Hartsfield-Jackson Launches New Baggage Drop-Off Service Before You Get to Airport

Hands up – who loves the lines at baggage drop off?

Thought so.

But there’s potential help on the way. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in conjunction with SITA (an airport telecommunications company), are helping to ease congestion by allowing passengers to check in their luggage from home, hotels, or other locations before arriving at the airport.

Designed to complement existing airport and airline processes, the service shifts part of the baggage journey outside the terminal. Bags are securely collected, tracked end-to-end, and delivered to the airport ahead of the passenger, reducing congestion in high-traffic areas and helping airports manage peak demand more efficiently.

Live since December, the deployment supports ATL’s growth strategy by enabling higher passenger and baggage volumes without adding new counters or terminal infrastructure. For travellers, the experience is immediate: arriving hands-free, moving more easily through crowded spaces, and avoiding baggage handling during the busiest stages of the journey.

“Airports operate as interconnected ecosystems, not isolated systems,” said Shawn Gregor, President of the Americas at SITA. “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.”

SITA says the off-site baggage model can be adopted today while leaving room for wider industry participation in the future.