Passenger surges at terminals can lead to chaos. Long queues at bag drops put pressure on infrastructure and staff, resulting in long waits for passengers, potential missed connections, and frustration.
To address this, a new solution developed by reclaim in collaboration with SITA is now live at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL), letting passengers hand over their luggage from home, hotels, or other locations before heading to the airport.
Designed to complement, not replace, existing airport and airline processes, the service offers a practical way to move part of the baggage journey outside the terminal, reducing pressure where airports feel it most.
Travellers can hand over their luggage ahead of their trip, away from the airport.
Bags are securely collected, tracked end-to-end, and delivered to the airport before the passenger arrives.
By taking luggage out of the busiest areas of the terminal, the service helps airports handle passenger surges more easily, leading to shorter queues, less stress for staff, smoother journeys for travellers, and fewer mistakes along the way.
The deployment, live since December, is focused on delivering immediate, practical benefits at one of the world’s busiest airports.
It supports ATL’s approach to managing growth by working with new technology partners, making it easier to move more passengers and luggage without adding extra counters or building new facilities.
For passengers, the impact is immediate and easy to feel. With luggage already on its way, travellers arrive hands-free, move more easily through busy areas, and avoid dealing with bags during the most crowded parts of their journey, while flying just as they always have.
Shawn Gregor, President of the Americas at SITA, said: “Airports operate as interconnected ecosystems, not isolated systems.
“Handling baggage earlier in the journey gives airports a practical way to manage peak demand and make travel easier for passengers, without adding complexity or creating parallel processes that are hard to manage.
“This is how the industry can introduce new passenger services while keeping operations running smoothly at scale.”
The collaboration allows reclaim to roll out its service in a way that fits with existing airport systems, works smoothly with day-to-day operations, and links into the broader passenger and transportation network. This reduces risk for airports and makes it easier to expand the service in the future.
Akmann Van-Mary, reclaim CEO and Founder, said: “This is more than a technical connection.
“It is a partnership that makes sure the service works naturally within the airport environment, from daily operations to safe and reliable baggage handling, so airports can adopt new approaches with confidence while offering a service travellers genuinely want.”
