Airport Responsibility / Security

[drron]

Is that what you do with the golf attire when not playing?

Actually the previous ribbon we had tied to our bags was virtually the same pattern as my golf shorts.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I remember once in DRW there was a 3 way bag swap a couple of whom were JQ feral pax from DRW's rural area -didn't think bush pigs could fly. Their answer was to hurl abuse at the airline because somebody else had taken their bag.

Also saw a guy take the wrong bag with a ribbon on it because "my missus always puts a ribbon on her suitcase". She's not the only one fella!

 

[warbrook]

Having recently lost my bags on a VIRGIN BLUE flight (never, never again)

I agree wholeheartedly with what has been said about the lack of bag security. Of course, Virgin Blue wouldn't be any different from most other airlines. My wife flew from Canberra to Port Moresby a week ago with Qantas. While we were waiting to board, her flight out of Canberra was cancelled. The Qantas desk in the departure lounge where I had to change her boarding pass told me the flight was overbooked and passengers were being transferred to a larger plane. I later discovered that the plane had mechanical problems. Then the plane she was transferred to had mechanical problems and was delayed about 45 minutes. Then her bags weren't at the collection point when she disembarked in Port Moresby. Since the travel was via Sydney and Cairns, her bags could have been anywhere along the way. She lodged a claim, but since POM isn't on the global bag-tracking system, she just had to count on the Qantas baggage people at Jackson Airport to locate it for her if it arrived. Fortunately, my call to Qantas back here in Australia revealed (very speadily, I must say) that the bags were on a flight arriving POM the following morning. No explanation, but I assume they weren't transferred to the 'larger' plane in Canberra, which turned out to be the same type of plane that she was booked on in the first place. I'd really like to talk to the woman at the service desk in the Canberra departure lounge, who had assured me that the bags had 'already been transferred'. Then, noticing that I was looking anxious, the nice lady who was handing out the headsets at the boarding gate, said to me: ‘Don’t worry, we’ll look after her.’ Why do I not feel reassured?

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Then her bags weren't at the collection point when she disembarked in Port Moresby. Since the travel was via Sydney and Cairns, her bags could have been anywhere along the I'd really like to talk to the woman at the service desk in the Canberra departure lounge, who had assured me that the bags had 'already been transferred'. Then, noticing that I was looking anxious, the nice lady who was handing out the headsets at the boarding gate, said to me: ‘Don’t worry, we’ll look after her.’ Why do I not feel reassured?

It's quite possible that the woman at the service desk was told the bags had already been transferred to the other flight and told you in good faith that it had been done. They may have been taken off the first flight and still been sitting on one of the barrows and not loaded on to the new plane.

Occasionally other factors come in to play like crew hours, flight & duty limitations so the plane has to go asap to avoid the flight being cancelled altogether & as a result some bags get left behind.

 

[warbrook]

It's quite possible that the woman at the service desk was told the bags had already been transferred to the other flight and told you in good faith that it had been done.

Quite so. It's impossible to tell where the misinformation came from. The story about 'too many passengers' for the smaller plane was discredited by the departure schedule as I left the terminal. The original flight was still on the list, notated 'mechanical'.

I'm sure there would be a good reason why the bags were left behind somewhere, e.g. lack of baggage space after the first plane's passengers were bundled onto the second flight. I don't even know for sure that it happened in Canberra; it could have happened in Sydney or Cairns. However, wouldn't it be great if the airline advised owners of offloaded bags accordingly as they arrived at their destination. That shouldn't be too hard or too much to expect.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Quite so. It's impossible to tell where the misinformation came from. The story about 'too many passengers' for the smaller plane was discredited by the departure schedule as I left the terminal. The original flight was still on the list, notated 'mechanical'.

I'm sure there would be a good reason why the bags were left behind somewhere, e.g. lack of baggage space after the first plane's passengers were bundled onto the second flight. I don't even know for sure that it happened in Canberra; it could have happened in Sydney or Cairns. However, wouldn't it be great if the airline advised owners of offloaded bags accordingly as they arrived at their destination. That shouldn't be too hard or too much to expect.

Generally speaking what should happen is when it's apparent bags have been left behind that port should send a message to the final destination where pax is to collect luggage from so staff can inform them what's happened & what flight their bag will be arriving on when they arrive.

If you're standing at the baggage carousel waiting to collect your luggage you might hear pax being paged to the baggage office. Most of the time it's to let people know that their bags for whatever reason didn't make the flight.

