One in four fliers had baggage woes in Feb

Poor customer service and last-minute aircraft snags were the other two major passenger complaints, according to DGCA

From attempts to pull things out of suitcases, damages caused to bags in transit and incidents of fliers’ belongings transported hundreds of kilometres away from their destinations - safety of bags travelling in the aircraft belly has become a huge concern for fliers according to government data.

Around 28% complaints submitted by domestic fliers with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in February were related to baggage woes making it the top grouse last month. The data added that almost one in four air passengers had baggage-related complaints in December and January.

“Despite advancement in the technology of baggage movement from check-in counters to an aircraft belly, there are huge gaps in their safety and training of baggage handlers,” said a member of the government-appointed panel formed to raise passenger-centric issues.

The fliers’ ire over poor baggage handling, one of the basic services by an airline has been spreading even on social media.

Two days back, columnist and socialite, Suhel Seth tweeted an experience. “If Jet Airways is running out of money they should simply ask rather than pick locks off our checked-in luggage?” read the tweet.

Many travellers responded to the post sharing similar experiences. Ishneet Sachdeva, another traveller wrote, “Had a same experience yesterday flight number (9W438). Suitcase handle broken as well.”

The Jet Airways spokesperson did not comment on the issue.

A week before that, HT reported Bandra resident Afia Modak’s missing baggage ordeal. The bag containing her engagement ring and her fiancee’s passport had gone missing from a Goa-Mumbai SpiceJet flight in February. Couple of months later she managed to trace it back to Jammu with assistance from the police.

Poor customer service and last-minute aircraft snags were the other two major passenger complaints, the data added. The DGCA chief M Sathiyavathy was not available for comment.