A closer look
Because trusting the general public to wander aimlessly around spinning aircraft propellers was predictably a terrible idea. Before the 1950s, airline passengers would just walk out onto the active tarmac and claim their luggage straight from the cargo hold. Realizing that having exhausted travelers dodging heavy machinery was a massive liability, airports invented the baggage carousel to keep the unwashed masses safely inside the building while they wait an eternity for their suitcases.
