It's the airlines who handle luggage anyways, not the airport, not the city, not anybody else, right? I can't see them being interested in doing anything outside the confines of the airport. They contract out delivery of lost luggage, but they sure as hell won't want responsibility of another leg of the trip that they have even less control over.

There's little incentive for RTD to get in the luggage business, unless they can charge handsomely for it. Not even sure they're legally authorized to do that, I'd have to look into it (or a court challenge/the legislature would).

The city? What do they care?

It's not that it's impossible, I'm just not sure who'd want to bother. Private companies make the most sense, in conjunction with individual airlines. But I have to think if that was a money maker, airlines would already offer it (it's just as inconvenient to drag luggage to remote lots and rental car facilities, I'd think door to door service would be a bonus, but alas, nobody that I know of is offering it).

The other direction you'd also have security to think about. Gate checking is still you handing a bag to an airline rep. Not sure we want to mess with luggage check facilities at Union Station.

I've lugged bags on more trains than I can count. It just seems like a non-issue to me.

The DIA South terminal expansion, is said to have Luggage check-in and claim. I assume if you plan to claim your baggage here, instead of the main baggage claim in the existing terminal, you have to notify the airline when you check-in your luggage, before your flight to DIA. Yes, the South terminal expansion/Train Station will have baggage check-in and claim and separate security check lines and also a new station for the DIA subway tram. Transit riders will be able to completely bypass the main Jeppesen terminal facilities.

Where'd you get that? My understanding was it's an expansion of the current facilities.

I don't remember, try these sources:

http://www.westword.com/2010-03-04/n...gone-before/5/

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...y9YCW4ZrOv_NpQ

Remember that the existing express bus service, which I have used to save my sister from driving all the way out to the airport to pick me up, already has "checked" bag service. Give your bag to the driver and tell him your destination, and that's included in your price.

Bless him, he'll even call after you if you're sometimes forgetful and walk away without picking it up!

I thought one of the ideas for the Union Station redevelopment was to have a bag check for the airport. Even if that does not happen United at least already offers a service where they pick up your luggage at you front door.

I have carried my bags from the airport to the train in Boston, Chicago, DC, and NYC and never had a problem doing it, can't see why it is such a big deal here. Also what if someone is getting off at Peoria to go down south? Are you going to delay the train so someone can locate their luggage in the luggage cart that needs to be off at that stop? The liability just seems to great.

I have been unable to verify my source of information (or even locate it). I could have sworn I read that on one of the articles about DIA terminal expansion. I guess I better retract those comments about the terminal having it's own baggage check-in/claim and security lines. This may still be the plan, but I can't confirm it, so it's best to just wait and see.

Snyder, I'm sure you mean bag security, right? The idea of a sterile car for airport pax where the doors never open probably wouldn't work practically, just so you could arrive in the secure underground portion of the airport.

No, I meant this:

-Take the train to DIA
-Get off the train at DIA South Terminal Station
-Check in luggage right there after departing train
-Go through a new security line right there in the South Terminal extension between the RTD train platforms and the new DIA platforms for the extended subway tram.
-Get on the DIA subway tram right there in the South Terminal extension and take it directly to your Concourse.
-No need to get off the DIA subway tram at the existing Jeppenssen stop.


I know there isn't detailed information on this yet, but I am almost certain this is the planned design. They are extending the DIA subway Tram to have a new stop next to the RTD train station. The DIA subway tram is a secure zone. There will have to be separate luggage check-in/claim and security lines for people using the South Terminal extension, before they can board the DIA subway tram. How else could it possibly work? This is my understanding of the plan and yes it does include many assumptions, but they are assumptions based on the released information about the plan.

That's the same impression that I got, too, so you're not pulling that out of thin air.

The purpose of the South Terminal extension is not simply to integrate the RTD train station with the airport. The South Terminal extension, is being designed to increase the capacity of DIA. What better way to increase capacity of an airport, than to add more security lines, more luggage processing capacity? The idea with the South Terminal extension, is it is a way to process all incoming and outgoing passengers who are using public transit options, separably from the main airport facilities. This in turn, will help lower congestion in the main airport security lines and baggage check-in/claim areas. Also, by adding a new stop to the DIA subway tram at the South terminal extension, there will be reduced backup in lines in the main Jeppesen DIA tram stop. The South Terminal extension, is adding to airport capacity for processing passengers, it's not just a train station and hotel.

For those with prepurchased tickets (of course) and for those airlines that might pool electronic verification this could work. The train station presents a very difficult security interface, and, I would suppose that respective airlines would have some type of mini ticketing and screening area, possibly as a future buildout based upon how many passengers will use the train facility etc. I would think that the larger players- Southwest, United, and Frontier would reacte first. In the interim, very efficient escalators and moving sidewalks would connect the train station with both baggage and ticketing floors.

Incoming passengers present no problems.

Maybe a private company or even DIA can purchase an entire train, run it on RTD's line, and allow you to pay 20 bucks or something so your bags can be checked and x-rayed somewhere at Union Station and they'll be put on the flight you're going to on their own.

I don't know what kind of obstacles there would be doing that, but I see some of the more upscale travelers loving that sort of service, especially if they're exhausted and going home from their trip. It could also make some money for RTD.

It doesn't necessarily have to be on the rail line if that's too much of an obstacle; I suppose a cargo van driving on the road could do the same thing and arrive at the airport that way while you go there by rail.

