One Hair-Raising Travel Day
4 minutes read
Tuesday August 13th will stand out as being a memorable day. But for all the wrong reasons. We were travelling from Istanbul to Edinburgh, a recently announced route from Pegasus, the low cost carrier. They have enjoyed exponential growth as an airline in recent years, but sadly low cost no longer means low price. On many routes they now seem to match Turkish Airlines in terms of price, but do not offer anything close to the service or comfort. Ancillary revenues seem to be increasingly important – that’s perhaps why they have reduced hold luggage allowance to 12 kgs and are charging 6 euros for a cup of tea (yes, tea!) onboard, 5 euros if you pay by card. And the standard seats? Well, if you are anything over 175 cms in height, your standard seat may mean your knees meet your head.
I exaggerate, of course, but it was noticeable how many passengers looked discomforted. It would be OK if you get what you pay for, but sadly this is not the case. In my view the airline has changed, and not for the better.
On our approach to Edinburgh Airport, we encountered some surprising turbulence from the Firth of Forth ahead of landing. Something was not right – maybe the speed of the plane or the trajectory of approach. We could clearly see the plane’s right wing dipping badly and the problem being corrected by the pilot. The buffeting from the unexpected wind and the plane’s ‘pecking’ got worse and, just before landing – perhaps no more than 30 metres from the ground – the plane was suddenly pulled up to avoid what would have been a ‘heavy’ and potentially dangerous landing. There were audible gasps inside the cabin. Yet, extraordinarily, there was a spooky silence, no screams, as it was clear that many were praying.
The pilot came back on the PA system and simply said that there was wind and he was going to turn the plane around and go for another landing. Matter of fact only. This time the approach and speed appeared different, but it was still a very ‘heavy’, one-wheeled landing, with the plane noticeably twitching at the back after the brakes had been applied.
Going through passport control took a little time, but it was fine. And now comes experience two. We were laden with quite a bit of luggage and discovered we had left one small case by belt 2. in the baggage area. We realised this having exited International Arrivals at the airport and having walked some 300 metres to the taxi station (who planned this?). I swiftly returned and was advised that Menzies were responsible for luggage left for this flight. I went straight to their desk, only to find that no one was there. There was not even a house telephone on the desk where you could contact someone.
So I then approached around 8 high-vis jacketed personnel, most of whom had no access to the baggage area. Not one of these members of staff had good words to say about the Menzies operation. I was then directed to Luggage Point.
At Luggage Point itself, the staff were incredibly helpful. I didn’t want to register the bag as lost property as we knew where we left it. So, instead, I used the telephone outside and finally managed to get hold of someone from Menzies to explain the problem. He said he would look into it. Half an hour elapsed and I called again – no answer. I returned to their desk and, you guessed it, no one was there. After another half an hour, I managed to get through to the same individual on the phone outside Luggage Point and he said that someone was going to meet me outside the International Arrivals exit. Yes, you’re right again, I waited another 45 minutes and no one turned up.
To say that this was frustrating was an understatement. We then returned to the desk in the hope that someone would have surfaced. Just like Groundhog Day – more of the same. We met an American woman there who had been waiting for a week to reclaim her lost luggage. Menzies said that they had located it and it was in their office. She had turned up, only to find out that this was not the case.
In the meantime – and it was now some two and a half hours+ later – three men approached the desk. Yes, they were from Menzies. The man I spoke to on the phone said that they ‘had looked high and low’ and that the bag could not be found and that I needed to report this as lost property. I responded – not so respectfully – that I found this difficult to believe and that, if this was the case, that I would need to talk directly with the head of security and invite them to look at the recorded footage of the baggage area to see if the case had been removed by anyone.
After a short while I found Bruce Ellis, and what a breath of fresh air. Really helpful, he said he would check the footage and be back shortly. We went to have a coffee. After 15 minutes he returned, pulling our cabin baggage. What a relief. When I asked him where he found it, wait for it…… it was in Menzies own office! Words simply fail me.
I would strongly counsel Edinburgh Airport and all of Menzies’ airline customers to insist Menzies man their desk, as Swissport do. Or, at the very least, place a Help telephone there to better serve passengers with a problem. It took almost 3.5 hours to sort our problem out and the one question remains: just how diligent Menzies were when they looked ‘high and low’.
Footnote: We left Edinburgh on August 24th. Before our return flight with Turkish Airlines and just wanted to check to see if there was anyone at the Menzies desk. I think you already know the answer.
