On May 22, 2024, a video surfaced on X where ground handlers of Delta Air Lines were seen to mishandle the golf club bags of East Tennessee State University’s Men’s Golf Team. The video, which has already garnered more than 10 million views, has brought in a storm of criticism directed towards the airline and Unifi aviation, a vendor which supplies baggage handlers to Delta.
Apologetic Statements from Delta Airlines
East Tennessee State University men’s golf experienced such an instance of baggage handling on Tuesday, May 21 as it arrived at the San Diego International Airport. The team were journeying to participate in the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship, scheduled to take place at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California.
The video that showed the mishandling was uploaded by East Tennessee State University’s Men’s Golf Team, which captioned the video, albeit sarcastically: “Nice of @Delta to handle our clubs with such care…”. The video has been reposted more than 5000 times while it has gained over 50,000 likes.
https://x.com/ETSU_MGolf/status/1793123784377180482
There were a few people who expressed their angst regarding such mishandling, as one wrote : ‘Those guys are called “baggage smashers” for a reason.’
Another person wrote on X: “It’s is who you are. You broke my driver shaft in half and when I submitted my complaint, Delta refused to reimburse me for the damage.”
Delta responded to the video on X, saying:
“We’re so sorry this is how your golf clubs were handled. It’s not who we are. And we’re working to make it right, so you’ll have everything you need to compete at the tournament this weekend.”
A spokesperson of Delta Airlines, Anthony Black, said in an emailed statement to Time Magazine:
“We apologize to the ETSU Golf team and ask for a mulligan on how their equipment was handled. We’re in direct contact with the Bucs to ensure they have what they need to successfully compete in the NCAAs.”
Are instances of inappropriate baggage handling increasing?
Earlier this March, after a passenger posted an instance of shoddy baggage handling by a major Indian carrier IndiGo, and the airline received a widespread condemnation, the airline wrote to Simple Flying:
“We are aware of an image circulating on social media regarding a passenger’s experience with their baggage while travelling with IndiGo. The passenger didn’t report this incident to the customer service team on arrival. However, we are looking into the matter and have provided available redressal through vouchers. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused to our passenger.”
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) of India had introduced a rule which necessitated “the first bag to be delivered to the carousel within 10 minutes of engine shutdown, and the last should be on the belt within 30 minutes.” to deal with the slack in baggage arrival times. But analysts said that such a decree would only increase baggage handlers’ workload, and the instances of inappropriate baggage handling would increase.
Possible Solutions to inappropriate baggage handling
Reports have it that millions of baggage are inappropriately handled worldwide. With increased workload for human baggage handlers, there are technologies which might allow AI to better handle instances such as that oF Delta Airlines. SITA, has already partnered with Lufthansa Airlines to provide possible solutions to mishandling of the baggage. The company is already working to track baggage in line with IATA Resolution 753.
Baggage being loaded onto the conveyor of an EasyJet Airbus A319. With more than a billion people traveling, via air and the number of air passengers projected to increase, the instances of baggage handling will only increase unless there’s a collective effort to mitigate the issue.
With instances like the inappropriate handling of the baggage of East Tennessee State University’s Men’s Golf Team, many people might feel the necessity to be able to track their baggage. The company claimed:
“ In our 2019 Passenger IT Insights report, unsurprisingly, three of the top mobile services on air passengers’ wish lists link directly to tracking the status of their baggage: 65% said they’d definitely report mishandled bags via their mobile devices, 64% said they want to be able to track their bags via an app, and 63% would like baggage collection notifications pushed to their mobile devices on arrival.”
It will be interesting to see if robotics might give us a solutions to better baggage handling.