Posted on 11/12/2006 7:16:25 AM PST by COUNTrecount
Since Aug. 10, when a ban on most carry-on liquids sent the amount of checked luggage soaring, airlines have been misplacing many more bags, and the fumbling could well escalate during the busy holiday travel season.
The Transportation Department reported that 107,731 more fliers had their bags go missing in August than they did a year earlier, a 33 percent increase. It got worse in September, with 183,234 more passengers suffering mishandled bags than a year earlier, up 92 percent.
Globally, about 30 million bags are mishandled each year, according to SITA, a company that sells software to airlines and airports for baggage and other systems. Airlines spend about $2.5 billion to find those bags and deliver them to waiting, often angry, passengers.
All but about 200,000 bags are eventually reunited with their owners each year — a number that sounds pretty high on its own, but that represents less than 1 percent of the billions of bags that are checked annually.
Efforts are under way to fix two of the worst baggage operations in the United States — at US Airways in Philadelphia and at Atlantic Southeast Airlines, which operates as Delta Connection here. Both airlines had scrimped on workers and equipment at these airports. But it is far from certain whether these hubs will be running smoothly by Thanksgiving.
Because of the relatively primitive technology used by airlines to track baggage, passengers typically only learn that their luggage missed their flight after a futile wait at the carousel. Then, travelers must hunt down baggage agents, fill out forms, and wait for hours or even days for someone, often unannounced, to deliver their bags.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I have never had any problems with my luggage pre or post 9/11.
Then again, I don't try to carry my entire closet with me when I travel.
The Lockerbie, Scotland I.E.D. radio was given to a harmless looking female passenger to carry aboard by the terrorists.
These guys study us to learn how we think and they use our indignation against us.
The Bojinka I.E.D. was a lousy bottle of contact lens solution.
The guy that was blown up would probably have had a hissy-fit, if security had 'wasted' his precious time checking bottles of contact lens solution.
The sad thing is we all stand there trying to second guess the TSA's methods, while most of us don't have any idea how devious the terrorists are.
We've had 5 years with no further attacks.
Personally, I want everyone and everything checked. Especially the guy with the hollow leg.
Where better to hide an I.E.D. than in the prosthesis of someone that blames the USA for his loss?
Think about it.
In my observation, the bags lost most often are very large in size or heavy in weight. If the baggage compartments are full (or the plane is overweight), the baggage handlers will look to remove these first. As you state, a better strategy is for folks to pack less, or if necessary to check two smaller bags.
So far all the terrorists have fit a profile, and it's not old ladies in wheelchairs.
Until such time that everyone can be searched, let's not waste energy on old, wheelchair bound women (BTW, her chair and pillow were not allowed to fly in the cabin with her, so the I.E.D would have to be in a body cavity), and toss P.C. to the wind.It's a start.
It's about 0.02%. That's actually pretty lousy reliability. If airplanes crashed that often, not too many many people would fly.
If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.
They can't and don't remove every wheel chair bound person from their chairs.
The terrorists know this.
They can't take away someone's prosthesis. They can't even ask someone to remove it for x-ray. They all have to be checked.
I was in line behind a dumb-ass that had 30 to 40-12 gauge shotgun shells in his bag. He's screaming at the TSA guy and waving papers in his face while insisting that he checked all his guns and ammunition before trying to board.
The Screener stood his ground until the local Police came and took the moron away.
That guy didn't fit any "profile" that I could see, but you wouldn't believe all the passengers around me screaming for that Screener's head until they found out about the shotgun shells.
Its stories like this that make me glad I have a job where I don't have to travel.
Once in a while I've arrived without luggage. Last time I flew Newark to Reagan-National, but my bag went from Newark to Louisiana.
OTOH, I have to hand it to Northwest a couple of nights ago. I usually wait 30 to 45 or more minutes for NWA to deliver my luggage in Seattle, but this time it was only 10-15 minutes.
I send most of my stuff ahead by UPS.....I never check a bag...
I've thought about doing that. What does it cost, typically? How do you arrange the return shipment?
$20 bucks.... all clothes. Computer, phone, etc are in my carry on bag... We have a large motorhome 40,000 lb diesel pusher and it's packed with a complete selection of clothes for any season. When we get the urge to get out of Dodge, we get the dogs and we're gone. We stop along the way and get butter and eggs..
"Think about it."
I did and you're right!
I feel real safe - they can't secure our baggage, it takes longer for my mother to make it through security and take a two hour flight than it does for me to drive the trip...
Two types of luggage :
"Carry on" or " Lost."
Happened to us coming from from New York back home to Huntsville. Lost our bag, could not explain why or where it was. Southwest baggage manager was the most unprofessional, unpleasant person I've come across in quite sometime. She blamed it on "these new rules." Our bag showed up in our front yard three days later while my husband and I were at work. The tag indicated it had been sent to RDU airport but we never received any kind of explanation.
I have one to top that. In Tampa, I was selected for "futher screening" along with an elderly woman IN A WHEELCHAIR. I am 25 year old blonde-hair, blue-eye female. A man of Middle Eastern descent wearing a purple turban walked right on through ahead of us. The wheelchair-bound woman and I just stared at eachother and waited as they rummaged though our bags. I really did not enjoy watching Mr. Screener hold up my bathing suits, undergarments, etc.
I haven't traveled since the new rules went into place, but I used to try to only travel with carry-on.
Mark
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