Learn Hardcore Russian: Наш багаж прилетел другим рейсом и приехал позже. - Our baggage arrived on a different flight and came later.

Gender: багаж is grammatically masculine.
Number: It’s singular, even though it can refer to several physical items (suitcases, bags, etc.). It’s similar to English luggage, which is grammatically singular: The luggage has arrived.

Because багаж is masculine singular, the verb in the past tense also has to be masculine singular:

Он прилетел → багаж прилетел

You would only use a plural verb if you used a plural noun, e.g.:

Наши чемоданы прилетели другим рейсом.
Our suitcases arrived on a different flight.

Why is it наш багаж, not наша багаж?

The possessive pronoun must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun it modifies.

багаж is masculine singular in the nominative.
The correct form of наш for masculine singular nominative is наш.

So:

наш багаж = our luggage
Not:
наша багаж (feminine) – incorrect because багаж is not feminine.
наши багаж (plural) – incorrect because багаж is not plural.

Why are both прилетел and приехал used? Aren’t they both just “arrived”?

Both verbs mean “arrived,” but they focus on slightly different things.

прилетел (from прилететь) – “arrived by flying / arrived by plane.”
Used specifically for arrival by air.
приехал (from приехать) – “arrived by vehicle / came (by transport).”
Often used more generally for “arrived,” especially for arrival at a place.

In this sentence:

Наш багаж прилетел другим рейсом – Our luggage came by plane on a different flight (emphasis: it flew on a different flight).
…и приехал позже. – and arrived later (emphasis: its eventual arrival to where you are; this verb is more generic here).

Could you say прилетел… и прилетел позже?
Technically possible, but it sounds clumsy and repetitive. Using приехал for the second part sounds more natural and idiomatic, because Russian often uses приехать in the neutral sense to arrive (to us) when we’re talking about arrival to a place, not the manner (flying) itself.

What tense and aspect are прилетел and приехал, and why are those forms used?

Both прилетел and приехал are:

Past tense
Perfective aspect
Masculine singular forms

Perfective aspect (прилететь, приехать) is used because we’re talking about completed, one-time events:

The luggage arrived on a different flight (one finished event).
It arrived later (another finished event).

If you used the imperfective forms (прилетал, приезжал), it would sound like:

Наш багаж прилетал другим рейсом… – suggests repeated/typical past actions (e.g. “used to arrive by a different flight” / “was arriving”), not a single incident. That’s not what is meant here.

Why is it другим рейсом and not something like другой рейс?

другим рейсом is in the instrumental case.

рейс → рейсом (instrumental singular)
другой → другим (instrumental singular masculine to match рейсом)

The instrumental case here expresses means or method of transport:
“by another flight / on another flight.”

Common pattern with transport:

лететь / летать / лететь рейсом X – to fly on flight X
→ Мы летели этим рейсом. – We flew on this flight.

So:

другим рейсом = by a different flight / on a different flight
Literally, “with/using a different flight.”

Could I say на другом рейсе instead of другим рейсом? Is there any difference?

Yes, на другом рейсе is also possible and correct. The difference is subtle:

другим рейсом (instrumental, no preposition)
– Slightly more like “by another flight,” focusing on the means of transport.
на другом рейсе (prepositional with на)
– More literally “on another flight,” emphasizing “on board this flight,” the location.

In everyday speech, both are very common, and many speakers would use them almost interchangeably here:

Наш багаж прилетел другим рейсом.
Наш багаж прилетел на другом рейсе.

Both sound natural.

What is the difference between позже, поздно, and потом? Why is позже used here?

All three are time-related, but they’re used differently:

позже – later (comparative: “later than something else”)
- Он приехал позже. – He arrived later (than expected / than others).
- Наш багаж приехал позже. – It arrived later than it should have, or later than we did.
поздно – late (describes how late something is)
- Он приехал поздно. – He arrived late (at a late time of day).
потом – afterwards / then (after that)
- Сначала мы прилетели, потом багаж приехал.
  First we arrived, then the luggage arrived.

In the sentence:

приехал позже – focus is on “later than something else” (our arrival, the scheduled time, other luggage, etc.), so позже is the right word.

Can I change the word order, for example to Багаж наш прилетел другим рейсом…? How flexible is the word order here?

Russian word order is fairly flexible, but it affects emphasis.

Neutral, most common:

Наш багаж прилетел другим рейсом и приехал позже.

Possible variations:

Багаж наш прилетел другим рейсом и приехал позже.
– Puts a slight emphasis on багаж (as opposed to something else), feels a bit more poetic or emotional in modern speech.
Прилетел нашим багажом другой рейс… – This is not a natural way to say it; you’d normally keep багаж early and close to прилетел.

For clear, standard speech, stick with:

Наш багаж прилетел другим рейсом и приехал позже.

Why isn’t багаж repeated before the second verb? Could I say Наш багаж прилетел другим рейсом и багаж приехал позже or …и он приехал позже?

In Russian, when two verbs share the same subject, you normally mention the subject once and then just join the verbs:

Наш багаж прилетел другим рейсом и приехал позже.

You would not repeat багаж:

✗ Наш багаж прилетел другим рейсом и багаж приехал позже. – sounds clumsy and redundant.

Using он is grammatically fine and can sound natural, especially if you want a tiny pause or emphasis:

Наш багаж прилетел другим рейсом, и он приехал позже.

But it’s not necessary. The original sentence without он is more compact and perfectly natural.

Is this sentence neutral, formal, or colloquial? Are there other common ways to say the same thing?

The sentence is neutral and suitable for spoken and written Russian. You could say it at the airport, in a complaint, or telling a story to a friend.

A few natural variants:

Наш багаж прилетел другим рейсом, поэтому приехал позже.
Our luggage came on a different flight, so it arrived later. (explicit cause with поэтому)
Наш багаж прилетел другим рейсом и задержался.
Our luggage came on a different flight and was delayed. (focuses on the delay)
Наш багаж прилетел другим рейсом и пришёл позже.
…and arrived later. (пришёл is possible but less typical for baggage; приехал is more idiomatic here.)

The original:

Наш багаж прилетел другим рейсом и приехал позже.

is a very natural, everyday way to say it.