Airline Apologizes For Baggage Handlers Caught Dropping Luggage From Height Of 20 Feet
As airlines crack down on passengers’ attempts to shove too-large and overstuffed carry-on bags onto planes, a growing number of travelers are forced to gate-check their luggage, meaning it’s collected at the gate and put straight into the plane’s underbelly. But some baggage handlers don’t feel like carrying luggage down all those steps from the jetway to the ground and are just dropping passengers’ bags from heights of around 20 feet.
The above video, shot late last week by a traveler at Toronto’s Pearson International, shows a baggage handler for an Air Canada flight taking bags from from the jetway and, rather than walking them down to the tarmac or meeting his coworker halfway, simply letting them drop more than a dozen feet to an awaiting bin o’ luggage below.
The clip already has more than 1 million views on YouTube and has brought a bit of embarrassment to the airline.
On Saturday, Air Canada Tweeted an apology that read, “The actions in the video don’t represent our procedure. We are disappointed & sorry about what happened. We’re investigating.”
The traveler who shot the footage says he understands why the handlers would be reluctant to descend the metal staircase while carrying multiple pieces of luggage, “but that doesn’t help passengers whose baggage they don’t want to have treated in that fashion.”
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