Article: Are Ground Handlers Gaming Baggage Delivery KPIs?

[AFF Editor]

Canonical URL

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/baggage-handlers-gaming-kpis/

Are Ground Handlers Gaming Baggage Delivery KPIs? is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

Are Ground Handlers Gaming Baggage Delivery KPIs?

Airlines often use the time it takes to get the first bag onto the carousel as a key performance metric for baggage handlers. Are ground handling companies gaming this to inflate their KPIs?

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[Scarlett]

I have not seen this.

I have seen maybe a full containers worth or (from a B737 flight) maybe a tow motor and carriage worth of bags, so say between 30-50 bags, before a break in delivery.
As an aside what is the correct name for those things that smaller aircraft and 737s get loaded from / unloaded onto?
These:

 

[RooFlyer]

Has anyone else noticed this trend of one or two bags arriving on the carousel quickly, then the rest taking an age?

As it happens, I noticed this on a couple of flights in my recent RTW; they were large airports (one from memory was DFW) . Just 2-4 bags come out, then nothing. Maybe another couple a minute later. I wondered - how does that happen, thinking of delivery by carriages, per photo above? Only thing I could think of was if there was sort of large baggage-handling system behind the scenes, with conveyors etc, there was some priority given to other bags, just after the delivery of my flights occurred.

 

[henrus]

One of the biggest delays at a hub is transit bags often get higher treatment as it’s much easier to delay bags for passengers ending at that airport but if bags transiting elsewhere are delayed then they may miss the flight.

Some airports/countries like Indonesia (as just one example) X-ray all luggage prior to it arriving on the luggage carrousel which in itself can slow things down as bags with restricted/ prohibited items need to be pulled aside and are then tagged with things like zip ties, tape or in some airports a security tag (same sort of thing you’d find in shops) so it can be pulled aside at customs.

I think EVA Air is a notable one as business class luggage is tagged as F1 (noting this is business class only - no *G or other status except EVAs own very top tier members) and it’s to be available within 15 minutes of the door being opened. I guess this is much easier for EVA to deliver as all their aircraft A321 and bigger use containers for luggage whereas something like a 737 makes it more difficult to seperate.

Alaska airlines and Delta also have a 20 minute guarantee (with a discount code or free miles if they fail) for all bags noting that it has to be a domestic flight plus a bunch of other restrictions.

https://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/baggage/baggage-claim/20-minute-guarantee

 

[serfty]

As an aside what is the correct name for those things that smaller aircraft and 737s get loaded from / unloaded onto?

For containerised operation the containers are carried on "Dollies".

I am not sure of any special name for the carts luggage is carried on for manual loading.

Inside the 737 aircraft they can have "Magic Carpets". These are conveyer belts with a \__/ cross section. They are installed inside the cargo sections of aeroplanes and are used to move luggage to the other end of the hold, rather than the handlers "frog march" it down.

(Generally Airbus aircraft in the region do not need these as even the smaller craft are containerised.)

 

[jb747]

Ah, KPIs. What a load of the proverbial. I can see the handlers doing all they can to worsen the KPIs, as any benefit derived from them would go to 'management' and not the workers.

 

[Hvr]

What's measured is what gets done.

If only one piece of luggage is required to meet the KPIs then that's all that needs to be delivered.