Delay in arrival of luggage at Amritsar airport riles Malaysia Airlines passengers

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, January 28

Passengers of Malaysia Airlines are facing inconvenience as there is a long delay in arrival of their luggage at their final destination. Several passengers have complained that they get their language after 12 days of arrival in the holy city.

Dr Jaspreet Singh from Wellington, New Zealand, arrived on January 16 morning. He did not get his luggage until January 27. He said, “I had to find out what was going on. I pressurised the authorities on Tweeter for many days to get my luggage back.”

A local NGO Fly Amritsar Initiative and its global convener Sameep Singh contacted Malaysia Airlines executives and managed to get Dr Jaspreet Singh’s luggage delivered today. A number of passengers from various countries have still not got their luggage back.

Amarjeet Singh, another passenger got his luggage after seven days. Ravi Thind, who arrived on January 20, got his three missing bags after two days. Another passenger Jappy Singh, who travelled on January 22, is yet to get his luggage.

Experts claimed that fog was one of the reasons behind late delivery of luggage as an aircraft had to fill more fuel and leave passengers’ luggage behind. However, no official statement has been received from the Malaysia Airlines in this regard.

Yogesh Kamra, convenor of Fly Amritsar Initiative, said, “It is unfortunate that arrival of luggage of passengers boarding Malaysia Airlines flights from Kuala Lumpur is being delayed. We are regularly taking up this matter with the airlines, the ground handling agency and the airport authorities.”

He said, “There is restriction on payload capacity of aircraft flying in low visibility on longer routes. These single-aisle aircraft have to carry additional fuel as their pilots have to be prepared for any weather or visibility-related diversions to other airports. This could be one of many reasons behind delay in arrival of the luggage.”

Kamra said Malaysia Airlines had assured to take immediate corrective actions and deploy proactive systems to avoid any inconvenience in future flights. He said passengers also complained of not being able to reach out to the local ground handling staff for receiving updates as their calls went unanswered.

“This issue has been taken up with head of the ground handling agency and the airport management. They have been requested to start a real-time information and communication channel so that passengers are not left in the lurch,” he said.