I don't know how it would work coming FROM the airport; whatever company or entity is providing the service would have to have representatives at all the other airports that the flights are coming from because people would have to sign up in advance so the bags can be tagged. I doubt that's going to happen (unless it turned into a big company and started providing the same service in lots of cities). I think you have to actually come back into possession of your own bags before you get on the train. Then all you're doing is basically paying someone to carry them to the train for you.

For more info on checking in for a flight, incl luggage, see Vienna's CAT train.

Having taken this service, you check-in inside Vienna Hbf, drop off your luggage, and go strait to security. Going to Vienna, from the airport, you pick up your luggage at baggage claim, as usual. To do otherwise would be silly, as if your bag doesn't show up at the Hbf, and you do, who do you talk to?
The service is €9 OW and €16 RT. Other options are available. http://www.cityairporttrain.com/Serv...-Check-In.aspx

Another train stations that have check-in is Cologne with Lufthansa: http://www.lufthansa.com/de/de/AIRai...en-wie-im-Flug. Though, having never used it, I cannot speak to how it works. Though, maybe wiki can help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIRail_Service

I think Berlin Brandenburg Int'l Airport, the replacement for Berlin Tegel and Berlin Schonefeld, will also have trains that allow you to check-in and drop off your luggage at Berlin Hbf, though I cannot recall.

The link you posted makes it clear that while you can check in ahead of time, you still carry your luggage with you on the train. There is no luggage handling for the train portion of your route. Here, I'll copy-paste (German, sorry, that probably doesn't help most of you):

Wenn Sie ihre Reise mit AIRail beginnen, checken Sie sowohl für die Zug- als auch für die Flugstrecke vorab ein und nehmen Ihr Gepäck einfach mit in Ihren AIRail Zug. So können Sie sich nach ihrer Ankunft am Frankfurter Fernbahnhof und der anschließenden Gepäckabgabe im AIRail Terminal ohne weitere Verzögerung bequem zum Abfluggate Ihres Weiterfluges begeben.
[...]
Ihr Gepäck nehmen Sie dann einfach mit in Ihren AIRail Zug.

The only thing special about this is that they have separate check-in counters and baggage drop-off/claim at the airport. Considering I can check in on my phone now, and that the regular luggage handing procedures at DIA only involves another couple hundred feet from the planned train station to the normal check-in/baggage claim locations at DIA, it doesn't seem you'd gain much.

I can't speak for how it's done in Vienna. Is the Vienna train a dedicated airport line? Sounds like it. Do they have intermediate stops? I dunno... it seems like a pain. Only works with some airlines, and it's an airport service. I just don't see how/why RTD could/would want to do the luggage handling, deal with a bunch of different airlines, etc. - if the line was operated by DIA, maybe that'd be different. But it's not an airport-operated thing here, and it's not just an airport line.

The German Deutsche Bahn/Lufthansa approach is a better fit for our situation, even if it doesn't add much benefit. Also doesn't work with all airlines there... Deutsche Bahn + Lufthansa is just not the same situation as RTD and dozens of airlines. Advance check-in isn't hard though, we do it already.


EDIT: You know, the more I think about this, the less it seems like a problem to me. The whole point of rail-air connections in Europe is for inter-city travel. But we don't have that. I just seriously doubt that many people will have such an issue with luggage - and those who do, in a city like ours, probably are not taking the train anyways. There are limits to what we can/should do to add a couple of riders. Some people just belong in a taxi! There are a whole lot of bus improvements we could do in every corner of the city that would get us more bang for our transit buck than figuring out a way to have somebody carry others' luggage for them.

I made an edit to address these issues, but they didn't get published. The CAT train is a dedicated, non-stop line. However, I don't find this difference b/w the two systems, CAT and RTD, to be too great. If the DUS-DIA train can have a sterile luggage car, or at least luggage compartment, you can offer the service to passengers at DUS only. For $10, I would bite on it.

As for all the airlines, IIRC, the Conv Center Hyatt does (maybe did) have a multi-airline check in kiosk in it. While there was no luggage service, it was nice to allow travellers the ability to have a paper boarding pass. This perk will diminish, however, as smart phones apps have an electronic boarding pass.

This is the biggest problem with a CAT like service in Denver. While people like me would have for the convenience and reduced stress, I doubt there's enough of us to make the system viable.

Definitely something I'll have on my mind if/when I go down to Union Station to look at the prototype. I don't think an EMU system would allow for a luggage car... but I'll be thinking about whether it'd be practical to cordon off a section of the car for luggage. Are the cars bi-directional? I think they are. If so, that could be a problem.

I don't know that it would really need to be sterile... you could check the bag at union station, get the checked baggage tag with the barcode, then put your bag through the screening thing once you get to the airport (maybe have a special line downstairs where the train terminal will be). That's how they do it at smaller airports where the TSA doesn't have room to squeeze in the baggage x-ray machines in behind the check-in podiums. You "check" your bag at the podium, then bring it over to the TSA screener.

Sure, but if you're still going to have to carry it on the train, all you're saving is the walk from the train to a DIA check counter. That's a shorter walk than you'd have if you accidentally got dropped off on the east side of the terminal and ha to walk to the west. Hardly worth a penny of investment to avoid that. The whole point of the discussion, I thought, was how to avoid having to lug your bags around on the train. Unless we're talking about funding porters now...?