Still at the airport waiting. A plane just arrived and tehy’re loading and unloading the luggageand it’s really shocking — they’re really chunking it. They pick it up and literally throw it so it hits the back of the luggage card. I’ll have to remember that next time I pack.
DUDE. i know! when we went to dc, they were THROWING our instruments on there…and we were all looking out the window screaming at them and the guys just laughed and flung our cases even harder. sooo much got damaged. 🙁 ridiculous.
I know what you mean Matt. One of the last times I travelled, I was sitting on the plane as they were transferring the luggage. I saw one of the baggage handlers break the legs off of one of my rolling cases, look at the piece in his hand and toss it over his shoulder like it was nothing. It’s ridiculous!
The fine print in your ticket contract is usually so broadly worded that any damage to your luggage can be blamed on the “poor quality of the luggage” rather than on the handlers. It’s unfortunate. I try to pack as light as I can, especially for short trips, so I can just carry my bag on with me instead of checking it, and when I do check backs, I always try to pad anything rigid with lots of clothes around the edges of the suitcases.
I got back from the states 2 days ago to find my big North Face holdall that Ive barely used had 2 bloody great big holes in the side and top of it when I picked it up from luggage claim!
Not to mention that when i got it opened up back home the box of my new iPod was totally crushed! Thankfully the iPod was in my carry on luggage but thats totally besides the point! Whats amazing is that I also had a couple of pint glasses in there next to the boxes but they werent even scratched in the slightest… My guess is that the truck ran over the bag or someone really tried to shut a door down on it mighty hard 🙁
Now Ive got to phone the US Airways baggage claims dept on Monday to try and get at least some compensation for the bag. Grrrr!
You should try going on a cruise sometime. That will really put your luggage through the wringer. Sometimes they’re dropping your luggage from a couple of stories up.
I once worked at the airport as a baggage handler (only for summer holidays). The problem is that usually there isn’t much time loading or unloading an airplane. Every time a plane is waiting for its passengers it costs money while when flying it makes money. So these times on the ground must be kept short and therefore most baggage handlers don’t really care what kind of baggage they are loading as long as it is loaded fast. Of course that is in no way an apology for treating baggage so bad like most of you described. But since I worked there I know that I would NEVER EVER put something like my Notebook, iPod, musical instrument or anything except my clothes into my baggage.
I once overheard a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport saying that these ‘rich ****s have enough money to buy replacements, so why should I treat their stuff carefully?’ to which the other BHs laughed.
I wanted to slap him…
Last time my sister got back from Corsica, I thought “why not have her bring me back my old harddrive and get its contents?”. I forgot to tell her not to put it in her luggage and instead keep it with her.
I used to have a trusty, very silent 40GB Seagate. Now I have a useless black brick. Yay for baggage handlers!
This is a problem in most of the airports. How about packing a stone in a bag and allow them to kick it… 😉
You boys are speaking crap.. LAME is your website. Pure Folly. I handle bags for a living, and I never break any ! Never. And you know why?
Because I am careful, I am Dutch and I am a beautiful human !
Yah, I am Dutch Baggage Handler from oont Schipol Airport in da Holland. Oont it not fair that you peopes harrass oont Handlers of Baggae !! Oont peoples, many tall peoples hide things like oont Hashish, Jobbies and oont other illegal items in da Baggage, which make my job wery difficult at times. Yah sometimes I find da ladies panties in the baggage and all I want to do is touch them yah.. Very stressful job for me..
