Flyer to Kolkata ‘loses’ trolley bag at airport

KOLKATA: The absence of any protocol among airlines to verify checked-in baggage tags at the carousel where passengers claim their luggage has led bags getting switched by mistake or being pilfered. Shaumya Dasgupta, who lives in Bengaluru, was at the receiving end recently when his strolley went missing in a flight to Kolkata.

Among other things, the bag contained his mother’s death certificate that he intended to submit to his lawyer and banks during his stay in Kolkata. The airline has been unable to retrieve the bag and has offered Rs 3,600 as compensation for the luggage that has been lost in transit. Dasgupta, meanwhile, is back in Bengaluru and is doing the rounds of the civic authority there to get duplicates of the lost death certificate.

“I travelled to Kolkata on June 21 on flight 6E 433. After the flight landed, I went to the baggage claim area and waited for the strolley. But it never did. I was anxious about it as it contained, among other things, my mother’s death certificate. I know I shouldn’t have put the documents in the strolley, but I wanted to make sure they didn’t get crumpled. There was an expensive Swiss knife in it too but I was more concerned about getting the bag for the death certificate because without it, my trip would be futile,” recounted Dasgupta.

When he reported the missing bag at the airline counter, he was assured that the bag would be sent to his house within four hours. But when it didn’t happen and he grew anxious, an airline ground staff said CCTV footage would be reviewed to locate the bag and forward it to his address. On Tuesday, the airline said its effort to locate the bag had failed. The bag was declared ‘lost’ and Dasgupta was told he would be paid the compensation.

“What I fail to understand is how can a bag go missing in this day when every inch of an airport is under CCTV coverage. Did the bag go missing from the carousel area?” he said.

An IndiGo official confirmed the airline’s inability to trace the baggage. After Dasgupta recounted his travail on social media, the airline contacted him again and said they would investigate the case further and offer a better compensation. But when contacted, the airline did not commit to deployment of an additional manpower at the carousel to verify the baggage tag with the counterfoil on the passenger boarding pass.