“Identical black suitcases” were blamed for the luggage crisis and chaos at German airports. According to local media reports, tourists have been advised to ditch black suitcases and use colorful luggage to avoid delays and ease their search at airports struggling with baggage handling chaos. Such statements are made by airport management, and they receive well-deserved criticism from tourists.
In particular, Stefan Schulte, head of Frankfurt Airport, said the predominance of black suitcases had contributed to the difficulties faced by airlines and baggage handlers in recent weeks. According to him, in particular, the crisis is happening because “it is difficult to distinguish them from each other”, he said about the suitcases. He advises tourists to use only hand luggage as much as possible, and otherwise to use suitcases that would be easier to identify.
Thomas Kirner, a spokesman for the airport, also said: “Many people travel with black wheeled suitcases, which makes their identification very time-consuming.” He added that the number of suitcases that have not yet reached their owners has decreased in recent days; however, about 2,000 pieces of luggage remain at the airport.
The advice was ridiculed in the German media, as was an additional proposal by airport authorities that tourists use luggage tags with names and telephone numbers. Note that the police strongly advise against this for security reasons.
Frankfurt Airport has cut its workforce by around 4,000 people during the pandemic. Like other airports around the world, it is scrambling to reopen to cope with a spike in summer traffic.
Meanwhile, another threat looms over tourism in Germany – air chaos at any moment could intensify the general strike. And here millions of tourists risk being left without rest. Read the details at the link.