Airline Defends Leaving Without Luggage
Joe Cortez July 19, 2017
Weight restrictions blamed for leaving passengers without baggage after flight.
The passengers of low-cost carrier Malindo Air are crying foul after their aircraft willfully departed without their luggage, but the airline claims the practice was in “standard operating procedure.” The Brisbane, Australia Courier-Mail reports the weekend flight from Bali, Indonesia to the Australian city departed without at least 36 checked bags due to aircraft weight restrictions.
The aircraft was set to depart for Brisbane at Midnight local time Sunday, July 16. However, a spokesperson for the airline confirmed the flight was delayed for two reasons: a lavatory malfunction, along with weight issues that would affect the Boeing 737 operating the route.
When it came time to depart, the airline solved the weight issue by departing without the luggage. The newspaper reports over 60 passengers arrived discover their luggage was deliberately omitted without warning from their captain.
The Malindo Air spokesperson told the Courier-Mail the decision was made “to ensure the safety of the operating flight is prioritized,” and that it was “standard operating procedure.” The carrier noted they were working with passengers to be reunited with their luggage.
“The airline handler agent is making necessary arrangement (sic) for passengers to collect their baggage,” the spokesperson told the Courier-Mail. “Malindo Air apologizes for the inconvenience and delay caused due to this incident.”
According to the carrier’s website, flyers traveling to Brisbane are allowed to check 66 pounds of luggage free of charge. The carrier has not announced whether all flyers have received their luggage or if they will provide any compensation for the delay.
[Photo: Shutterstock]
@USAoz: Huh? Copa regularly flies a B738 from SFO/PTY, which according to airmilescalculator.com is 5350 km vs. 4493 km from Bali to Brisbane. And, I see from Flighaware that Virgin Australia also flies 738s DPS/BNE. 36 checked bags @ 60 pounds is less than 2200 lbs. IME, where there are weight issues on real airplanes, they remove passengers (at 150-175 lbs. each). This sounds very sketchy.
many people buy lots of cheap junk in Bali. DPS/BNE is a long sector even in a B738. Better to leave luggage behind than passengers. Malindo might have to look at their overly generous free baggage allowance.
Experienced travelers would know not to have essential medications in checked baggage, but the airline should have given any passenger the option to deplane if they didn't want to continue w/o their checked luggage.
Sending luggage on the next plane is preferable to crashing.
To ensure fairness, the USA Feds are working on a plan where any passenger's bag that is either not on their flight or already at the baggage claim area will receive their checked bag fee back in cash. Doesn't matter if the bag will arrive within an hour. Bag must be at the baggage claim with the flight's bags. Airlines will have a set time to make the cash refund back to the credit card. Miss the deadline and the refund amount increases. Airlines will be barred from offering fake vouchers, FF miles, anything else. Must be cash back to the traveler. About time.