Malpensa introduces "self bag drop": how it works

The varazzino airport announced it last April 7: the self bag drop is reality.

"From today to Milan Malpensa Self Bag Drop, the system that allows passengers to check checked baggage in complete autonomy, is in operation. They are 13 the machinery installed at Terminal 1, which will rise to 21 by the end of the year and through April 2022 will be for passengers easyJet" reports the post on the official Facebook page.

What is self bag drop

Quite simply, it is a self-service check in. These are machines that allow the traveler to check checked luggage independently, without needing the assistance of ground staff. You can find them in Terminal 1, at the height of the row 10, where a large red sign reads "Self Bag Drop." Owned by SEA, according to reports from Aeroporti Lombardi, they will for the time being be at exclusive use of easyJet.

The advantage? The reduced check-in time. So much so that easyJet, itself, claims to have reduced them by 50% through the installation of 48 machines at London Gatwick Airport. In front of the single machine, travelers spend no more than 1 minute and only one attendant is needed to control 14 locations. An advantage well known abroad but also in other Italian airports that have introduced them (Bologna, Treviso, Bergamo).

Using the "new" system is super simple. One has to stand in front of the self bag drop with an electronic boarding pass and follow the guided instructions on the screen. You choose the language, place your smartphone or bar-coded boarding pass under the screen, and the system does everything. The passenger's name, flight, airline and destination are automatically identified. Then you place the luggage on the belt so that it can be weighed, and you receive a label to put on your luggage. Once initiated, the luggage enters the sorting system directly.

What's new at Malpensa

Milan Malpensa airport has been much talked about for the Covid-tested flights taking off from here and arriving here. There is plenty of news from northern Italy's most important hub, however, and some of it has the flavor of the future. Most recently, the project by start-up Walle Mobility, which-in collaboration with the American electric helicopter company Jaunt Air Mobility-is working on a Flying cab between the airport and downtown Milan.

"In our vision moving through our skies will be as easy as moving on the street. We want to launch the first air cab service within 5 years" said founder and CEO Domenico Gagliardi. The promise? Eighteen minutes of flight time, to go from Central Station to the Malpensa runways. An experiment to be replicated in Naples, to connect the Neapolitan city to Capri. Utopia? Not according to experts, who see this type of air transportation as the future. At least on short routes (less than 50 km).

For the time being, we just have to "make do" with simpler inventions such as the self bag drop. That they do not revolutionize life, but they simplify it a little.