Handling baggage

Airlines and airports around the world compete to offer excellent customer service, investing huge sums in state of the art in-flight entertainment, luxury lounges, self service check-in facilities and countless high quality shops and restaurants to pamper the customer and differentiate themselves from the competition.

Of course all such benefits amount to nothing in the mind of the passenger if he or she is confronted at baggage collection with a broken suitcase and missing valuables. Naturally, any feelings of satisfaction from a successful trip to Duty Free are quickly forgotten if your prized possessions are missing and your belongings scattered.

Make no mistake, this is a big problem for an industry that has invested so much to instil a sense of luxury and glamour in air transport. As a journalist covering the industry, I come across reports of luggage pilfering or prosecutions for baggage mishandling at airports on average once every two or three days.

Greater complexity

It is true that transfer traffic and the scale of operations at major airports have made baggage handling a rather complex business activity from a process viewpoint. But the actual baggage handling work is clear and simple - the ideal domain of blue collar workers.

In Europe, baggage handling used to be the responsibility of airlines and airports, but two developments have diminished their direct influence on baggage handling. In the Autumn of 1996 the European Commission issued a directive aimed at liberalising the ground handling market. This Directive paved the way for independent ground handling agents to offer their services at many airports around Europe.

The second development followed soon afterwards - the outsourcing of baggage handling, by which airlines and airports chose to offload baggage handling to other companies able to provide the service more efficiently (i.e. at lower cost). Since the 96/97EC Council Directive made it legally possible, outsourcing has become widespread.

Cutting costs

Unfortunately, outsourcing has had a negative influence on the quality of baggage handling. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) can never adequately replace the direct responsibility that airlines and airports used to have for baggage handling. Despite these SLA’s, third-party baggage handlers compete primarily on monetary terms, and so must keep their costs as low as possible. They do this by hiring dozens of low paid temporary staff who have little loyalty or commitment to the role.

As an industry we cannot avoid responsibility for the problem by saying baggage theft is now the concern of the company responsible for the handling or the labour contracts of the employees involved. Baggage handling nowadays is a tripartite business involving airports, airlines and third party handlers. All three actors have to take their responsibility.

Airports should facilitate secured baggage handling and ramp areas and airlines should place greater emphasis on the quality of service offered by the third party handler they hire. Third party handlers should put much more attention on the working attitude of their employees.

Technological assistance

Technology has a part to play too. Airports and airlines should  speed-up the implementation of RFID tags (as promoted by IATA’s Simplifying the Business Programme) to minimise the potential for baggage to be misplaced, thereby eliminating one of the opportunities for luggage to be mishandled or stolen.

Baggage handling is an essential part of a customer’s travel experience. That experience is all too often ruined by baggage handlers who see too many opportunities for transgression, and perceive little commitment from airports and airlines to stamp out the problem. It’s time for airports and airlines alike to reclaim responsibility for their customer’s baggage and take the total travel experience seriously!  

Do not hold your breath awaiting action either by airlines or the airport authorities.

The increasing frequency of theft from and of luggage and damage to same in my recent experience generates no more than an impolite shrug accompanied by a sneered: "You should have insured".

It seems theft and damage are the latest profit centres for airlines and airports.  The airports give a tenancy to 'luggage wrappers' with their plasticated cocooning devices, while the airlines have cottoned onto the delete-option insurance scam. 

The onus comes right back onto you the traveller should you fail to take advantage of these 'services'.

John Weinthal, Kuala, Lumpur