The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Dozens of passengers who arrived at Entebbe International Airport from Johannesburg aboard Uganda Airlines on Friday, are frustrated after learning that the airline did not load their luggage after check-in.
Under normal procedure, check-in bags are carried through a conveyer belt and sorted on the basis of destination, and flight number on the tag before being loaded in the underbelly of the plane. When the planes land, the airline’s baggage handlers unload the luggage and drive them to the baggage carousels for passengers to pick up.
But more than 50 passengers on flight number UR-711, that landed at Entebbe International Airport on Friday at 3:56 pm, told our reporter that they had either got some or none of their bags after waiting at the carousel for over two hours. They were told by baggage handlers that some of the bags were left at O. R Tambo Airport in South Africa.
One of the passengers told URN that she was persuaded to board Uganda Airlines because of the direct flights and affordable rates from Johannesburg but was frustrated that the flight misplaced their baggage, even if it did not have any stopover. The airline charges are between USD330 and 370 for a return flight compared to Kenya Airways and Ethiopian Airlines which have non-direct flights and charge between USD450 and 600 for the route.
A father who had come to pick up his son returning from studies was equally disappointed and noted that all the passengers he had seen departing the airport did not have check-in baggage just like his son. “This is a direct flight, so how can one’s baggage go missing?” he wondered.
Two siblings who have returned for the festive season say their four bags are missing. They told our reporter that the passenger handlers say their baggage will be brought on Sunday, December 5.
But three passengers are not as enthusiastic, saying that they have heard from colleagues who travelled last week and have not yet received their check-in baggage to date.
“My sister arrived in Entebbe last Sunday but she has not yet got her two bags. The airline is silent about this issue,” one passenger said, “I didn’t want to reschedule my flight or book another airline because of the ever-changing travel measures to contain the spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant.”
Sources at Uganda Airlines confirmed that they have a baggage backlog of two weeks. The CRJ-900 Bombardier aircraft that operates the Johannesburg flight carries a maximum of 76 passengers and has a maximum weight of 38,329 kilograms at takeoff. Each passenger is allowed to check in 23 kilograms or pay for the extra baggage.
Now passengers are suggesting that the management should consider using the over 250-seater Airbus 330-800 Neo aircraft for the Johannesburg route to carry the baggage left behind since it has the capacity to carry 40 tonnes of cargo.
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And OMICRON….. SARS VARIANTEN ETC
So your reporter spoke to over 50 passengers from a single flight. Was it in a conference or a meeting? How did your reporter manage to do that?
This is strange
Am Chandiga James senior baggage tracer. I would like to advise passengers/client of all airlines to understand the route cause of their luggage’s being left behind. However, airlines 100% understood the in-convince caused based on the below points
1-The loads in the very flight
2-The contains of their bags
3-Tags get remove from the belt leading to tag less bag
4-The loading system due to congestion at the make-up areas where different flights are checking at the same time leading Miss-routing of bags as well as tags switch.
NB: Airlines pays first needs to their passenger who missed his or her bag mean while they continue tracing the bag for 21day as stipulated in the IATA-ICAO rules and regulation of baggage policy
50 passengers CRJ900 is approximately 5000 kg. inclusive 7 kg carry on luggage for every passenger assuming all adults.
With each passenger checking in 23 kg is total baggage of 750 kg
Total useful payload is 5750 kg
Aircraft MTOW= 38,289 kg from the. article.
Therefore Estimated Maximum Zero fuel weight =27,590 kg
Estimated takeoff weight with above data is 36,470 kg.
Uplift can be limited by volume or weight of the baggage and any cargo to be loaded in the belly.
Also local departure conditions and weather conditions enroute may further restrict the takeoff weight.
Correction in checked weight is 1050 kg.
The takeoff weight is adjusted to 36770 kg
23 x 50=1150 kg and again have adjusted takeoff weight to 36870 kg. The rest of the information on the performance data correct.
It is bad publicity for the Ugandan carrier. Just the other time we had the grasshopper incident and now luggage is left at the point of departure!!!!! who is behind the fight to kill this airline? The explanation by Uganda Airlines that confirmed that they have a baggage backlog of two weeks only portrays the Airline as a poor business manager. If they are aware that the CRJ-900 Bombardier aircraft that operates the Johannesburg flight carries a maximum of 76 passengers and has a maximum weight of 38,329 kilograms at takeoff, why not alert the passengers so that they are fed on facts?
Liars , these are people they fired from uganda airlines some time back, always they want to create a bad name for the airlines, cooking up with fake stories all the time. Guys in life we all face challenges, we lose loved ones, we lose jobs, many things happen but we move on.
Learn to move on you were all matured and you had your share, let others also enjoy that’s life.
For God and my country.