Airline passenger news and views

Leading budget airline, bmibaby may have unfairly charged thousands of passengers due to measuring devices being too small. Customers have always been asked to put their hand luggage in a metal cage to make sure it complied with size restrictions. It would seem many failed the test and therefore their bags had to be put into the hold at a cost of sixty pounds for a return flight.

The problem that emerged was that the gauges at the departure gates are of a different design to those on the main airport concourse. This means that bags which are close to the maximum size do not fit in them.

There is reason to believe that bmibaby knew about the problem for some time. This issue is due to be reported tonight on BBC’s Watchdog. It would seem that an insider for the company has already admitted that staff did know there was an issue..

Travel Industry expert who is the head of research for Which? Holiday said ‘If airlines choose to charge passengers who exceed baggage allowances, they have an obligation to make sure their scales and gauges are accurate’. She went onto say that the company should compensate wronged customers.

So, as a result bmibaby is in the process of looking to replace the gauges and to address the design flaw they claim affects the size.

It is also interesting to note that the airline admitted that their staff do earn commission from excess baggage charges made at airport check in, however, it did say that this did not apply to charges linked to over sized hand luggage. It would seem to me this is yet another way of implementing unfair and unjust charges.