Yah, I am Dutch Baggage Handler from oont Schipol Airport in da Holland. Oont it not fair that you peopes harrass oont Handlers of Baggae !! Oont peoples, many tall peoples hide things like oont Hashish, Jobbies and oont other illegal items in da Baggage, which make my job wery difficult at times. Yah sometimes I find da ladies panties in the baggage and all I want to do is touch them yah.. Very stressful job for me..
unbelievable,the whole lot of ye, all ye can say about arriving safely and in one piece is “where’s my baggage? look at what the baggae handlers did to my case?” Well if you didn’t overpack your suitcase, and if you had spent and invested in good strong luggage and not the cheap old crap that you bought because it was a bargain, try buying a Samsonite hard cover, then maybe, just maybe you wouldn’t gripe about your stupid luggage.Instead you should be on your hands and knees thanking the Almighty you’re alive and thank God for the baggage handler that has to carry on so much of your crap at underpaid wages. If ye weren’t so interested in Budget airlines with their wage pinching schemes to give ye a cheap ticket, then your baggae would be treated with the respect it deserves and not the contempt it so utterly warrants. So shove that in your pip[e and smoke it , ye pathetic bunch of whingers. And just for that , tomorrow I am going to jump on all the cheapskate suit cases that come across my way.
Yo Jumbo,
Love your work pal. I agree totally, the travelling public are all a bunch Lame whingers. If they want cheap service and low fares then they get what they pay for. I dont give a shit about damaging customers bags. Especially the cheap and nasty bags checked in by vulgar smelling ferrel passengers, who are nothing but money deprived losers !! I like to steal panties from the girls suitcases and fondle there adult toys, sometimes even sniff them. Also, the stupid people who trasnsport cannabis, and try to cover the smell with coffee beans, dont bother.. We all know the trick. I love pinching half of your stash !! Hell, are they going to complain to the Police or Ground Staff ?? hahaha. Occasionally, if a passenger is rude at check in ,I will open there bag in the plane, squat over it and pinch of a giant turd . So the lesson here : If you are a rude, cheap, arrogant passenger, watch out, becausen it may be the handle of your bag that I smear shite over.
I am a baggage handler for United Airlines at Heathrow. The one and ONLY reason bags are thrown like that is because passengers pack the bloomin bags so heavy. How do you expect me to move a 32kg bag quickly without damaging it. Its either your bag or my back and im choosing your bag! So you can see why i and all of us baggage handlers dont give a flying f**k about bags. I sure as hell not going to treat a 32kg bag with any respect.
Every time I fly through the USA, my baggage is ‘randomly’ searched. As I never cary contraband, this wouldn’t normally bother me, but what I have become aware of is that every time my baggage is searched, _something_ is souvenired. Its never anything valuable that might attract imediate notice, but it is always something useful. I wouldn’t have bothered to pack it if it wasn’t! I have taken to making a detailed list of everything I put into a suitcase! and checking it as I unpack. Next time…….. I will keep the ID notice of the ‘security person’ and report them!!!!!!! May not be valuable, but its damned irritating.
We were boarding our flight in Chicago, OHare airport when the lady in front of us on the gangway said “Look at what that guy is standing on, someone should get a photo of that.”
I had a camera in my backpack and by the time she finished speaking I was taking off the lens cap and setting the auto focus. As I snapped the first couple frames I thought to myself that there is something else wrong with this picture. …… Hmmmm ….. I know…. That’s MY brand new fricking suitcase the bozo is standing on!
http://wellsmaine.com/Airlineluggage/luggage-damage.html
I am a baggage handler at ema and am surprised at the growing size of bags! Why is it that when we load them their weight is recorded and displayed on a tag but on the return they are obviously grossly overweight but no tag, thought this was regulated world-wide!
Its true that the public have no idea of the sheer physical effort that is involved and tend to use a case as one would a wheelbarrow! to get revenge on an inconsiderate passenger there are a number of things that happen, one is to get them to realise how bloody heavy the case is by taking of the wheels to see how they like to carry it!!
Another is to use a discarded brass padlock ( surprisingly abundant in holds!!) to connect the two zips together! hmmm slight sense of revenge just to make the shift more durable.
Any passengers reading this please be aware that per shift one handler is personally moving around 35 ton
If you dont want to do the Job then quit.
