ACSA Christmas baggage
It’s a happy ending for some after Christmas ACSA baggage snafus. Picture: File/Fotor.

Home » Here’s how ACSA lost 3 000 luggage items just before Christmas

Here’s how ACSA lost 3 000 luggage items just before Christmas

A failure of sorting systems at OR Tambo International Airport meant ACSA lost 3 000 luggage items this weekend.

27-12-23 14:29
ACSA Christmas baggage
It’s a happy ending for some after Christmas ACSA baggage snafus. Picture: File/Fotor.

An ‘operational disaster’ at OR Tambo International Airport means ACSA lost 3 000 luggage items, reports TimesLive. FlySafair’s chief marketing officer, Kirby Gordon, says it has been an ‘absolute nightmare’ trying to reunite passengers with their luggage just days before Christmas.

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Doing all it can for affected passengers after ACSA lost 3 000 luggage items, FlySafair executives were at the airport, personally sorting through lost luggage to ensure none of it was stolen or tampered with.

ACSA LOST 3 000 LUGGAGE ITEMS

ACSA lost 3 000 luggage items
Airports Company of South Africa has lost thousands of items of luggage just days before Christmas. Picture: GettyImages.

On Friday 22 December 2023, ACSA posted the following on social-media platform X: “We experienced technical challenges with our baggage sortation system in the domestic terminal. The problem has since been resolved and the baggage sorting system is fully operational.”

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However, on Saturday 23 December 2023, the full extent of the system’s failure was only realised. ACSA took to social media again saying it was, “still experiencing technical challenges with the system, resulting flight delays.”

KNOCK-ON EFFECTS

MSC Cruises green cruising
MSC Cruises needed to foot a R500 000 bill for late departure. Image: Canva

There have been plenty of unintentional knock-on effects since ACSA lost 3 000 luggage items. Many travelers heading to Durban were to board an MSC cruise ship. MSC delayed the departure in the hope of baggage arriving in time, and had to foot a R500 000 late-departure fee because of the disruption.

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LIFT airlines was also impacted when ACSA lost 3 000 luggage items just before Christmas, saying it wanted to, “apologise to passengers impacted by the breakdowns in infrastructure at ORT and for any unnecessary stress.”

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Now airlines face hefty courier bills for shipping luggage to reunite them with passengers. Passengers who have lost luggage quite rightly raised questions regarding compensation, especially considering the scale of the inconvenience just before Christmas.

WERE YOU IMPACTED?

airport wait
Image: Adobe Stock

If you were one of the effected passengers looking for compensation, you can contact ACSA at customercare@airports.co.za Tel: +27 (011) 723 1400.

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