A Swiss International Air Lines plane arrived at its destination without a single checked bag onboard.
The plane arrived in Bilbao, Spain, on Saturday without any of the passengers' checked bags. The bags were left behind in Zurich, Switzerland, Kavin Ampalam, a spokesperson for Swiss, told the news agency AFP.
Passengers waited in vain for more than two hours at a conveyor belt for their suitcases, according to the Swiss-German newspaper The Blick.
"There was a shortage of ground staff," Ampalam told AFP. Ampalam said the flight departed without its 111 passengers' suitcases "for operational reasons," as the plane had to fly another set of passengers from Bilbao to Zurich Airport before it closed. Swiss was operating the flight on behalf of Edelweiss Air, Ampalam said.
Ampalam said the flight crew waited for "one hour and 16 minutes" for the ground staff to load the bags onto the plane before deciding to fly to Bilbao without them.
"We understand the situation is not favourable for the people involved, and of course we regret the inconvenience," Ampalam told AFP.
Several passengers said the pilot in charge of the flight was apologetic over the delayed departure, but never mentioned leaving their bags in Zurich, according to Blick's report.
This is what bugs me more than anything. They "know" my bag didn't make the flight but instead of sending me a message (to the email / phone number I already gave them) they make me wait two hours on the ground after a one hour flight.
Forget the contact details, captian could have informed it at any point during the flight but nope, can't cause any problems that may affect their schedule.
The actual right response should have been not to depart. Or cancel the flight. What are 111 passengers going to do without their luggage at the destination?!
That's not entirely fair. I would rather arrive at my location without luggage than not at all. I can always get some cheap shirts and shorts or whatever at my destination. I can't get my hotel, and other prepaid scheduled expenses fees back.
Which just reiterates the initial point, communication solves this.
'hey guys, so, basically we can't get your bags on the plane lolol wanna still go? Stay on the plane. Umad? Get off and get a refund'
Wow. Hard stuff.
The issue with that, is that would cause more delays so them not telling people before departure makes sense. Not telling them on arrival is stupid.
Sure. But that's you. And probably me. But we don't represent all possible, legitimate scenarios.
Go shopping at the airlines' expense!
Read the article if they had not taken off at that time they wouldn’t have made the return flight in time (Zurich airport has no landings past midnight). So not flying means that 111 people would not make it to Bilbao (without their bags) and a similar amount of people wouldn’t make it to Zurich (with their bags).
Personally, I would rather take the flight and get my bag a day or two later. Annoying af yes but at least you get some compensation to get some clothes.
If half the people are flying home it’s not even that big of a problem.
I agree, but I think it would be better to inform the passengers and give them a chance to alight.
The problem there is that those passengers would demand a replacement flight or a refund, and we can't have that, can we?
Of course, informing them before take off would have been ever better. But then the plane still needs to fly, even if empty.
And the passengers can still get compensation, maybe even more than the refund of the flight so I’m sure that for many of the passengers this was the better deal.
The crew fucking knew... like I kind of understand not saying it on the plane as some people might react badly or whatever but at least when they are on destination at least inform them....
Exactly. If they'd have just said outright "look, we fucked up, your bags aren't here, go to your hotels, and we'll have them sent on tomorrow", people would have been annoyed but could at least have enjoyed their holidays.
The complete lack of communication from transport companies is beyond maddening. And it's the same everywhere. When my train is "delayed", I've no idea if that's 5 minutes away or if it's an inferno lying on its side on an embankment. The automated announcements will be the same either way.
The one time I had a bag left behind I was flying into Narita airport in Japan. At the luggage carousel there was a person holding a sign with my name on it.
Checking bags is bullshit.
Let some high school dropout from the TSA search your bags while you get foot fungus.
The TSA is in the USA only. The TSA is an American government department. They do not exist in Switzerland or Spain, two countries which are not the USA.