Faltaba el equipaje facturado en la cinta de equipajes.

Here faltar means to be missing / to be absent / not to be there.

A key point for English speakers is that Spanish often structures this idea differently from English:

• Faltaba el equipaje facturado = The checked baggage was missing
• Literally, it is closer to The checked baggage was lacking / absent

So el equipaje facturado is the grammatical subject of the verb. Spanish does not need an extra word like was + missing; faltaba already carries that idea.

You will also see faltar in other patterns, for example:

• Falta una maleta = One suitcase is missing
• Me faltan las llaves = I’m missing my keys / My keys are missing

Faltaba is the imperfect, which often describes a situation in progress or the background of a scene in the past.

So here it suggests something like:

• at that moment,
• during that time,
• when people were looking for it,

the checked baggage was missing.

By contrast, faltó is the preterite, which presents the action or situation more as a completed fact or single event.

Very roughly:

• faltaba = was missing
• faltó = went missing / was absent at a specific moment

In an airport context, faltaba sounds natural if you are describing the situation. It paints the scene rather than just reporting a finished event.

Because equipaje is usually a mass noun, just like English luggage or baggage.

So even if there are two or three suitcases, Spanish often uses singular:

• el equipaje = the luggage
• mucho equipaje = a lot of luggage

If you want to count individual items, Spanish usually switches to something countable, such as:

• las maletas = the suitcases
• dos bultos = two pieces
• tres piezas de equipaje = three pieces of luggage

So el equipaje facturado is completely normal even if it refers to more than one checked bag.

Because facturado agrees with equipaje, and equipaje is masculine singular.

So:

• el equipaje facturado
• la maleta facturada
• los bultos facturados

Here facturado is a past participle being used like an adjective. It means checked in or checked in the airport sense.

The base verb is facturar, which in this context means to check in baggage.

It means checked baggage: luggage that you hand over at the airline desk so it travels in the hold, not with you in the cabin.

In Spain, common airport vocabulary includes:

• equipaje facturado = checked baggage
• facturar el equipaje = to check in luggage
• equipaje de mano = hand luggage / carry-on
• equipaje de cabina = cabin baggage

So facturado here has nothing to do with invoices in the everyday business sense, even though facturar can also mean to invoice / bill in other contexts.

Spanish en is broader than English in/on/at, and in this kind of sentence it simply marks the place where the baggage was expected or where it was missing.

So:

• en la cinta de equipajes can correspond to on the baggage belt, at the baggage carousel, or, in more natural English, from the baggage carousel depending on how you express the full idea.

Spanish does not need to match the English preposition exactly. It is enough to say the location of the absence:

• Faltaba ... en la cinta = it was missing there / it wasn’t there on the belt

That is why the Spanish uses en, even if the best English translation may use from.

Good question. Equipaje is often uncountable, but the plural equipajes does exist, especially in set expressions or when speaking in a more institutional or airport-style way.

That is why you often see things like:

• recogida de equipajes = baggage claim
• cinta de equipajes = baggage belt / carousel

This does not necessarily mean individual suitcases are being counted one by one. It is just a common expression in that setting.

You may also hear singular versions in some contexts, but de equipajes sounds very normal in airport Spanish.

Spanish is more flexible than English with word order.

Starting with the verb here gives the sentence a more natural reporting or scene-setting feel. It puts the focus on the situation of absence:

• Faltaba el equipaje facturado... = The checked baggage was missing...

If you say:

• El equipaje facturado faltaba...

it is still grammatical, but it sounds less neutral and may feel more marked or contrastive, as if you are especially emphasizing the checked baggage.

So the original order is natural because it introduces the problem first.

It is understandable and grammatically fine, but depending on the exact situation, Spanish speakers might also use other expressions that sound more conversational in an airport context.

Some common alternatives are:

• No estaba el equipaje facturado en la cinta.
  The checked baggage wasn’t on the belt.

• No aparecía el equipaje facturado en la cinta.
  The checked baggage wasn’t showing up on the belt.

• No salió el equipaje facturado.
  The checked baggage didn’t come out.

• Faltaba una maleta.
  One suitcase was missing.

So the original sentence works, but in real-life speech people often choose a version that sounds a bit more direct or idiomatic for the situation.