In an airport baggage handling system bag information, flight information and airport topology information are provided to a central processor which determines a path for the bag through the handling system. The bag is scanned at various points along the path and the scan time is compared with a predetermined arrival time for the bag at the scan point. A bag is marked at risk if it arrives at a scan point after the predetermined time and the system may suggest an alternative handling path for the bag if it is determined that the risk of the bag not making an outbound flight is too high.