I have unloaded semi trucks by hand for a living… sometimes in 8 hours i would unload more than 70 tons… at least double what you are crying about if not allot more… Any lumper in the country will vouch for the weights that are loaded and unloaded in a day. If we broke up junk and had your attitude about it… we would be out of a Job and on our stinking ear in a second…
If you dont like your work enough to take care of the things your responsible for… Then Quit. You are lazy. your a Thief and you need your walking papers.
Some of you others in here are probably conscientious workers… dont let these jerks bring you down to their level.
im a baggage handler and i gotta agree with the others on this page. its a shit job. shit money, shit managers, shit weather conditions, shit hours but its a laugh. and yeah bags get bust. if thats the the worst thing that happens to you this year then think yourself lucky. for baggage handlers its not just moving bags, the proccess goes something like this when a plane comes in you chock it, cone it, drive steps onti it, put a ground power on it, get the bags off, get the new ones on, get rid of all the equipment (steps, ground power, chocks, cones, mallaghan, hi-lo, conveyor, barrows) safety check the plane then push it back. so you see our minds ammazingly arent always thinking about bags.
Hey Ladies& Gents I am the infamous BaggageHandler the you guys have hated&raised your middle fingers on.I would like to apologize for the inconvenience of improper handling of your most precious belongings in the whole galaxy hah… galaxyhehe jus doin whats given ya kno’, well thats it.
-AZN Jay
i smash bags everyday for living and it releases so much of stress.
Don’t forget the fact that baggage handlers have actually died on ramps across America. Accidents include; getting sucked in or blown away by engines (which pilots keep on sometimes even after being told the power doesn’t work from jet-ways), tugs and beltloaders with no brakes (thanks to companies cutting costs in order to lower ticket prices for you beautiful people), multiple toes and fingers being sliced off by faulty machines, accidents caused by tires handlers who have to work 16 hours a day just to pay off student loans and rent, and blowing out backs, tearing tendons, breaking arms and legs trying to left bags that weigh as much as a human body. All of this to make your travel more convenient. Don’t bother to thank them, though. The $20,000/year is thanks enough.
opss…. not done yet…I’ve work at Pearson Intl’ Airport (canada T-dot)and now it’ll be my 4th year. The shit that I’ve seen and done,WOW.
If everyone in the world were to be regulated to work at the airport for 1 month after their education and then told to carry on their lives, the world would be filled with good drivers, less bitching coworkers, and smart travellers, BUT that will never happen. Yeah, baggage handlers are in the top 3 worst job categories.
1. shitty pay CDN$9.50- after (5years)$18max
2. shitty shifts
3 shitty health benefits
4 shitty perks or NONE
5 shitty station mgrs/GMs/managers/supervisors/leads/ … some dont even know wut the fuck they are doing!!
6 shitty weather conditions … ppl who work inside complain the AC is not good enough and ramp guys/gals are melting their boobs/balls off. it gets so hot out there on the ramp that if you walk behind an enigne, you wont even notice the difference.
7 shitty uniforms
8 shitty co-workers aka DOGfuckers
9 shitty equipment … EVERY driveable equipememt have NO shocks…the shock absorbers are YOUR back.
….and the list goes on and on and on.
so….bags are the LAST things we care about BUT HEY we try…you know you get the occasional HEAVY ASS bags and the OVERPACKED bags and the ridiculous bags where you pull on the handle and the whole ahndle comes off or the bag tears into pieces. yea there are asshole rampies out there but i would say to EVERYONE OUT THERE to buy HARDCASE suitcases. and fuckin phillipinos carry their stuff in boxes!! like wut the hell?? maybe thats what safest way for them in the phillipines but…weird man. and the indians…well they rope the shit out of their bags…cause in india…rampies and the airport workers STEAL from them even when the PASSENGERS are present…yea its bad there, airport wise…customs/immigration there, like to distract the passenger while the other dude raids the bag into a grabage bin, yep. all i can say is baggage mischief will always occur, unfortunately and hopefully it’ll never happen to me.
