A woman named Vanessa Marsh uploaded a video on Twitter showing a baggage handler throwing luggage down a chute in a reckless manner. Vanessa is a reporter for the Australian newspaper The Courier Mail, and she made a video while waiting to board her flight and used her Twitter account to post the infamous video. The caption for the video read: ‘The mystery of all my broken suitcases is solved – this is the ground crew at Honolulu loading up a Hawaiian Air flight to Phoenix.’
In the video, a female staff member is seen throwing large suitcases down a metal chute instead of gently placing them on the metal slide. The video lasts 30 seconds and has since been viewed over 300,000 times with over 550 comments.
An article from Fox News shared some of the comments that were posted under the short clip. While some Twitter users expressed understanding in their comments, others were more critical of the way their baggage was being handled. One woman tweeted:, ‘And we paid 25 dollars for each of those bags just to be thrown like that?’
One person tweeted in response to the video, ‘I’m a ramp agent myself. It’s never anyone’s intention to damage a bag. She could have cared more regardless of how short of time there might’ve been. Who knows, she probably did not have an opening big enough in that rail to throw bags down like other airports do.’
After the video went viral, Hawaiian Airlines actually tweeted at Vanessa from their official account to address the video. ‘Aloha Vanessa, we’re very sorry to see this and appreciate you bringing it to our attention,’ they wrote. ‘The way these bags were handled is not acceptable, and our Airport Operations Management team is addressing this situation. Thank you.’
In response to a comment request from Fox News, a representative from Hawaiian Airlines said, ‘The way these bags were handled is not acceptable, and it was very upsetting to learn this had occurred. We immediately counseled the employee and contacted the passenger who took the video to apologize for our employee’s actions.’ They added, ‘We intend to use the video in ongoing training for all airport operations groups.’
As reported by the Daily Mail UK, it is unclear at this time whether or not the baggage handler was made aware of the video. However, this is not the first incident of baggage handlers mishandling luggage. As reported by The Sun, it was last July when a baggage handler was caught throwing, kicking, and dragging luggage as he drove off in his vehicle at an airport in Ibiza.
Another baggage handler was filmed kicking and hurling suitcases from an easyJet plane in March. The Sun reported that footage showed them hurling delicate luggage carelessly into a truck, with some crashing onto a concrete runway below. One of the men kicks another bag as he tries to shove it further down the truck. Evidently, Marsh’s video captures just one of many incidents at the airport where luggage is being handled in a questionable manner. Do you think these bags were being handled carelessly? Watch the video below and decide for yourself!
