Originally Posted by Leodis
I would like to see the short era of post 9/11 The days when all the airlines limited hand luggage to a clear plastic bag of which the passenger was allowed to carry medication, money and a passport. Hold luggage should be limited to 20kg, no if's, no but's. Anything over 20kg should be charged at 20 pound a kilo.
Leodis
You would would you? And what do you suggest is done with high value items like cameras, laptop computers etc, which are at serious risk of both loss or damage if they go through modern baggage handling systems. What would you suggest to the crew that was positioning from Dublin back to the UK after operating a flight, and were hit by a well known LoCO operator for significant excess baggage charges? A while back, I refused to load a case that had got through check in that weighed in at 42 Kilos, it contained a complete set of chef's knives that were the tools of his trade. OK it should have been split into 2 cases, and charged accordingly, but there are times when the alternatives are limited.
There is NO way I would put a good quality camera, or a lap top computer, through the baggage system at Dublin, it's at too much risk from damage in the conveyer system, and there are also other significant risks in the handling process, some legally actionable, some down to inadequate handling procedures by the handling agents. Most of the dollies used for bulk loaded flights have no securing system to prevent items falling off, and dollies with solid tyres on a ramp of the quality of Dublin can be almost guaranteed to lose items en route to the aircraft. Then there's the problem of loading and off loading. We'd all like to believe that handlers treat each piece as though it were their own. If that was the case, it would take about 4 hours to do the turnround on something the size of a 757-300, and twice as many handlers as are usually made available now. End result is that every case is physically launched from it's present position towards the door, with as much force as is necessary to get it as close as possible to the door. It's then THROWN on to either a dolly or a milk float, and up to 6 other cases may then be put on top of it. Then it goes to the belt, and again, due to cost cutting by the beancounters in both the handling agents and the airlines, its' thrown on to the belt, sometimes from 10 to 12 feet away. Fragile items such as cameras or computers wouldn't stand a chance. About the only thing that doesn't get thrown on the belt is the inevitable case of 12 bottles of wine that people think are going to survive on a bucket and spade flight from Spain. Most do, but inevitably, some don't, and invariably, the damage has been done before it arrives home, in that the cases all round the box are well soaked in wine before the hold is even opened!
The whole concept of "centralised" handling has outlived it's usefulness, especially where LoCo carriers won't interline. Far better to have remote airline owned and operated terminals, where the passenger arrives, is herded into the correct area for the flight, with bags, and then at the right time, they board a bus or similar, and are taken to the aircraft, where they put their bags on a belt by the aircraft. Passenger boards, bag is loaded. Advantages? Airline is responsible for it's own handling, security is the responsibility of the airline. No "lost" passengers who then delay the flight because their bags have to be found and off loaded, if the passenger is not on the bus, the bag never got into the hold. Moving bags all over the place and sorting them after screening becomes a thing of the past, they get screened at the "loading" point in the terminal, and after that, the passenger and bag are going to the same place anyway. If the passenger became responsible for moving the bag around the airport, then maybe the passenger just might realise that there are big problems with heavy bags! The airport operators might not be too happy, all these passengers now have no time or need to be hanging around a very expensive shopping mall, which might mean some real changes in attitude.