Flight chaos and mountains of suitcases
Suitcases are stacked in thousands at these German airports
At Hamburg Airport: Instead of queuing in front of the baggage tracing desk, the airlines are asking their customers to report lost suitcases digitally.
© Till Bartels
Anyone who flies on holiday this summer is afraid that their luggage will come with them. It becomes particularly tricky with transfer connections when suitcases and owners are on different flights. The mountains of suitcases are growing – an overview.
It was a hard landing for Christine Michelsen after her summer vacation in Hamburg: Her flight from Bilbao, Spain, was reasonably punctual, but she waited in vain for her suitcase at the baggage carousel at Hamburg Airport. At the counter of the luggage service provider AHS, she reported her lost trolley, which gave her an additional 45 minutes.
Repeated phone calls asking when she can expect her luggage also didn’t help, as the hotline was manned non-stop. After exactly 13 days, she received the redeeming call that her trolley had reappeared. A day later her luggage was delivered to her home.
Many air travelers are feeling the same way as the Hamburg resident these days. More and more frequently, passengers and their luggage are being separated, which becomes even more problematic on the outbound flight to the summer holidays. German airports are struggling with major baggage problems this season.
Some airports have lost track
A growing number of suitcases need to be handled at the larger airports, arriving at their destination after their owners, according to a survey by the DPA news agency. Passengers and luggage are separated, especially when changing trains at hubs such as Munich and Frankfurt – an overview.
The Capital Airport BER receive about 300 suitcases every day, which are forwarded by the airlines to their customers, as a spokeswoman said. That is significantly more than usual. Therefore, an additional area had to be made available for the suitcases to be temporarily stored. A large part comes from hubs such as Munich or Frankfurt.
In Munich there is a mountain of several thousand suitcases that have to be assigned, as confirmed by the airport operator. However, no one knows an exact number, and one is also not solely responsible: “A not inconsiderable part of these suitcases was sent from other stations to Munich to be processed here.”
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At the Airport Frankfurt At peak times there are currently thousands of suitcases that have to be forwarded, confirmed the operator Fraport, also without giving exact figures. It is more than in normal times. The reason for this is the lack of punctuality of numerous flights. Lufthansa recently canceled further flights to make the overall system more reliable. According to Fraport, however, extra areas for stranded suitcases do not have to be set up, as there have always been situations in the past in which more pieces of luggage had to be forwarded.
Of the Hanover Airport According to its own statements, it records about five times more lost baggage items than usual. “We estimate the number at an average of between 300 and 500 lost & found cases per day.” Due to the pandemic, however, the figures for the years from 2019 to 2022 in particular are difficult to compare. “Of course, the number of loss reports increases with the increase in flight volume every year, also seasonally.”
At the Hamburg Airport According to a spokeswoman, there are only problems with baggage that has been forwarded from other airports. The airlines are responsible. Lufthansa had recommended that passengers check the status of their loss report online and pick up their suitcase at the airport once the piece of luggage has arrived in Hamburg.
Of the Dusseldorf Airport was unable to provide any baggage information. A spokesman referred to the airlines and their handlers who are responsible for the baggage.
At the Stuttgart Airport currently store about 160 pieces of luggage, as a spokesman said. In the record year 2019, there were about twice as many at a comparable time.
Hundreds of suitcases, bags and prams are still piled up in the baggage claim area at Hamburg Airport
© onas Walzberg / DPA
What to do if the suitcase does not arrive?
Many airports not only lack the staff to load and unload the aircraft, but also at the baggage tracing counters. For example, the reporting procedure for lost luggage has been increasingly digitalised: instead of helpful service employees, there are displays with QR codes for the relevant apps and websites waiting for those affected to report the loss upon arrival.
Report baggage delay online
The airlines have set up special websites for this, which can be found under the keyword “Delayed Baggage Service”.
www.Lufthansa.com/de/en/digital-baggage-services
www.eurowings.com/de/informieren/gepaeck
www.condor.com/de/hilfe-kontakt/kontakt/gepaeck/gepaecksuche.jsp
www.britishairways.com/travel/your-missing-baggage
www.small.de/information/baggage/lost-baggage
wwws.airfrance.de/information/bagages/bagage-manquant-airfrance
Also read:
– Send suitcases: How your holiday luggage arrives at your destination before you – and how much it costs
– Verdi on the airport chaos: “The system is pretty ramshackle”
– Airport chaos: Which countries have made provisions for the summer – and which have not