AIR TRAVEL AND BAGGAGE HANDLING -322 (174)

AIR TRAVEL AND BAGGAGE HANDLING

The recent clip in The Hindu under the caption ,

" The Thief That Was Not To Be "

h as set me thinking . This coming as it does from a person who has quite a few  International Arrival Stampings on his Passport must make for an amusing read .
One aspect of the Air Travel which has always seemed  a daunting task is getting  your luggage back at the end of your journey .

A : Finding the right Carousel earmarked for your flight is itself a problem as more often than not and  in large Airports the Bay Number announced while you were inside the aircraft as you touchdown is different from the actual one on the ground .

B : Finding your luggage amongst the 100 s of similar looking ones is always a big task . There are many who seem to have got to know of your own  trick of fastening  coloured ribbons , glistening stickers on to your suitcases . It is almost a miracle that you are still able to find your baggage .

C : Once ,  on way to Manchester from Bangalore with transit at London's Heathrow Airport , due to A  System Failure all flights were cancelled  till further notice at London's Heathrow.  Imagine more than 500 flights awaiting take off to various destinations across the world being cancelled halfway through their journey . The Luggage , thousands and thousands of them were stacked  in a chalk marked place to indicate the Arrival Flight Number . We  decided to proceed to Leeds where my son was staying by train and claim our refund at a later date . Finding our luggage at a place  which  would have put our own Vickramasingapuram Sunday Market on the eve of Chitra Vishu  to shame is an understatement.  That we did find our luggage and also found our way to Leeds was nothing short of a miracle and a divine blessing .

D : This is the most tricky one . Our almost annual trip to Regina in Canada has always been via Toronto or Calgary as the first port of landing in Canada . During departure at Chennai , Bangalore or Mumbai , while being handed over the  Boarding Passes  we are always informed  that the luggage will be handed over to us at Regina , our final destination .
For some strange reason this is not a set rule. Barring once , we have always had to take our luggage at Toronto and again rebook it on the flight to Regina . There is no uniformity and it is still a mystery as to what the actual rules are .

E : Getting hold of your Luggage at the Airport Carousel is one thing but finding your luggage missing altogether is always  sets you back in many ways  especially if it is in a sacred place like VARANASI where the CONTENTS inside the boxes have special meaning and are the VERY  reason of your visit to the place . It took almost 2 days of constant pressure to get the luggage delivered back to us during one such visit .

AIR TRAVEL MAY BE EXCITING IN MANY WAYS BUT BAGGAGE HANDLING IS SADLY NOT 

                      ONE OF THEM