Flying with excess/unknown luggage?

[HTurner]

Hi all -

I encountered a strange and surprising issue when flying into Luton (as a passenger) yesterday. I was flying on a well-known budget airline based in eastern Europe...

It became clear following landing that one of my bags was not going to come through in baggage reclaim. "Hey ho", I thought, and braced myself to deal with the ground agent at Luton. Shortly after I got over to the desk, another 25 or so people arrived, also missing luggage. At this point, the real issue became apparent. The baggage agent at Luton explained that it appeared that the baggage unloaders had forgotten to unload one of the luggage crates on the A320 that brought us over. The plane had now left to its next destination, with our luggage still on board! Interestingly, she explained that this was the second time in three days that this had happened.

Leaving aside the usual frustration with delayed baggage here, I actually became concerned as to whether or not this is a safety issue. Put simply, would the crew of the A320 (who would presumably assume that luggage from the previous flight had been unloaded?), be able to tell from internal aircraft systems or some other way that this luggage was still on board, and factor it into their flight planning for the next flight?

Or is it instead possible that they could take off unaware that they were carrying maybe somewhere from 600kg to 1000kg more than was previously assumed? And, if they did, could that cause any safety issues?

I'm not trying to find problems here, but I also wouldn't want to have spotted this and then not notified anyone about it if it turned out that there actually was a safety issue here.

So, can any A320 heads (or even pilots), offer any views? Thank you in advance.

H.

[sneijder]

I’d suggest that wasn’t the case, and the bags were simply left behind.

It’s standard practice to offload everything on arrival, even if a compartment is reported as empty on the inbound loading message. Some airlines also require a quick visual check for leaks.

It’d be likely when loading the aircraft the same container position would be needed, they’d have spotted it wasn’t offloaded.

Likely also they’re using scanning equipment (Automated Baggage Reconciliation System), It’s mandatory from August this year for IATA airlines, most are using it already, it’ll have alerted the issue.

I can’t think of the top of my head of any Eastern European low costs using containerised aircraft ... I think all are bulk loaded ?

If this was true and the bags were left on board in a container, you’re looking at 30 bags @ 15kg each on avarage, the aircraft would likely be still in trim and certainly still within a safe operating parameter.

Best guess is a full trolley of bags was sent off with the cargo or mail to be found on the next shift ...

[HTurner]

Thanks. Well, I have now received my bag back. And the label shows it came back to me from Poznan (Poland). Considering I arrived into Luton from Bourgas (Bulgaria), I think that is conclusive evidence that the bag was indeed left on the plane with around 30 others, which then went on to Poznan, where the bag was offloaded, unless someone faked a luggage label for some odd reason.

I’m just about reassured by your relaxation at the idea that planes are flying about with more bags on board than the pilots realise.

Well, sort of.

H.

[Collectingbrass]

The plane wouldn't (shouldn't...) have flown with bags on board that are not with their associated passengers unless the bags have been subject to additional level of scrutiny once they have been identified as having that status. It takes a minimum of 24 minutes to get a bag off a plane if the passenger is not on board at departure time and a further 45 minimum to screen it and reload it, so usually they are put on another flight - where in the OPs question they are expected.

The IATA scanning requirements that are coming in this summer mentioned above only relate to chain of custody of the bag, particularly between passenger > departure airport > airline / handler 1 > transfer airport > airline / handler 2 > arrivals airport / handler 3 > passenger. What it won't do is tell anyone whether the handler or airline have done their job properly at any one stage.

If bags haven't been offloaded that should have been, in extremis the plane has weight on board the crew don't expect, so take off & landing weight calculations are wrong and more runway length is needed. With circa 25 passengers looking for their bags you've only got 500kg on board you weren't expecting and that should be well within the parameters of the aircraft. It's unlikely though given the implications to the airline and handling agent of a breach in security processes this would have implied.

It's more likely they were delayed getting to the reclaim and they only turned up long after you've left the airport hence the repatriation process you can see from the bag journey. If its any consolation that will have cost the airline circa $100 on average.

[5150]

It's not uncommon for bags that have been separated from their passenger's flight to be put on another flight for reconciliation . (Known in the trade as 'rush bags').

With regard to aircraft weight - rush bags or not, the pilot's will know the total weight of bags/passengers for speed / weight & balance calculations.