Bag theft at OR Tambo Airport again, still, whatever

PASSENGERS off a South African Airways flight from London to Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport found their luggage had been “stripped open” and items stolen after they landed yesterday.

65 bags a day lost at OR Tambo Airport

Johannesburg radio station Talk Radio 702 reported that “passengers claimed to have waited for over an hour, only to find their belongings were tampered with, and in some cases, scattered over the conveyer belt” at the city’s airport.

Solomon Mokgale, spokesman for the Airports Company South Africa, confirmed the incident.

A passenger reportedly claimed her luggage had been “broken open and items thrown out”. The unnamed woman said “probably 40 people were affected”.

“A number of passengers said a boy, who had been playing on the conveyer belt, saw people throwing items from the bags in the area below,” the report quoted her as saying.

But Mokgale told The Times that “one passenger reported an incident and was taken to South African Airways and lodged a claim”. He said Acsa would review closed-circuit TV footage to investigate the incident further.

“We need to determine where this bag was damaged. Was it here or at the point of origin? If there are people who were involved, they will be dealt with,” said Mokgale.

In January last year, SAA announced that in an effort to stop baggage theft, the airline would be contracting Swissport International to conduct its ground-handling services.

Swissport, which had contracts to handle baggage at London’s Heathrow airport and New York’s John F Kennedy, was intended to focus on OR Tambo, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and East London International Airports.

SAA spokeswoman Robyn Chalmers said they had received one complaint about “baggage pilferage” yesterday which they would investigate today.