Philly Bag problem

libertybell

Senior
Jan 5, 2003
320
9
I hear the Bag chute system in Philly is down and is causing Major problems for the bags going with the passengers. Anyone have any more information?
 
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On 6/26/2003 1:45:11 PM tadjr wrote:


Check out the "Crown Jewel" thread or "Dave Fiddles as PHL Goes Down in Flames" thread for some information. It is not a pretty picture in baggage right now.

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just maybe they are trying to get the pawobs to equal 5%
 
This is now posted on USAirways.com under the media portion.








Due to a malfunction of US Airways'' baggage sorting system at the Philadelphia International Airport, some customers traveling to other US Airways destinations could experience a delay in the arrival of their baggage. US Airways employees in Philadelphia have been working around-the-clock to fix the problem. In the interim, we are manually sorting outbound and connecting luggage, which is taking more time than the standard computerized process. Customers whose bags do not arrive on the scheduled flights should immediately proceed to the US Airways baggage claim counter and notify our representatives. Our representatives will do everything possible to expeditiously deliver the baggage to the customer''s desired location. We apologize for this temporary inconvenience and thank you for your patience
 
Re-the notice on US web site. What a bunch of corporate double talk. Dave and the boys would make any politician proud. The facts say that US management either doesn''t know what is really happening in PHL or they are just lying to save face. In my end of the systems, we are still missing some bags from the 25th, most of the bags from the 26th and continuing to lose at a frightening rate on the 27th. Looks like US is going to screw up numerous weddings, family get togethers, campers, golf tournments and just about anything else you can thing of. Looking at the list for other cities is even more frightening. Quite literally thousands of bags are missing and PHL can''t get them on any flight. And its not a space problem to my city, there has been plenty of bin space and weight lift available on flight out of PHL today. PHL either can''t or won''t sort out previously mishandled bags. Heard tell from one of the folks down there, no one is will to work overtime, especially overnight sort so it just isn''t happening. From what was said, it seems like the IAM and Company agreed awhile ago to no forced overtime to cover manpower shortages after the last fiasco last year in PHL. No end in sight for this joy.
 
In Pittsburgh tonight ,2 tractor trailor trucks full of misconnect luggage from PHL.I talked to one of the ramp agents in PHL and he said that they had 8 more treucks to load and send the bags to PIT and CLT to be delivered to their proper cities.Every city is understaffed on the ramp,and to blame all of the problems in PHL on the belt is a blatant lie.This management team is lost when it comes to personnel management and staffing.
 
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On 6/27/2003 8:07:30 PM Old PSA wrote:

In my end of the systems, we are still missing some bags from the 25th, most of the bags from the 26th and continuing to lose at a frightening rate on the 27th. Looks like US is going to screw up numerous weddings, family get togethers, campers, golf tournments and just about anything else you can thing of. blockquote>

Long before this bag belt meltdown, we had the same problem day in and day out, psgrs saw their bags at customs in PHL but they never made the connecting flight. I tried calling the PHL ramp mgr, his voice mailbox is full. Last Xmas season,
it took PHL 3 days to get the bags to us. I give
every irate psgr the address to Consumer Affairs.
Let them hear what we on the front lines put up with.
 
I agree they need to send reps from each station to phl and try and find their bags, it is costing the company more in intrim expense then paying someone to go to phl. Has anyone else noticed bag arr without any tags at all, no name tags no bag tags ect.....seems phl is just guessing you might need a bag and putting an exp on a bag and sending to your station. same problem here, bags use to follow next day on phl flight, flight has arr past three days, bags still missing......also some bags just never show up anymore.....this use to never happen, something other than bag belt broken in phl, there is a problem there and to me management needs to be there everyday until this is cleared up.......
 
To: Hello Newman


Your right, PHL has been a problem since the summer started. Up until 3 day ago the routine was to take 10-20 tracers after each PHL flight and then deliver 10-20 tracers worth of bags from the previous flight. Not fun, but consistent. The last 3 days the bags just aren''t coming on the next flight or the next flight or the next flight.

I seems strange to me that the company would truck the bags to anyplace to be sorted and sent out rather than sorted in PHL. My manager asked PHL management and the Regional Director if he could send down a couple of our agents to locate our bags and take them to the next flight. He was told no. He said several other managers had the same suggestion with the same response.
 
You are quite right. If Dave really was the airline and employee guy he is portraying himself as, he, Al and Charles (Martin) would be down in PHL on the line talking to the troops, pressing the flesh and making sure that the most important point in the systems is operating perfectly. Well at least operating.
 
There are several thousand bags are making their way back into the system today. Trucks were sent to PIT and CLT to get them sorted and back in the system to their owners as quickly as possible. I understand that the bag belt system was completely out of commission for the past few days, my question is, were the customers checking in at the PHLATO being told of the problem and possibility of their bags arriving late? What was the PHL contingency plan for such an event? Just to stack the bags up until you blew the roof off the place? I can understand difficulties in the first few hours of the belt system shut down, even the first day. But for this to go on for 3-4 days is pathetic.
 
I was wondering if they were advised, that way they could take out what they might need for the next couple of days. I know if I was a customer and at least they gave me a heads up, would be much happier on the other end when my bags didn''t arrive. But the way the customers are screaming I don''t think they were advised about anything.
 
If I were a passenger and I was given 2 days advanced notice that my baggage wouldn't arrive at the same time I did, Id tell US Airways to take a very long walk on a very short pier. I'd take my business else where!!

Lets face the fact's, management's aware of the problem and the problem still exists. Shouldn't that tell you something about our management??
 
Why does that have to say something about management? Couldn''t it also say something about parts availability for an old baggage system? Couldn''t it also say something about the ability of the airport authority to give an accurate estimated repair time for the system? Why is it always about Dave and the executive office?