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OCR for page 117
Integrated Baggage and Ticketing Strategies 117
Moscow Domodedovo
One of Moscow's major airports, Domodedovo, offers direct rail service to a downtown
station, where baggage check-in services are offered. Reportedly, 18% of the travelers who use
Domodedovo airport access it from the downtown rail station (37).
Kuala Lumpur Sentral and Baggage Retrieval
The new service between the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and the downtown Sentral
rail station is attracting nearly 1,000 passengers per day. About one in three choose to give up
their bags at the downtown facility.
Of all the off-airport baggage-handling schemes being developed, only Malaysia's Kuala
Lumpur International Airport is proposing off-airport baggage claim for its downtown
terminal, located at the Kuala Lumpur City Air Terminal at KL Sentral Station. The airport
has established the City Air Terminal at Sentral Station as a separate three-letter IATA code,
allowing passengers to check their baggage to the city rather than to the airport. This concept
was examined in depth in the development of the Hong Kong system and again for the
Heathrow Express. One concern of the Hong Kong designers was the amount of space needed
by a full-scale baggage claim area. Another concern was the possibility that travelers will inac-
curately specify the actual destination, whether at the time of ticket purchase or at the moment
of check-in.
The in-bound through-baggage system has been designed and is scheduled to open at the end
of 2007. Passengers who have specified their destination correctly at the time of check-in will
proceed through immigration, take the train to Sentral Station, pick up their bags from a
carousel, and then proceed through customs procedures in the downtown station.
Near-Airport Check-in Locations
Another concept in baggage-handling strategy is the provision of check-in service at a point
adjacent to the airport, usually at a point of transfer from one mode to another.
Düsseldorf Airport Rail Station
The Düsseldorf rail station on the high-speed system in the Rhine/Ruhr area of Germany pro-
vides an interesting case study of non-downtown locations for off-site baggage handling. Baggage
check-in services were a key element of the new high-speed station in May of 2000. Check-in
services were provided for 20 airlines (which served about 75% of passengers), including
Lufthansa and its Star Alliance partners. Baggage was accepted up to 60 minutes before airplane
departures. A futuristic suspended, automated people mover provided a quick 5-minute con-
nection to the main terminal every 4 minutes.
The new service was widely publicized by the airport, and ridership for the rail system devel-
oped quickly.
What Happened in Düsseldorf? Faced with the choice of separating themselves from their
baggage at the rail station or carrying it on the people mover to the traditional airport check-in
area, passengers overwhelmingly chose to keep it to the last moment. As a result, the check-in
service ceased operation in April 2004 (38).
Newark AirTrain Rail Station
In October 2000, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey opened a major airport facil-
ity at the Newark Airport rail station located on the Northeast Corridor served by Amtrak and
New Jersey Transit. From a legal point of view, both the AirTrain (formerly called the Airport
OCR for page 118
118 Ground Access to Major Airports by Public Transportation
Monorail) and the rail station are part of Newark Liberty International Airport; the AirTrain is
operated solely for airport travelers and does not carry any general-purpose traffic. Given the
very significant difficulties in establishing full baggage check-in service in New York City, this
strategy called for travelers to retain their baggage until arrival at this physical extension of
Newark International Airport.
The baggage check-in station at the Newark Airport rail station was offered to all airlines, but
used by only Continental Airlines' hub operation. Baggage was accepted at the mezzanine level
on the direct path from the Northeast Corridor rail platforms to the AirTrain station itself. The
baggage was sent to the ground level on a spiral ramp (Figure 5-8). From this point, the baggage
was carried by the airline truck to the airport baggage make-up area.
Continental Airlines commenced its baggage check-in service on November 18, 2001. For-
mally, they requested that baggage be checked 2 hours before departure time, but the staff
accepted bags with as little as 45 minutes remaining before departure. Continental Airlines did
not charge for the service.
What Happened in Newark? Faced with the options of going directly to the people mover
or parting with their bags at the rail station itself, about 80% chose to carry their bags to the
traditional check-in area of the airport. Continental closed the service in 2003.
JFK AirTrain Rail Station
The new AirTrain transfer facility at Jamaica Station to the Long Island Railroad (with fur-
ther connections to the New York City subways) was opened in 2004. The facility includes the
PHOTO: M. A. Coogan.
Figure 5-8. The Newark Airport rail station
includes a baggage transfer system, from
which Continental Airlines carried the bags by
truck to the terminal.
