bmchris

Your scenario is plausible. But it also comes down to volume - the unknown is how many other bags that day were not delivered correctly. It may have come down to volume against resources - and again we can argue that if they had more resources this would not happen - but at what cost to the customer?

Or it may be incompetence - we just don't know.

168

Priority bags were mixed with non-elite bags when we arrived HKG, I guess I am not surprise since elite tag has little value when travel within NA. There were at least 20 of us didn't get our bags and my assumption is all of our bags were loaded in one or two container(s) so it was easier for AC to sit on it for 2 days.

YOWkid

So that there would be an opportunity for the bags to get misdirected (again) at YYZ? Isn't the entire point after having misdirected bags to try to minimize the possibility of ANOTHER misdirect?

The real question was why it wasn't put on CX's direct flight. Of course, only insiders will ever know why -- perhaps CX's belly was packed already and/or they couldn't/didn't want to take on AC's bags. Maybe there were too many. Who knows.

YOWkid

To be fair, they don't mean all that much in many other places in the world.

jarusoba

To be realistic, they mean a LOT more in other parts of the world.

Clipper801

The entire forwarding process is within AC system and within AC control. No third party airline is involved.

Even if the bags are "misconnected" at YYZ due to AC incompetence on Tuesday, after being forwarded from YVR, AC016 on Wednesday will still arrive some 4 hours earlier than AC007 from YVR. It follows that passengers should receive their mishandled bags several hours sooner.

Do several hours matter? Yes, it does, from a customer service point of view.

An advance message could be sent by YVR AC to alert YYZ AC to ensure swift transfer. This is what a properly run airline would do. Passengers arrived at the destination without their bags. Do whatever you have to do to control damage and minimise the inconvenience, re-built some future goodwill. Even if it may not be AC's fault, passengers appreciate your efforts and distinguishes AC from other airlines.

If YVR AC does not have the confident that YYZ AC may be capable of handling the transfer, it should be escalated through higher internal level, e.g., a message from supervisor to supervisor, to ensure the transfer will be done.

Courtesy forwarding of mishandled bags between airlines will likely depend on the no. of bags, total weight and the reciprocality of such courtesy. In this case, there appeared to be many bags mishandled. Again, as one of the excuses use by another poster, YVR AC may be short staff. The easiest and laziest way to do it is to forward the bags on AC007 on Wednesday under original tags. Otherwise, YVR AC baggage service will have to "re-tag" all those mishandled bags on a "Rush", either via some other airline e.g. CX or through YYZ on AC.

IluvSQ

Actually, they do.
All over Asia, you would be astounded to see the luggage come off the belts
in exact order: First Class first, Business Class/Priority second, then
general pax.

Indeed, last week, on an LX flight into BKK, I was the only F pax disembarking
at that port. When 3-4 pieces of luggage arrived ( priority, but not mine),
the concierge was already on the walkie-talkie asking where mine was.
She then told me it had already been put on the belt, and apologised for
the poor service!!!! It was about the 10th bag off.

jarusoba

The easiest the laziest way to do it is to leave the bag at YVR until the pax returns home

This is what UA did to me when I made a weekend trip to Italy.

bmchris

But was there an issue with other flights having missed bags, which compounded the situation is my point.

I can recall 3 personal incidents of baggage not arriving as expected - 1 on US air, when it was destroyed by a conveyor belt; 1 by CX on SYD-HKG, when it was not loaded; 1 on a transfer from LH to TAP at MUC - over 2 hours transfer time with *A Gold (this was on a European holiday).

To your point where priority doesn't mean much in US- if that's the case, why would they even do it? It doesn't make any sense. I've been to a lot of airports in NA, and watching the bags come off, generally priority bags to come off first. I can't say about Canada though, and I typically only check bags 25% of the time when in NA, since the trips are typically short.

jarusoba

They do it because the airlines want to do it, like everybody else. But whether the baggage loaders would strictly follow the rule is a different thing.

In Asia, as IluvSQ said, they even follow the order of the COS. In Europe, it's not as good but still way better than in NA.

bmchris

Correct. But if baggage handlers didn't follow procedures, it wouldn't work, customers would notice, they would complain, then airlines would not offer it, since it doesn't make a difference, and only results in irate high value customers. Its an added cost to them, and with no benefit to a customer, why do it?

Bottom line - I'm going to continue requesting priority luggage tagging since I myself personally think it makes a difference in most cases.

bmchris

One thing about Asia is that turnaround times are considerably longer, allowing higher baggage delivery accuracy, labor is cheap, so they can attach more resources to each step of the operation (even check in), and pricing is less competitive between carriers. But I agree, it sure is a nicer way to fly.

jarusoba

What turnaround time? I think it's the same as in NA.

jarusoba

It's not that they don't observe the priority tags. It is that when there is a container full of priority baggage, there may be a few non-priority ones mixed with the priority baggage. Those non-priority ones would be loaded together with the priority baggage to the belt. In Asia, I suspect they would only load the tagged priority baggage first before loading the non-tagged baggage even though they're in the same container. This make a difference.

I guess in NA, priority baggage handling means your bag will be loaded into the first container to be unloaded, if you are lucky.

I would too. It should still be statistically faster than without the tagging. But expect to see a few non-priority bags coming out before yours if you're in NA.

bmchris

The average time between when an arriving plane is deplaned and departs on its next flight. Make it tighter, and it puts added pressure on handlers to unload and load the planes faster, increasing the risk that mistakes are made.

In NA, its common to see deplaning passengers running into those waiting for the next flight - not as much in Asia in my experience. Asian flights also tend to be more international than domestic, since countries are smaller.