FlySafair, a popular airline company, experienced a major setback at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo airport on Friday due to a technical glitch in the luggage sorting machine owned by the Airports Company SA (Acsa). The fault in the machine led to a significant number of passengers reaching their destinations without their luggage during the peak holiday season. Kirby Gordon, the Chief Marketing Officer of FlySafair, termed the situation as an “operational disaster”.
The malfunction affected around 3,000 passengers of FlySafair and caused immense difficulty in reuniting them with their belongings. Despite the attempts of postponing flights to accommodate as many lot bags as possible, the problem persisted. Gordon also revealed that on Saturday, every executive of the Johannesburg-based airline was present at the airport, trying to locate the missing bags and prevent any potential theft.
Acsa acknowledged the technical difficulties faced with their baggage sortation system in the domestic terminal in a statement issued on Friday. In the wake of the disruption, some passenger bags were left behind, but Acsa assured that necessary measures had been implemented in collaboration with the concerned airlines to ensure the timely delivery of the baggage to their respective owners. The issue has since been resolved, and the luggage sorting system is functioning as expected.
The incident has also impacted the passengers of MSC Splendida. Lerato Seheri, along with her family, flew from OR Tambo to Durban on Friday, where they boarded the cruise ship for a five-night journey to Portuguese Island and Pomene. However, due to the baggage issue, she and over 40 other passengers had to travel without their luggage. MSC Cruises delayed the ship’s departure by three hours to accommodate the late arrival of the luggage. Still, despite the delay, the luggage did not arrive on time, causing inconvenience to the passengers.
Ross Volk, the Managing Director of MSC Cruises, stated that the Splendida crew did their best to assist the passengers affected by the issue by offering free laundry services. He also disclosed that the disruption resulted in additional port fees of R500,000 due to the delayed departure of the ship.
Jonathan Ayache, the CEO of LIFT Airline, also expressed his concerns over the malfunctioning of Acsa’s luggage sorting system, stating that it created unnecessary stress for the customers during a period of high travel demand. The incident compelled ground handling agencies to hire additional staff and allocate extra hours to manage the situation, while the airlines had to bear the burden of high courier charges for delivering luggage back to the passengers.