Some friends who recently flew from Australia to Europe were annoyed when a few bottles of alcohol in their luggage were broken, ruining some of their clothes. So, they took to social media to broadcast their displeasure with their airline.
It got me thinking about the whole issue of baggage handling. I’ve been pretty lucky. My bag was torn by handlers at a German airport many years ago, but British Airways cheerfully provided me with a better one.
But why does damage occur? Well, an airport worker who recently took to the Quora forum has provided an answer.
Connor Edwards was responding to the question: Is luggage labeled as “fragile” intentionally handled with way less care in airports?
He wrote that every bag is treated in the same way: “To be honest, we hardly pay attention to any sticker other than the bag tag with the flight number. If we get a guitar case, we are often more gentle but that’s really about it.”
He goes on to say that every bag gets treated in the same way. “Do they get thrown? Yes, they have to. It has to go from the cargo door all they way to the person stacking the bags. We simply don’t have time to walk every bag own [from the plane’s hold to the vehicle].”
And he finished with very sound advice: “Please don’t pack anything breakable.”
His answer probably also explains why bags with “priority” stickers rarely, if ever, come out first.
