We've all seen our luggage go up that conveyor belt or scissor lift that reaches the underside of an airplane. But few of us have ever seen the guy inside who has to Tetris everything into place. Here's what that looks like:

Reading through the Reddit comments thread on the subject was illuminating, as people who have had this job elaborated on it. There's a reason he limbers up in the beginning, and lays down when he can: The job is murder on the body. He's in a crawlspace, and kneepads aside, he's kneeling on metal. It's either incredibly hot or incredibly cold in there. The bags are heavy, and there's no good way to get the body leverage required to lift them safely.

One former loader writes "I never had the [conveyor] slide thing when I did this" and when shorthanded, "you had no one pass you bags."

Another found footage of the unloading process. It doesn't look any easier.

I can't think of any easier way to do this that doesn't involve machines, and I assume the guy crawling around is in there because he needs the job, not because he loves the work.

I'll be a bit more patient the next time a flight is delayed due to luggage issues.

Whats nice about this camera view is that the handlers can review it and get a better idea where a specific bag is in the hold.

I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.

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