Coming & Going
I know that I've ranted on many occasions about the problems experienced when flying "post 9/11" (see, Super Fly). My main gripe is having to deal with the security measures implemented by NSA, which are intended to give maximum hasstle for passengers while conveying a false sense of security.
Lest one think one's woes are over if you've finally made it to your destination, however, think again -- especially if you've landed in Philly. This Inquirer article, the latest in a series of baggage claim bungles, says it all, Baggage-claim fracas ends in an arrest.
Here's the short verion via Philadelphia Will Do:
In a shocker, luggage was delayed at the airport! And the passengers were pissed! And then a fight ensued! Ahh, just another day at Philadelphia International Airport.The Inquirer notes that, after a 90-minute wait for luggage, Police were called when someone got angry and belligerent -- this after "[p]assengers said they tried unsuccessfully to get information about the delay from a US Airways baggage-service office next to the luggage carousels."
Reports vary about whether the 24 year old passenger from California actually did anything to justify the fact that he "ended up on the carousel with officers on top of him." According to a witness (and corroborated by others):
"They picked him up and threw him on the belt," Audrey Kuhner said. "They picked him up again... and dragged him about 15 feet and then took him out to the car. He had no shirt on. It had been ripped off."Witnesses say the police overreacted. According to US Air (who else?) employees, it was all the passenger's fault. Now -- who are you going to believe?
Let's see. A few weeks ago, in this Inquirer article, US Airways is struggling to hire baggage handlers, it was observed that "The baggage-return system in Philly has broken down again," and "[s]ervice here on some days became what some employees ruefully called "Christmas in July" . . . an allusion to the monumental baggage problems of the 2004 holiday season." Final hint:
"When I went into the bag-claim office, I received the most nonchalant reception there," [passenger] Nancy Maclay said in an interview. "They were very flip. They didn't seem to care."Of course, this could have all been avoided if the passengers understood that "service" (as in customer service) is not part of the services offered at the baggage claim service office.
Before travelling to/from Philly via its airport, this Philadelphia Magazine article, Terminal Illness: Lost baggage. No parking. Delayed flights. Perpetual lines. Oh, how we hate our airport. Here’s what needs to be done to fix it — and how to survive it in the meantime, is required reading. The Magazine's guide is needed because:
Everything takes forever at the Philadelphia airport. You drive around forever looking for a parking space. You stand in security lines forever. If you haven’t caught breakfast and you’re flying out of Terminal E, you stand in the Burger King line forever and a half, and run to board your flight only to sit on the tarmac forever. If you bought your ticket a few days ago and it’s not to a Southwest city, it probably took you forever to find one that wasn’t hovering around $1,000, and it’ll probably take you forever to get there because your flight connects in two cities and will probably be delayed anyway, this being Philadelphia.
All airports have issues, to be sure, but Philadelphia has a unique combination of every single possible issue an airport could have, to the point where you probably take fewer flights because of it. Corporate travel offices make fewer travel plans around here. The Convention Center gets fewer takers. A good airport can be a vital engine of economic development — Atlanta’s Hartsfield certainly has been, as have Phoenix’s Sky Harbor and Baltimore’s BWI — while a bad airport becomes a hugely symbolic microcosm of the city. . . . Philadelphia International is one of those airports only a native could love.
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