Bag Weights
The propensity of passengers to pack enough clothing for three weeks and
enough books to last a month when they are going on a week or fortnights
holiday cannot be underestimated. As a result airlines feel that they would be
limiting the number of customers they serve if they limit the passengers’
capacity to pack such items.
Sadly for the airline, most airports charge the airline by the number of bags
going through the system and not the actual bag weights. Consequently the
airlines often discourage the use of multiple bags.
A study performed by the Health and Safety executive on baggage handlers
at Robin Hood Airport highlighted that on an average shift a single baggage
handler would move over 9 tonnes of luggage. The luggage and cargo hold of
a narrow body aircraft is normally only high enough for a person to kneel in
and devices to aid in the movement of bags to the far end of the hold are
often expensive and take a long time to set up. As a result, the stacking of
bags is generally done by the handlers and consequently the movement of
the bags causes a higher degree of injuries.
In larger wide body aircraft
bags can be loaded into
cages which can be
loaded without the need to
manually stack the cases
in the hold, one by one.
Even so these containers
still have to be loaded
manually by the handlers
at the airport.
In narrow body aircraft,
handlers have to work on
their knees as the size of the compartment used to hold the luggage and any
cargo is so restricted. Consequently moving and stacking luggage can and
does cause musculoskeletal injuries.
The IATA website states however that “in order to avoid trouble at the airport
terminal, make sure that your suitcase doesn't weigh more than 23 kilos
(50lbs), or you will be asked to either repack or transfer some of your
belongings into another bag or to pay an excess. Bags over 32 kilograms
(70lbs) cannot be accepted for carriage as they are too heavy for the baggage
handlers to lift on their own!”
Most airlines have agreed to limit individual bag weights at a maximum of 23
kilograms but there others such as BA who will still accept bags that are up to
40 kilograms!
Additionally flights from Arabic nations and from the US often contain bags in
excess of even this limit.
As a result of having to manually handle such loads, often in confined spaces,
there is a high level of back and other muscular skeletal injuries sustained
among the workforce. Additionally if a handler injures themselves on a bag,
Unite has received reports from handlers that they have to identify the owner
of the bag that caused the injury and try and pursue a private action against
that individual, rather than the airline or the baggage handling company taking
responsibility.
Unite and other unions in the ETF are therefore endeavouring to impose an
absolute limit on bag weights of 23 kilograms and make it the responsibility of
the employer to ensure that the bags are within these limits.