Spherical luggage system

While thinking about [Kansan101]'s luggage cube idea [link] it occurred to me that spherical suitcases would offer a great advantage with loading and unloading. I must acknowledge that before I could actually post this idea [pocmloc] anno-ed a spherical suitcase concept.

A spherical hard-shelled case with a smooth non-stick surface which opened up like a clamshell would work well. A leather leash attached to two leather circles each smaller than the case but joined together would allow the user to tow them behind them from the carpark to the check-in area. One leather circle would go above and the other below the suitcase's "equator" and would be loose fitting allowing the case to rotate when towed. Once checked-in, the leash would be unclipped and the spherical case would roll by itself into the baggage handling area.

The baggage truck would elevate itself beside the plane using a scissor-lift apparatus like those on existing catering trucks then extend a chute into the plane allowing all the cases to simply roll into the plane's baggage compartment. If not filled to capacity a bit of cargo netting keeps them in place for the flight.

Once the plane is at its destination, more chutes allow for quick unloading of all the cases and the baggage collection area would look just like a bowling alley's ball return device. The whole process would be much quicker than the current manual-handling process and RFID's would allow mechanized sorting behind the scenes so the right bags go on the right flights.

There would be a bit of loss in packing efficiency on the plane but having spheres of differing sizes to fill the interstices would help greatly. The speed improvement for the loading and unloading of planes woud more than offset the cost to the airlines.