…i’ve saved 4 ppl from being diced, sucked in, blown away from engines….i’ve even seen ppl gets instant flight benefits, guy gets blown 25ft in the air, then baaam on the ground on his ass! lmao! I have tons of pictures from damaged aiplanes, new airplanes, air france crash…crazy shit.
all in all, its a privlige to work at the airport. you see ppl looking through the fence, while we go and drive under airplanes, go in the belleis, walk on wings (maintenance), take all kinds of pictures, go on the taxiways/runways, tow and follow airplanes/watch them take-off up close.
i moved up and i just moving around airplanes (towing)..get to drive $450,000 equipment….my own lamborghini at work…yeah rampies lift an average 2 tons a day or whenever on shift. and lets not forget the person who does LAVS!!! (lavatory/poop) yep HE/SHE does the most shit in one day. yes ppl have gottin dumped gallons and gallons of shit. i’ve seen and experienced lavs spills…i never got “spilled ON”…thank god! best part of my aiport life is when the airshow comes to town. they “reherse”…like low flyby…great picture/video days! i’ve done some airport security and got to see some scenes being filmed for the new “hulk” movie. I got to “ACT” in the new “love guru” movie soon to come out.
aside all the bullcrap and stupid ppl at the airport…ramp agents have the most fun at their workplaces.
anyways thats taht!
My favorite is hauling the strollers that are as big as frickin’ Cadillacs up the jetbridge stairs, punch in the security code while trying not to fall down the stairs, and then hand the dang thing to the passenger and not even a “Thank you”
Overpacking the bags is by far the reason your bags get busted, for godssake! I’ve had handles pop off right in my hands, and trust me, punching myself in the face is not my idea of getting revenge on passengers.
I’ve seen so, so many CHEAP bags that are absolutely overstuffed. C’mon, people, those bags can’t take it.
Don’t forget, you don’t see what we go through in the belly of the plane. We’re on our knees, banging our heads, trying to heft those body bags into nice neat stacks under an incredible time limit. Backs, shoulders, knees, you name it, it hurts.
Speed is the key to moving those bags. Slow down, and you’ll never get it lifted. So sorry for when you’ve seen me heave it, but I’m not a big hulking muscle man, and this girl is sick of people complaining about the way I handle those bags. Frankly, it’s a miracle that your bags even make flights or to baggage claim most of the time. Trust me.
By the way, I don’t care what’s in your bags. I don’t dig thru ’em, and I don’t want to. I don’t even have time to. But let me tell you, make sure those bags are zippered! You have no IDEA how much of people’s stuff I find in the airplane every day. It comes out all on its own if you just shove it in your bag and it’s a crap bag or isn’t even shut properly.
Just venting after working in 6 F degrees while everyone inside is watching us and bitching.
Thats right rampratgirl… and then we still get bitched at by 4 different people how we weren’t “fast” or “good enough”. they all, management, preach safety first and when a delay occurs they forget all their rules they put in place which slows the process down. you got 30-1hr to turn a plane, and you got 89 extra rules to follow on top of 105. And then everyday 1 rule pops up…love it just great.
I/m guilty. I have stuffed my bags to the max. But what the baggage handlers don’t understand is the fact that I’m taking the stuff I’m goinig to need to live on for a period of 3 months. I travel back and forth to Africa and every time my bags are broke and stuff is missing and try to communicate that to an African. I just want to know how to ease the burden for the working people and still get my stuff in one piece. Also, what is the strongest bag? We don’t get paid much as volunteers.
Use a plastic storage trunk… one glance tells them its heavy so they are expecting it and lift accordingly… usually slide it onto the floor and pile everything else on top of it.. fine and dandy it will take it. Dont overpack.. know your weight limit and try not to exceed it. about 70 lbs in most cases. Try not to exceed 65 lb and you will have a good margin and not have to pay overweight fees.
Since I started using plastic footlockers for travel I have had much better results. Even when Ivan the Samsonite Gorrilla does his thing… Now if I could just find a way to keep the Security people from ransacking it… we would be doing well….