up, the animation of them dropping their bag occurs, but they walk away with their bags, and the machine is left hungry. Any ideas? It's connected both mentally and physically