44 RAMP FORUM
GROUND HANDLING INTERNATIONAL JUNE 2013
Duck on board or face the music
DA Aviation Technology Solutions released the results of its study a few weeks back, after nearly
a year of research conducted in co-operation with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and more than 1,000 regional airline members of the Association of Flight Attendants. The research showed that 98% of
the fl ight attendants surveyed had witnessed passengers hitting their heads on entry way doors, while 43% had witnessed passengers being injured signifi cantly enough to cause a cut, bleeding or a bruise. Three quarters of the fl ight attendants surveyed believed there is a safety concern with these resulting head injuries, while 72% believe some type of removable safety cushion safety device would reduce or eliminate the number of head injuries. Overall, one in every 60 passengers who climb aboard a regional aircraft will strike their head on the cabin entry way, whilst one in every 141 will sustain some sort of head injury. Regional jet doorways are typically much shallower than those employed on larger, transport category aircraft. You have been warned…
When smoke gets in your eyes…
A Sunwing Airlines fl ight had to divert to Bermuda after a family of smokers who were discovered lighting up in the lavatory refused to co-operate with the cabin crew and became verbally abusive. The fl ight was en route from Halifax to the Dominican Republic when a mother, father and two sons were caught smoking by a passenger. The quartet proved very unco-operative and they refused to tell the crew if they had left other cigarettes on the aircraft. After diverting to Bermuda, the airline sent a mechanic to thoroughly check the aircraft. All 170 passengers and crew had to spend the night at the interim station. The airline says that it has banned the family from future fl ights with Sunwing.
Through a glass, darkly
When Virgin’s Richard Branson made an April Fool’s Day announcement about starting a glass-bottomed aircraft
service, at least one major news outlet didn’t appreciate the humour. Chinese broadcaster, CCTV, ran it as an odd news item but one that was genuine nonetheless. A CCTV news announcer said that passengers needed not worry about safety because the see-through bottom would be aviation-grade glass. The broadcaster reported it a day later on the nightly news programme World Express: at this juncture Chinese Internet users quickly spotted the mistake and spread the word. Soon afterwards CCTV pulled the clip from its website.
Lead balloon – or perhaps a slimming incentive?
A Norwegian professor has come up with an interesting suggestion relating to airline charges: getting passengers to pay according to their weight. Heavier passengers would pay more for their tickets and lighter ones less, under the scheme put forward by Dr Bharat P Bhatta. The professor, who hails from Sognog Fjordane University College in Norway, said that weight and space should be taken into account when airlines price their tickets, and cited similar practice in other industry sectors aside from transportation. On the face of it this is a very simple expedient and one that could be adopted, subject to check-in areas having the requisite weighing equipment. Whether any such move is likely to endear the airline to the, shall we say, more fuller-fi gured passenger, is open to speculation.
Excess clothing comes under scrutiny by airlines
From weight loss to weight gain – this time it’s the passengers who have been banned from fl ights for attempting to board with too many clothes. Sounds bizarre? According to a passenger survey carried out by Budget Airline Watch and WhichBudget, such incidents are not uncommon. There is evidence that passengers have been banned from boarding fl ights for refusing to discard excess jumpers and jackets, whilst others have been asked to disembark and return to the gate to check a cabin bag in the sizing cage.
Other reports include passengers charged for going 100 grammes over their baggage allowance (that translates into the weight of a bar of soap) and not being allowed to repack to redistribute weight from one overweight bag to an underweight bag. And then there was the easyJet passenger who claimed that she was asked if she would mind leaving her check-in luggage behind because the fl ight was already fully loaded. In all, two-thirds of the 340 passengers who responded to the survey admitted that low cost airlines offered value for money, but only a third reckoned that they provided a good service. Budget carrier easyJet topped the survey as the best airline overall, beating the likes of British Airways and Virgin Atlantic; in comparison, Ryanair was considered by 77% to offer the worst service.
Drugs haul made at airport
Dutch police recently uncovered a cocaine-smuggling ring at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. There, baggage handlers were employed to smuggle drugs in from the Caribbean, according to a police spokesman.
“In total of 20 people have been
arrested, following an investigation that started last year,’’ said Robert van Kapel, spokesman for the Dutch royal gendarmes who were involved in apprehending the workers.
“Some of the suspects worked in the baggage handling section at Schiphol airport, but for tactical reasons we can’t at this stage reveal how many.” Drug smugglers were in the habit of notifying baggage handlers about specifi c drug-fi lled suitcases that were arriving at Schiphol, which would then be smuggled out by the airport workers, says Dutch media. The recent police activity brings to a total of 20 the number of people arrested in connection with this particular operation.
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groundhandling.com
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