A baggage handler on the Ontario Worldwide Airport shared a easy trick to forestall misplaced baggage: checking for outdated stickers from earlier journey that could be caught to your suitcase.
The hack was filmed and posted by Ontario Worldwide Airport (@flyontairport), the official account of the California based mostly airport. Considered over 247,000 instances and favored over 10,000 instances, it sparked a light-weight hearted dialog over journey suggestions.
@flyontairport Professional Tip: For those who dont need your baggage to get misplaced when touring… take away outdated stickers from previous journeys off your baggage. #FlyONT #SoCalSoEasy ♬ Sunshine – WIRA
The video begins with a gaggle of airport employees gathered subsequent to the conveyor belt as suitcases transfer previous them to their designated planes.
“Let’s say you flew American and a month later you flew Southwest,” the luggage handler explains. “Nicely, there’s slightly sticker that goes on for American that tells the pc to go there.”
He factors off digicam, apparently to a sure conveyor belt.
“….It scans as a substitute of this one,” he says as he gestures towards a tag on a bag’s deal with. “There’s an opportunity it scans it as a substitute of this one. It would find yourself over there and never get on the aircraft.”
One other airport employee walks over to the conveyor belt, pointing at one of many aforementioned stickers for example.
The Day by day Dot reached out to Ontario Worldwide Airport through electronic mail for additional data.
Many customers have been grateful for the recommendation, whereas some claimed that eradicating stickers was frequent information and didn’t depend as a hack.
“I at all times assumed this was frequent sense. Airways gained’t even put new stickers in your bag till the outdated one is off,” a consumer stated.
“Who else leaves them on till the following flight for the desk to tug them?” one other consumer joked.
“Oh my gracious. That’s such a excessive DUH issue,” a consumer stated.
“Such a very good PSA,” a commenter exclaimed.
“One thing I by no means thought of however makes a lot sense,” a consumer acknowledged.
Dropping your bag is just not a pleasing expertise, but it surely’s turning into an ever-increasing actuality. Labor shortages coupled with wage stagnation solely heighten the problems brought on by rampant airline mismanagement.
In December 2022, Southwest Airways had an entire meltdown, stranding thousands and thousands of passengers throughout america. Throughout the unfolding fiasco, Southwest turned the blame towards their overworked workers as a substitute of their outdated scheduling strategies. The catastrophe ended up costing the corporate roughly $800 million in misplaced income. Just a few months later, Southwest was compelled to briefly floor 1,750 flights as a consequence of a pc glitch.
These points usually are not remoted to a single airline or airport. U.S. Division of Transportation information exhibits how airways mishandled baggage at an rising charge from 2021 to 2022. In April of 2022, airways misplaced, delayed, broken, or stole from roughly 220,000 baggage of the 40 million they dealt with.
When touring it’s greatest to hold in your baggage each time potential, however if you happen to’re not capable of then checking in beforehand and ensuring to take away any tags from earlier journeys is the easiest way to make sure your baggage makes it to the vacation spot.
*First Printed: Aug 24, 2023, 9:05 pm CDT
Parks Kugle
Parks Kugle is a author and reporter based mostly in San Antonio. His work has appeared in Lumina Literary Journal, Depraved Native Newspapers, and numerous publications throughout the U.S. He enjoys comics and gardening.