In what FlySafair has called “an operational disaster”, the Airports Company SA’s (Acsa) baggage sorting system at Jo’burg’s OR Tambo airport failed on Friday.
This resulted in thousands of passengers arriving at their domestic destinations without their luggage, at the height of the festive season.
“It’s been an absolute nightmare trying to reunite about 3,000 of our passengers with their luggage,” said the airline’s chief marketing officer, Kirby Gordon.
“This despite delaying our flights in the hope that we could get as much luggage loaded as possible.”
On Saturday , all the airline’s Jo’burg-based executives were at the airport, “trying to sort out the bags themselves, and preventing them from being pilfered,” Gordon said.
Acsa posted a notice on X on Friday, stating: “We experienced technical challenges with our baggage sortation system in the domestic terminal. The impact was some passenger bags were left behind, however, arrangements have been made with the respective airlines to ensure passengers' bags reach their owners timeously.
“The problem has since been resolved and the baggage sortation system is fully operational.”
But on Saturday Acsa issued an update admitting it was “still experiencing technical challenges” with the system, resulting in flight delays.
Lerato Seheri of Parkview flew from OR Tambo to Durban with her mother and two children on Friday where they boarded the MSC Splendida for a five-night cruise to Pomene and Portuguese Island.
MSC Cruises delayed the vessel’s departure for three hours in the hope its 50 passengers whose baggage hadn’t made it onto their flight from Jo’burg would have it delivered to them, but when it left at 9pm more than 40 passengers, including Seheri and her family, were unintentionally travelling ultralight.
“So none of us will have any clothes, toiletries or, in my mother’s case, chronic medication, for the next six days,” she told TimesLIVE.
She emailed FlySafair to inform the airline that “I will be spending money on clothing and toiletries and expect you to reimburse me”.
MSC Cruises MD Ross Volk said the Splendida crew was doing all it could for affected passengers, including providing a laundry service at no cost.
The baggage sorting bedlam had many knock-on effects, Volk said, including MSC having to pay an extra R500,000 in port charges due to the ship’s late departure.
“We’d like to get our passengers' baggage to them, but we don’t have many options,” he said.
“The island is so small — you can’t get an aircraft there — but we are still trying our best to find a way.”
'Operational disaster' at OR Tambo leads to passengers arriving at local destinations without luggage
Airports Company SA’s baggage sorting system at Jo’burg’s OR Tambo airport failed on Friday.
Image: Supplied
In what FlySafair has called “an operational disaster”, the Airports Company SA’s (Acsa) baggage sorting system at Jo’burg’s OR Tambo airport failed on Friday.
This resulted in thousands of passengers arriving at their domestic destinations without their luggage, at the height of the festive season.
“It’s been an absolute nightmare trying to reunite about 3,000 of our passengers with their luggage,” said the airline’s chief marketing officer, Kirby Gordon.
“This despite delaying our flights in the hope that we could get as much luggage loaded as possible.”
On Saturday , all the airline’s Jo’burg-based executives were at the airport, “trying to sort out the bags themselves, and preventing them from being pilfered,” Gordon said.
Acsa posted a notice on X on Friday, stating: “We experienced technical challenges with our baggage sortation system in the domestic terminal. The impact was some passenger bags were left behind, however, arrangements have been made with the respective airlines to ensure passengers' bags reach their owners timeously.
“The problem has since been resolved and the baggage sortation system is fully operational.”
But on Saturday Acsa issued an update admitting it was “still experiencing technical challenges” with the system, resulting in flight delays.
Lerato Seheri of Parkview flew from OR Tambo to Durban with her mother and two children on Friday where they boarded the MSC Splendida for a five-night cruise to Pomene and Portuguese Island.
MSC Cruises delayed the vessel’s departure for three hours in the hope its 50 passengers whose baggage hadn’t made it onto their flight from Jo’burg would have it delivered to them, but when it left at 9pm more than 40 passengers, including Seheri and her family, were unintentionally travelling ultralight.
“So none of us will have any clothes, toiletries or, in my mother’s case, chronic medication, for the next six days,” she told TimesLIVE.
She emailed FlySafair to inform the airline that “I will be spending money on clothing and toiletries and expect you to reimburse me”.
MSC Cruises MD Ross Volk said the Splendida crew was doing all it could for affected passengers, including providing a laundry service at no cost.
The baggage sorting bedlam had many knock-on effects, Volk said, including MSC having to pay an extra R500,000 in port charges due to the ship’s late departure.
“We’d like to get our passengers' baggage to them, but we don’t have many options,” he said.
“The island is so small — you can’t get an aircraft there — but we are still trying our best to find a way.”
Image: Supplied
LIFT Airline’s CEO Jonathan Ayache said Friday’s breakdown of Acsa's baggage sorting system at ORT made its operations very challenging during a peak travel period and caused a lot of unnecessary stress for the airline’s passengers.
“An incident like this highlights how dependent airlines are on the underlying airport infrastructure, which needs to be maintained properly for the air transport ecosystem to operate smoothly and efficiently for passengers,” he said.
“While this was not in LIFT’s control I do want to apologise to any of our passengers impacted by the breakdowns in infrastructure at ORT.”
Gordon said ground-handling companies had to employ extra staff and allocate overtime to minimise the disruption's impact, and airlines faced hefty courier bills for shipping luggage to reunite them with passengers.
“Affected parties have raised questions regarding compensation, especially considering the scale of the inconvenience and financial losses,” he said.
“Discussions are underway with Acsa to address these concerns and find an equitable solution for all involved.”
Updates on the situation, including information about compensation and the ongoing efforts to manage the aftermath of the disruption, will be provided as they become available.
Those seeking further information or assistance are advised to contact ACSA customercare@airports.co.za
On Friday, Acsa’s X post wished passengers the opposite of what the many thousands departing from OR Tambo were actually experiencing at the time: “May your journeys be safe, connections smooth, and holidays filled with joy! “Happy travels and happy holidays to all adventurers out there.”
TimesLIVE
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