Nothing is worse than arriving at your holiday destination, eager for your trip to begin, only to face a long wait to retrieve your bag.

We all know the pain of standing by a carousel watching other peoples’ suitcases glide by, waiting for yours to be unloaded. But one airport worker claims they’ve discovered a way to ensure your bags are first onto the belt.

Posting to Quora, Thomas Lo Sciuto, a US-based ramp agent and gate worker at an airport revealed the way bags are loaded onto the plane, which gives you a hint as to which bags are unloaded first at the other end.

Thomas said: "Your best option is to be one of the last passengers to check your bags. This is because bags will always be loaded front to back on the bag carts”. This means if you are last in the check-in queue, your bags will go on last, but are more likely to be the first ones unloaded at your destination.

Of course, this is a risky strategy, as checking in late can mean you don’t have enough time to get through security, so it’s probably best avoided during peak times.

However, for some types of plane, it’s the size of your luggage that makes the difference. HuffPost reported that some airlines, such as Delta who fly from Terminal 3 at London-Heathrow, organise checked bags by size to balance the load.

This means on larger planes, bags are sorted into ‘cans’, basically large bins that hold several cases, meaning the position your bag ends up in depends on the weight of the can and the balance of the plane, so you have no control over how long it’ll take to get back to you.

Another hack that regularly does the rounds is asking at the airport check-in desk for a ‘fragile’ sticker. Some regular travellers claim that airport ground staff load fragile items last, preventing them being crushed under heavier bags, meaning these items may be unloaded first.

And if you’re really determined to get your bags off the plane first, there are airlines that offer ‘priority’ stickers for checked bags meaning handlers are supposed to unload them first at the other end. For example, if you fly in Club class, British Airways’ business class cabin, your bags get a brightly coloured priority tag. These classes also tend to come with additional checked bags so you can pack extra items.

If you’re a frequent flyer, you may also be entitled to extras such as priority handling of your bags, although you usually have to be at the highest tiers to get this benefit.

But the fastest way to get through arrivals at your destination is to simply opt for hand luggage only, as this means you can skip the carousel wait altogether and go straight to the taxi rank.

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