You know that sinking feeling you get when you stand at Baggage Claim waiting for the bag that does not come? Yes, me too. Missing luggage is the bane of air travllers everywhere. It causes untold stress wondering if you will ever see your belongings again.
Technical hitches and close connections are usually the reason behind a bag going astray. Eventually it will be located and reunited with you through a courier delivery. But what if your bag is being lost deliberately?
Missing Luggage Man
The BBC is reporting that a baggage handler at Singapore Airport routinely swapped the bag tags on pieces of luggage at his work resulting in 286 bags going astray over a three month period.
Once again the reality of the human race provides a story better than fiction. Swapping the tags makes the bags particularly hard to find and reunite with their owners so it is possible none of these people got their bags back.
I can only imagine the costs and man hours involved by the airline trying to locate these pieces. Three airlines were affected and these are Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Lufthansa.
Your Luggage Is Usually Safe
When you consider how many bags are flying each day, the airlines and baggage handlers deserve credit for getting it mostly right. In actual fact the chances of your bags being lost is pretty slim.
Out of all the flights I have been on, my bag has gone on its own holiday three times. The causes? One missed a short connection, another fell victim to a badly printed baggage tag and the third one just went awol. Each time the bag was returned within a day or two.
Overall Thoughts
It is mind boggling that an employee charged with getting bags to the right place at the right time decided to switch tags. Why? Just for a bit of fun? Perhaps he is a disgruntled employee and was sticking it to the man. Either way, I would love to know the rationale behind it.
This charming rogue is charged with mischief which is an appropriate description for his disruptive antics. Happily it was discovered fairly quickly as it could have gone on much longer and caused more customer and airline angst.
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Featured image by Felix on Unsplash.
