Here’s a hack I never realized, because I don’t fly Delta often enough. Unofficially it seems that Sky Club agents will call down to baggage claim and have your bags pulled off the carousel and stored if you want to visit the lounge on arrival and have checked bags.
- While Delta only allows access to its lounges within 3 hours of departure, this rule doesn’t apply to connections or to visiting a lounge on arrival. (United has a 3-hour rule for one-day passes, American has no such rule.)
- I rarely check bags. Sometimes I’ll stop into a lounge to work, if I’m early for a meeting or for hotel check-in. I might take a shower after an overnight flight. I might just use the bathroom. And of course you can grab a snack. But people worry about their bags sitting at baggage claim.
If you don’t pick up your bag, it eventually gets pulled from the carousel and generally held at the airline’s baggage service office. But frequent flyers say they proactively ask Sky Club agents to call Baggage Services for them, pull the bag off the carousel, and hold it in the baggage service office for them. THey spend their time in the lounge and head to baggage claim later.
- Some say, “Do this all the time, works every time.”
- One traveler claims to have done this 50+ times, sometimes overnight or for days.
If home for only a couple of days between trips, they don’t bother claiming the bag. They might pick it up before the next trip and take it with them. Already packed! So they abandon their bags for a few days and let Delta babysit them.
After the first night, they say Delta calls to say the bag is still there. (Eventually, after a longer period, it might go to central lost & found.)
- In Delta’s app, the status eventually shows “moved to BSO”. That’s something American doesn’t have!
This is basically an unadvertised bag-holding service via the lounge, driven by staff willingness, not a formal product. And you’re doing this at your own risk. Baggage claim is public. Long ago in New York they used to check bag tags as you left. I haven’t seen this in years.
Airports have more law enforcement than almost anywhere. There’s TSA, FBI, DEA, local police and Customs and Border Protection to name just a few. Yet anyone can walk into baggage claim and steal your suitcase. Of course there’s plenty of surveillance video, too. Here’s a man at Delta’s Atlanta hub caught stealing luggage.
Famously, Biden administration official Sam Brinton had been stealing luggage from airports for years. Some passengers track their bags with Airtags and go vigilante tracking down the thief. Here’s a cofrontation also in Atlanta.
If you are going to head to the lounge and let your bag go to the baggage office, you migth feel more comfortable with an AirTag, Tile, Samsung SmartTag, or similar to see that it’s still at the airport rather than heading off with a thief. And as a bonus, since Delta lets you file 20-minute bag delivery guarantee claims electronically, you can see if your bag makes it in 20 minutes and claim the 2,500 SkyMiles even if you’re in the lounge.
Ultimately, I’m sure that some Sky Club agents are happy to help. Not all may! And pushing how long you leave bags – overnight, and for days – absolutely increases the risk that your bag disappears.
If you’re flying American, United or Alaska you can probably do this, too. Your bags ride the belt, and eventually goes to baggage services. I just haven’t regularly heard of flyers talking about having lounge agents reach out to baggage services to pull their bags proactively. Their lounge agents are not, as far as I am aware, running a “dial baggage and pull my bag” concierge service the way that Sky Club agents seem to be.
Have you done it? I bet the agents in the Austin Admirals Club would do it! They call down to the gate and call operations for me all the time to find out delay status beyond updates that are in their system, and they keep working on itineraries for me even after I’ve left the lounge. They do this for everyone and recognize all the regulars by name. I’ll ask them if they’ve ever worked to pull bags before.
Or, just do carry-on-only. Wait, we can visit SkyClubs on-arrival?? Sonova! /s
My way is much simpler. No checked bags.
@ Gary — I had agents do this for me 20 years. ago. However, as already asked by @ 1990, why would one check bags (we were using 3x checked bags pp once per week to move items between homes)? I don’t think this any sort of secret benefit, but rather helpful DL agents simplying ringing down to baggage claim and asking them to hold your bag. Seems like a simple courtesy for employees that care about customers. Perhaps the only reason this seems so special is becuase the people at AA and UA don’t give a rat’s ass about customers?