Airport staffer spills on why so many bags aren’t making their flights

A Brisbane airport worker has shared photos of the mountains of inbound luggage yet to be connected with passengers as chaos spreads across the world.

Airports around the world seem to have one thing in common right now — chaotic scenes.

From endless check-in lines, flight delays and missing luggage, it’s been a tough recovery as airlines and airports struggle to cope with staffing problems and pent-up travel demand following the Covid-19 pandemic.

At Sydney Airport alone, images from this week showed check-in and bag drop lines stretching hundreds of metres, while the past month has seen increasing numbers of passengers arriving at their destination without their luggage.

Shane Miller, a cycling enthusiast from Ballarat, was flying Singapore Airlines when he arrived at Melbourne Airport in June without his baggage, which included $6,000 of cycling gear. There is no suggestion this is a problem unique to Singapore Airlines however – it is something affecting all airports and airline around the world.

He contacted the airline and its baggage handling partner Swissport but managed to retrieve the bag himself with an AirTag after two weeks.

Shane Miller, of Ballarat, recently found his lost luggage using an AirTag.

It was found to be at Swissport’s Melbourne Airport office, where Mr Miller took footage showing piles of unretrieved bags waiting for distribution or collection.

Following Mr Miller’s account, a Swissport worker from Brisbane told news.com.au exclusively that Queensland’s main airport office is also full of passenger bags awaiting reconnection with passengers.

Swissport is the baggage partner for multiple airlines including Air NZ, Hawaiian Airlines, Jetstar and Singapore Airlines, with ports in Australian cities such as Adelaide, Sydney, Gold Coast and Melbourne.

The Swissport worker, who wishes to remain unnamed, took several photos showing the huge number of bags at its Brisbane office over the past few weeks that are yet to be connected with passengers.

A Swissport spokesperson told news.com.au there was a point a few weeks ago when the volume of unaccompanied bags arriving at Australian airports meant there was a backlog of bags in Swissport’s offices awaiting reconnection to their owners.

“Those backlogs have now been cleared. Those bags were inbound from overseas and had at some point in their journey to Australia become disconnected from the customer. They did not result from operations of Swissport in Australia,” the spokesperson said.

“Swissport operate the baggage handling in Australia, and as such, once bags arrive here it becomes our responsibility to reconnect them with the customer.”

Generally speaking, the Swissport worker said part of the reason checked-in luggage doesn’t make it onto a flight is because of pressed timing.

A staffer for Swissport Australia shared snaps of bags inside its Brisbane office, showing piles of luggage that are yet to be connected with passengers.

“If they [bags] haven’t been cleared by security in time for the team to load them onto the plane, then they will be left behind,” he told news.com.au.

“The ramp team need to have the aircraft loaded by a certain time, so if the bags aren’t there to be loaded then they are on the next flight.”

He said baggage handlers are given from the moment check-in opens to start loading the “cans” (containers) until about 15 minutes before departure.

“Sometimes they have to wait until all bags have been checked-in and the load controller has given them the information on where each container has to be loaded and in what order so the plane is balanced.”

However, with staffing shortages across the industry, long lines are expected, in turn causing a knock-on effect which means some bags don’t make it onto planes in time for take off.

“Security was packed today (at Brisbane airport) and they only had six staff with four flights departing within an hour of each other,” he explained.

“They had over 600 people trying to get through so the line was huge, taking up to 45 minutes.

“They even turned the escalator off to slow people down so the queue wasn’t so long.”

He said staffing issues across the industry are playing a huge role in why some bags may not make it onto a plane. The pictured bags are inbound luggage.

The loss of bags in Australia isn’t comparable to what’s been experienced in the UK and Europe. London’s Heathrow Airport recently made headline for the hundreds, if not thousands, of suitcases piled in a huge holding area due to technical issues.

At the time, airlines using Heathrow terminals two and three were asked to cut 10 per cent of their flights to allow the airport an opportunity to get on top of the backlog.

Many passengers reported lengthy delays of several hours as they endured the effects of the baggage issues.

Good morning from Heathrow Airport! As always we are right with you to assist with any airport related questions! 😊

If you cannot find an answer you are looking for when you travel, our FAQ page may help you: https://t.co/jswEKkPOmK pic.twitter.com/XdqCFjyoWi

— Heathrow Airport (@HeathrowAirport) June 20, 2022

The Swissport worker said as the baggage partner of some of the major airlines, it is Swissport’s responsibility to connect passengers with inbound bags that got disconnected from flights.

“Once the bag has arrived in say Sydney or Brisbane, we ring and email the passenger to let them know it is here and how would they like to get their bag,” he said.

He said when this happens, a ‘rush tag’ is fitted on the bags meaning it needs to be rushed out onto the next flight no matter what.

He said the passenger has the option to pick it up from Swissport’s airport office or have it couriered at the airline’s expense.

“Sometimes if the passengers don’t respond, the bag will sit in the office until Swissport has got in touch with them,” he said.

Absolutely mental at Sydney airport the queue for Qantas flights is going outside the terminal pic.twitter.com/P60xw1Q8ag

— Cameron (@NausicaaOCE) July 3, 2022

However, the worker said there is an industry wide issue with staffing shortages affecting the process.

The staffer said when it comes to Swissport’s handlers, trying to get new people trained on the right aircraft takes time.

“Also people getting Covid and the flu hasn’t helped with staffing numbers either,” he said.

“When Covid hit, so many people got stood down that they haven’t been able to fill the jobs as quickly as they like, or train people up as quickly either.

“I also think people are still a bit scared in working for airlines and in travel just because of how quickly it all got shut down when Covid started.”

The staffer said with more and more flights coming into and leaving Australia, companies like Swissport, Dnata, Menzies, and some airlines are recruiting more staff to keep up with the increase in flights.

The staffer said with more and more flights coming into and leaving Australia, companies like Swissport, Dnata, Menzies, and some airlines are recruiting more staff to keep up with this increase in flights.

Air New Zealand group general manager airports Chloe Surridge said as air travel ramps up for Air New Zealand, they’ve been busy preparing for what is going to be their busiest July in two years.

“This includes getting more crew and pilots on board, increasing staff at our airports and those in our contact centre,” Ms Surridge told news.com.au.

“In May alone, we’ve made more than 430 employment offers across the business, the highest in our history. Our airline ramp up is being done carefully so we have sufficient resource across the business to get the job done, safely.”

She said there are many pieces to the puzzle when it comes to getting an aircraft out on time and customers to where they need to be.

@HeathrowAirport and @British_Airways what a disaster! How could you let this happen? Our suitcases have been missing for 5 days and no update! Your generic responses are meaningless. Where are our bags?!?

— Anna (@_anna_noble_) June 21, 2022

“We pride ourselves on having excellent on time performance. Unfortunately, bags can be delayed for many reasons, such as late check in, security checks, or perhaps has missed a connecting flight and therefore there are times when the aircraft has to leave without the bag.” “Should this happen however, a ‘rush’ bag tag is attached to the bag and the back is tracked to get to the destination as soon as possible.”

She said over the last four weeks, only four bags per 1,000 customers on its international network have been mishandled.

The Swissport staffer said the baggage issue in Australia is “better” compared to the luggage chaos in other parts of the world, such as the UK.

According to the Telegraph, some passengers from the UK have taken to using their own tracking devices to keep watch over their belongings from overseas or creating social media accounts in a bid to reach airlines’ customer service staff.

The publication reported a spike in luggage-related complaints, with nearly 2,000 since problems began in March.