Originally Posted by atsak

I mean the handle was broken then. I disagree entirely about the airline covering it though. At some point, the airlines have to take responsibility for the product they offer giving a reasonable level of care to the cargo they carry (human or otherwise). If I take my car to the dealership, and they accidently bang it into a wall, I certainly understand accidents happen, but they are going to fix it. If I entrust something of mine to your care, and you wreck it, then you should fix it (I don't require a new bag or anything, just fix what you broke). The cost is trivial I'm sure to repair these.

If the baggage system (both human and mechanical) can't provide an appropriate level of care to at least make sure that standard equipment like handles can be protected, then it needs to change. However, I think in general the baggage system does provide a reasonable level of care, but when mistakes are made and something gets broken, the relative cost of repair is probably lower than redesiging the baggage system to not break things. Although this never figures into airlines calculations these days (and it isn't OK by the way that this is the case), the relative cost of customer satisfaction is certainly higher than a handle on a bag.