The too many pax for the plane (overbooking) scenario can happen if the flight suddenly went from a 738 (12J/156Y config) to a 734 (12J/132Y config) as you're suddenly minus 24 Y seats if the first flight was fully booked.

From time to time the destination port does not get advised which is frustrating for a) the staff as they haven't been given the chance the prepare the paperwork prior to pax arrival & b) for the pax as they've had to hang around the carousel for a bag that didn't make that flight & c) frustrating again for the staff because of b) as pax more likely to be upset.

 

[warbrook]

Ozbeachbabe, do you work for Qantas? Another airline?

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Ozbeachbabe, do you work for Qantas? Another airline?

I've experienced my bags not arriving first hand so been there, got the T-shirt.

It was a CNS/DRW flight when the magic carpet inside the 737 broke down when they were loading bags in CNS and as the crew were on the last leg of their duty the flight couldn't be delayed & as a result 50 bags got left behind.

In this instance I was paged on arrival so knew straight away what that meant.

 

[PineappleSkip]

Warbrook, t shirts come with membership of the "I got to POM but my bags didn't" club. Membership is currently full but you can join the waiting list.

I can happily report we've had 100% strike rate in ultimately redeeming our bags...

Cheers skip

 

[markis10]

I've experienced my bags not arriving first hand so been there, got the T-shirt.

I kind of like the care pack you get with the tshirt and shorts when your bag goes missing with QF, they would make a good prize for OzFest

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I kind of like the care pack you get with the tshirt and shorts when your bag goes missing with QF, they would make a good prize for OzFest

The T-shirt & shorts would be a lot more practical for the DRW climate than the grey smurf J class jarmies.

Didn't get the care pack as they knew I was a local

 

[Flashback]

Then there was this story from last year-
Thiefhunters in Paradise » Why airport luggage thieves steal black bags
"
Yeah, this story’s everywhere, about the Phoenix couple who made a living stealing luggage off the airport carousel. Police found almost a thousand suitcases in their house.
Not a single report has pointed out that the stolen luggage is almost all black. I described this strategy in a post more than a year ago, and in my book way before that. This is an M.O. This is something to notice and learn from.
Thieves prefer to steal black luggage because so much of it looks alike. If the thief is caught red-handed by the bag’s owner, he only has to say sorry, it looks just like mine. And he’s out of there. Scot-free."
Moral-forget black and tie something nice and colourful to your bags.

I wonder if they have much room to move around their house with 1,000+ suitcases occupying the space? :shock:

 

[PineappleSkip]

I wonder if they have much room to move around their house with 1,000+ suitcases occupying the space? :shock:

Apparently they had 14 spare rooms, and they stacked it vertically
Stolen suitcases, clothing piled floor to ceiling at couple's home | Phoenix News | Arizona News | azfamily.com | Featured Videos

 

[samh004]

Apparently they had 14 spare rooms, and they stacked it vertically
Stolen suitcases, clothing piled floor to ceiling at couple's home | Phoenix News | Arizona News | azfamily.com | Featured Videos

Some impressive video coverage there. Nearly a year old now though!

 

[ausi ski bum]

I have a skiing kangaroo on my bags, I made a template some years back and each time I get a new bag I use paint pens to add my roo.

In Japan they check bags against tags and the bags are collected in a secure area, its not rocket science.

 

[john john]

We've been travelling in South America for a couple of months and observed checks of the type suggested earlier. Many of the long distance bus services very carefully check luggage against tickets as they empty the bus.

As for flights twice we've had baggage checked against luggage tickets- flying on Amazonas from Jurrenbaque to La Pas in Bolivia and with LAN Ecuador from Guayquil to Galapagos.

 

[JohnK]

I noticed someone walking off with my luggage once. They were not thiefs and we had similar luggage but they did not bother to identify the luggage properly before walking off.

Would be nice to get some sort of tag matching but as others have mentioned it would probably drive costs of flying higher.

I don't know if this information is accurate but having a chat to the staff at Brisbane luggage centre when I was having luggage issues and they mentioned to me that statistics show that bag thieves normally target luggage in the first 6 to come out on the carousel. The reason is that by the time people had realised their luggage was missing the thieves were long gone.

Moral of the story is make sure you are there when the first bags come out on the carousel or that your bags come out last. I try to be one of the first people at the carousel.