On February 10th, 发哥 (alias), who works in Indonesia flying from Guangzhou, was surprised to find out that the luggage of 108 passengers was left behind in Guangzhou due to ground handling forgetfulness, as he arrived at his destination. He shared his frustrating experience on social media after the incident.
According to the news report, 发哥 revealed that he took flight 8B0861 of Lion Air from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport to Jakarta, Indonesia, and upon arrival at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, he was informed that the luggage of 108 passengers, including his own, had been left in Guangzhou.
Upon disembarking in Indonesia, they waited for their luggage, but the baggage carousel stopped shortly, leaving them waiting fruitlessly for over two hours.
Eventually, when inquiring with the ground staff at Jakarta Airport, they were informed that the luggage was forgotten to be loaded onto the plane in Guangzhou.
Subsequently, 发哥 and others queued to register their luggage information at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. The airport staff informed them that their luggage would be transported on another flight arriving on February 11th and passengers could choose to collect it at the airport or have it mailed to them.
Mr. Guo, also a passenger on the same flight, who does business in Jakarta, had his luggage similarly detained in Guangzhou. This situation left Mr. Guo discontented as he expressed that “over 100 passengers stranded at the airport waiting for their luggage, the airline did not apologize or offer any assistance, only asking us to wait.”
With no clear indication from the airport about the exact arrival time of the luggage, Mr. Guo mentioned that some people chose to proceed with immigration to find hotels for rest and planned to return the next day to collect their baggage, while many others, due to language barriers, opted to wait at the airport. “The airport provided a phone number for passengers to inquire about their luggage, but no one answered the phone.”
In the early hours of February 11th, 发哥 along with Mr. Guo and the others went back to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport to retrieve their luggage. They managed to reclaim their bags around 10:30 in the morning local time, but 发哥 noted that the process of collecting luggage was cumbersome.
According to reports by TechWeb, Guangzhou Baiyun Airport customer service stated that flight 8B0861 was operated by China Southern Airlines. An employee from the baggage inquiry department of China Southern Airlines in Guangzhou explained that the detained luggage was not due to forgetfulness but rather “weather-related reasons” causing the aircraft to have insufficient capacity.
Furthermore, relevant staff from China Southern Airlines mentioned that they currently do not have any compensation policies in place.
Regarding the luggage delay incident, 发哥 revealed that many people’s subsequent travel plans were impacted, causing economic losses, yet the airline lacks compensation policies. He shared, “I originally planned to stay in Indonesia for 6 days with visits to 4 cities for business meetings, hotels and drivers were booked in each city, now hotels are non-refundable, and return tickets need to be changed.”
This news has sparked attention and discussion among netizens.
Many netizens commented, “Insufficient capacity? Wasn’t the aircraft designed to accommodate this amount of luggage? Who are they trying to deceive?” “What if some passengers had urgent matters, causing delays in waiting for luggage, do they not need to compensate for that?” “Guangzhou Baiyun Airport has been negligent in handling baggage for Southeast Asian flights for years; every time flying from Baiyun, there’s a warning bell.”
Other netizens stated, “It’s impossible for the airport to forget to load the luggage. After the ground staff load cargo and baggage, the cockpit needs to sign off to confirm. The cockpit needs to know the weight of the cargo, any special or hazardous items. The cargo weight needs to be input into the flight computer for takeoff weight and speed calculations; this is a standard operating procedure. It’s evident that the airline, in order to prioritize cargo, neglected to load the luggage.”