Theft and Fraud
 

A hyptohetical situation.

A friend and I tried to book into an EK flight from XYZ to DXB, then we part our separate ways, he goes to LHR I go to MAN.

I am in C, and have gold membership and therefore a large baggage allowance. He is in Y and has no Skywards membership.

My baggage weights 25kilos, so I am well under. His baggage wieghs 60 kilos so he is well over. I ask if there is any chance of allowing a bit of my "underweight" to offset his "overweight" to reduce the excess baggage charges. "Sorry, no we have no flexibility" . Fair enough, whats the bill ?

"$1,000". I think thats fair, so agree to pay, by Visa at which point the agent makes us an offer. $500 cash, no receipt, and your bags will go. Clearly, HE is looking to pocket the $500 and ignore the overweight. But we have to do it quickly, as the other EK staff will be opening their counter soon.

In the end, I took one of my colleagues bags to manchester on my flight, and he will get his clothes back when I am in the office next week, and the EK desk clerk didn't get his unofficial bonus.

Outrageous.

You should report this to Emirates. If the same agent did eventually process your check in, they will probably have on record who that person is.

+1

This is very dangerous practice because the additional load will not be officially recorded in loadsheet, resulting wrong calculation for take-off configuration (thrust etc) by the aircraft computer. The impact could be disastrous.

I'm guessing XYZ is NBO or ACC :)

Similar things happen for upgrades.

Even with flex power set, 60kg would make no difference whatsoever - a couple of 'larger' pax would weigh more than that.

What I'm confused about is that Tezzer started his post with So I'm not clear whether this actually happened or it didn't? If it did, then yes, I would report the person like a shot; it's not so much the weight issue that bothers me but rather the security aspect. An airline/airport employee should not be doing 'dodgy deals' to allow baggage get on board an aircraft - therein lies the road to a far more dangerous situation.

JGX

No. It couldn't. Two reasons - 1) The baggage is still weighed. Whether the agent decides to charge for the overweight is another issue entirely. 2) As pointed out, there is never any official weight figure when doing W+B since they use an average weight # for pax. So 60kg is totally irrelevant when it comes to a longhaul widebody.

60 kg is obviously irrelevant, but I guess this guy doesn't do it for just one pax? The real discrepancy between reported load and actual load maybe much bigger. I mean the bottom line is there's unaccounted load in the airplane.

But maybe you are right that the baggage still weighed at some point anyway.

If XYZ is ACC, please send me a PM. The MD of the handling agent is a very good friend of mine and if any of his staff were involved they will soon become former staff.

EK's own staff in ACC used to be quite dodgy themselves. I remember complaining to a former manager there that the security guard at their ticket office was demanding cash in order to get favourable "numbers" while waiting for service (he would take 50-100 tickets from the automatic dispenser for himself and everyone else would have to wait 4-5 hours for service if they chose not to pay up for a favourable space in line) -- the manager was extremely upset. Not because of the actions themselves but because the security guard was not cutting him in on the takings!!!

Thats a legitimate grievance of a manager who believes in teamwork! His instincts are quite practical for a career in sub continent.

(on a lighter note.. I must add)

I can confirm it was neither NBO or ACC, wrong Continent entirely.

I don't understand why you have to be so secretive.
If I get a nasty service at any airport, I will mention where; there is not anything wrong with that.

I don't understand the secrecy either. I also don't understand if this actually happened - whether or not it was hypothetical? Did it or didn't it Tezzer?

If it did, then I sincerely hope you have reported the person in question. If it was hypothetical then I would suggest you ask the mods to delete this thread because I see no point to it.

JGX

It happened ! I have the receipts for the equivalent of $500 from the cashpoint machines in the check-in area !

Not sure what the secret is -- let us know!

So I guess this hypothetical is actual ???

In this case yes, I was being "cute" using hypothetical, to protect the guilty !

If you didnt accept the offer of the "pay $500, no questions asked" then why did you withdraw the money?

If you notice the original post, it starts off as a hypothetical situation but by the end switches to past tense, therefore not hypothetical any longer.

Becuase at the time, that was the cheapest option open to us. As it turned out, my colleague took the two cases of equipment he needed back in London, and I took HIS suitcase full of clothes (yes I know potential security risk) with me to Manchester, thereby releiving him of the excess baggage and absorbing his suitcase into my allowance.

Now, although I know him and trust him, I effectively carried his bag (that he packed and only he knew what was in it for sure) onto two International flights, from a country with a poor record of terrorist attacks and a death penalty for drugs trafickers. Knowing him made it low risk, but a risk all the same.

I would have paid the $1000 "official price" for peace of mind.

Was this hypothetical check-in agent in Emirates Uniform?
EK uniform = Employee
Random Uniform = Contract Staff ( Outsourced services )

<sarcasm> Either way, you should tell us what airport that happened at so we can take advantage of the savings. Hopefully its someplace that offers great shopping deals so we can buy tons of crap and take it with us</sarcasm>

Kudos to you for doing the right thing and taking your friends bags rather than letting them slip through.

The excess baggage charges vary based on how far the bags need to fly. The numbers below are for DXB>LHR or DXB>HKG both of which are ~7h flights

http://i49.tinypic.com/102qmvt.png

Based on the hypothetical amount of USD 1000 , your buddy had quite a load

White shortsleeve shirt, but emirates neck band with his identity badge tucked in his shirt, out of sight.

OK, now that we've established that, have you reported the 'guilty' or are you still 'protecting' him?

:D