From a Bag Smasher

Luggage handling

I was reading Fox News this morning when I came across this article titled “Confessions of An Airline Baggage Smasher Thrower.”  He answers the following questions:

  • What are the best/worst things about the job?
  • What’s it like to work in that environment?
  • How can passengers prevent their bags from going astray?
  • Have you ever seen theft?
  • What kind of suitcases get damaged least/most?
  • How do bags get lost?
  • How do bags get damaged?
  • What goes on behind the curtain?

Things he says I agree with:

  • We see open bags all the time because the zipper just started coming apart, and yes, things do fall out of these open bags.  Sometimes, we see it and can put whatever came out back in the bag it came from, but sometimes there are just random items strewn around the belly.
  • Cheap bags that you buy at the discount store break very easily.  If your handle is sewn on or is very flimsy, it’s probably going to break.  If you travel a lot or pack heavy, make sure you buy a quality, durable bag.
  • Airplanes are only making money while in the air and no airline wants an airplane on the ground too long.
  • You might be amazed at how much manpower it takes to put a passenger aircraft in the air.

The important thing here:  Airplanes are only making the company money when they are in the air.  Everything an airline does is geared around that.  Although with only one airline in the US actually making a profit, it might not seem as if they care about that very much  ;^)

One thing he says I disagree with:

  • Speaking of wheels, the best bags to get are the “spinners” with four wheels on the bottom.

Have you ever used those things?  I did once with about 30kgs worth of “stuff” in it.  Holy how…that bag didn’t want to push straight on the wheels and it wasn’t designed to be pulled.  It was a horrible bag.

Image from shanghai daddy via flickr

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *