@ nonsense; Agreed, but please revisit my comments about airlines not necessarily having their own staff at the destination, so they will have to ask the handling agent to go and make the announcement on their behalf.
Now bear in mind that the handling agent will be servicing multiple airlines, and dozens of flights, so informing the inbound passengers that their baggage was not shipped is going to be a low priority for that handling agent - well below all the delays and challenges of the flights which are about to leave and which they are running around to dispatch.
I am not excusing this, and of course the passengers should have been informed.
Originally Posted by
Abrahn
Which part of "safety" is consistent with being dumped hundreds of miles from home with no clothing, possibly no where to stay and missing essential medication?
If the NHS or Police dumped people on the street with no possessions and something went wrong then they'd be up on manslaughter charges.
To Uplinker's point, yes the airlines operate in a commercial environment, but all commercial environments are constrained by laws. In this case people have bought tickets and got on the aeroplane on the understanding that their bags would go too, or at least the airline would make best efforts to transport them. That's the consent that means you aren't kidnapping them. Change that agreement deliberately and you're effectively kidnapping a few hundred people and stealing their luggage. It's the deliberate part that's important. Same as if a surgeon decided to remove an organ mid-surgery without consent.
Come on now ! Kidnapping ??!? Manslaughter !?!?!
Not having your luggage is annoying, inconvenient, and a hassle; (see my experience below)*
As I said, and as any sensible person would know; vital medication should be carried on the person or in a cabin bag, not in the hold luggage.
I have not recently read all airline's passenger terms and conditions, but I bet they state that they don't guarantee that luggage will arrive at the same time as the passenger.
Your travel insurance will cover the cost of buying emergency clothing and toiletries.
This is low cost, no frills flying. We all "voted" for it, and continue to vote for it with our wallets, but we must understand that we are not going to get first class service for 3rd class money. Normally we do get acceptable no frills service but occasionally things can go wrong.
* For what it's worth, pilots also have their luggage lost or delayed. I once flew UK military personnel from Brize Norton out to Kansas for exercises. The military managed to lose my hold bag, so I was in Kansas - where it was freezing cold and snowing - with just the thin uniform trousers and short sleeved shirt that I stood up in !
So when we got to the hotel, I took the hotel courtesy bus to the local Mall to buy clothes. As you can imagine, I felt a right Charlie walking around the mall in my airline uniform, and because of the extreme cold, I had to wear my uniform jacket - complete with stripes on the sleeves - but it was all I had. (I always carry a small bag with toothpaste and deodorant etc, so I can freshen up at any point).
Another time, I had flown passengers to Tobago, and again my bag was lost. So for two days, I had to wear my uniform in the hotel and restaurant etc, feeling a right idiot. (And washing and ironing the shirt in my room every night).