Mishandling Has Spiked Since Liquid Ban Reduced Carry-Ons
Thursday, October 5th, 2006This should probably come as no surprise (Hattip consumerist):
The rate of lost or mishandled baggage spiked by nearly 25 percent in August as airlines struggled to handle a surge in checked luggage after authorities banned most liquids and gels from passenger cabins, according to a government report released yesterday.
The airlines had some trouble keeping up before, now with the layoffs and the increased load it can only get worse. I’m thinking they could learn something from UPS and FedEx, they seem to handle a few more packages a day and don’t have an issue losing them. For some reason lost luggage is accepted in the airline industry. Maybe standardizing luggage so that it’s more modular would work out better, or when you check your luggage it’s immediately put inside a container that makes it easier to load and track? I don’t know what the answer is, but they’ve been doing it the same way since Tony Jannus piloted the first commercial airline from Saint Petersburg to Tampa in 1914, I’m thinking they could improve upon it slightly more than putting a barcode on the luggage.
Frankly I’m to the point that I’d rather just buy my clothes when I get to where I’m going. I check everything but my laptop now because it’s such a pain to get through the screening any more. I actually feel like a mental patient when I go through because I usually take off my belt and anything else metal and put it in my laptop bag. So while I’m in the screening line I’m walking around holding up my pants like George Costansa in the mental hospital. I actually made a funny suggestion when I was in Atlanta a few months ago: (more…)
I’m glad
After about 7 minutes, I got acknowledged by a lady behind the counter so I waited patiently.