Delay in arrival of baggage and matters arising

Obviously, the country’s aviation sector has been inundated with the news of passengers particularly those flying into Nigeria from across the world to celebrate the Yuletide with their loved ones creating scenes at the international airports over failure of their luggage to arrive with them.

No doubt many of the airlines operating on the international routes must be facing serious challenges of coping with the volume of loads they have to carry particularly the Nigerian passengers known for heavy shopping while coming home for the festive periods.

It is no longer news that Nigerians are globally known for heavy shopping, a situation which the foreign airlines including the Nigerian airlines operating on the foreign routes have come to accept.

While passengers have the right to carry luggage when they travel, it should however, not be forgotten that there is a limit to the volume of luggage an airline can carry on a flight for safety reasons.

The overall weight of a passenger’s luggage is restricted for several reasons as the pilot and crew need to know the overall weight of the aircraft including passengers and luggage for accurate fuel calculations.

If the plane is too heavy because of extra luggage, it cannot take off safely therefore each piece of baggage is limited in weight so that baggage handlers are able to load and unload luggage.

Despite this important reason, many passengers fail to recognise this as they come with alarming volume of luggage to the airport and still expect the airline to load all on the flight without considering other passengers.

This attitude of ‘winner takes it all’ by such passengers need to be addressed by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) as there is the need for such passengers to realise while at some critical points not all their luggage may arrive with them if the airline is confronted with having to operate in line with safety of the machine and passengers.

But one thing that seems lacking when confronted with a situation where passengers luggage may not arrive with them is the all important communication gap that often plays out between the passengers and the airlines.

Either any one likes it or not, it is not every time that a passenger with up to five or more luggage may have all arrive with him or her if there are other passengers with even more luggage as all passengers have equal right.

The airlines, however, should take time whenever such situations come up to explain why such luggage could not arrive with the particular flight and efforts intend to be made to ensure such luggage arrive timely.

There are some airlines that have been able to bridge the communication gap as attested to by passengers who had faced the challenge on London/Lagos route.

Medview, a Nigerian airline operating on the Lagos/London route is presently among airlines coping with the challenge of carrying passengers excessive loads.

The level of professionalism being displayed by the airline through its transparency to the passengers coupled with the management’s commitment to ensure such luggage get to their owners not more than 24 hours deserves commendation.

At times even when such passengers insist on waiting for their luggage to arrive, the airline management does not delay in not only lodging them in a standard hotel but feed them and ensure they get their luggage a day or at most two days latest.

No doubt that the issue of luggage not arriving with their owners may be more prevalent this season, the onus lies with the NCAA to waste no time in stepping in to educate the passengers on why such a development will continue to happen and at the same time letting airlines know the importance of communication and the need to treat passengers with respect.