BENGALURU: Numerous passengers who landed at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) via Air France flights in the past two weeks have a common grouse — their checked-in bags are yet to reach them. They have been visiting the airport to know their luggage status but are getting a response in the negative from the airline’s local representatives.
Sources in the know said an airport employees’ strike in Paris over wages caused the heavy backlog and it could take days for passengers to receive their bags. Loss of luggage can’t be ruled out.
Air France’s spokesperson in India couldn’t be reached for a comment despite seeveral attempts.
Ramesh Iyer, a mechanical engineer with a Swedish company in Bengaluru, had flown to Europe on a work trip towards the end of June. He returned from Paris to Bengaluru on July 1 on Air France flight AF 194. “I landed at KIA and realised that the bag I had checked in was missing. I approached Air France representatives to lodge a complaint and was stunned to realise that over 50 more passengers standing ahead of me had a similar complaint. It has been 11 days since I landed but there is no sign of my bag,” Iyer said on Monday evening.
The engineer is among those visiting KIA regularly to enquire about the status, but in vain. “Air France helpline numbers we were given by the staff after we lodged complaints are of no use as no one picks up the calls. Meanwhile, the customer care directs us to an online link of the airline to track the luggage, which is generic,” said Kedar Sastry, a passenger who arrived in Bengaluru on Air France flight AF 194 from Paris on July 4. A sports and fitness coach, Sastry had visited Dublin, Ireland, on June 23 for a frisbee tournament and returned to Bengaluru, but he’s yet to get his bag.
Airport sources say several passengers who took Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and landed at KIA in the past two weeks are facing a similar problem as the whereabouts of their checked-in bags remain a mystery. A man identified as Sharma, who was Iyer’s fellow passenger on AF 194, is frantically tracking six bags belonging to his family which were checked in before the trip.
Sources with the private agency at KIA that handles logistics for the French carrier attributed the backlog in baggage clearance to the brief strike by employees at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. “Hundreds of passenger bags are stuck and are being cleared gradually. We have been returning the luggage of Bengaluru passengers by sending it to their addresses. It may take a few more weeks,” a source said.
