Scoot passengers from S’pore land in Xi’an to learn some baggage offloaded before takeoff

[The_King]

SINGAPORE – Some passengers on a Scoot flight from Singapore to Xi’an found themselves stranded without their luggage after they landed in the Chinese city in the wee hours of Friday. 

An affected passenger who declined to be named told The Straits Times that she waited for about 15 minutes at the baggage carousel but saw no bags. 

She said when she approached a staff member at the Xi’an Xianyang International Airport, she was told her luggage would arrive only on Sunday. 

She said she called Scoot’s customer service hotline, and the officer confirmed that she and her travel companions have to wait two days for their luggage. The 24-year-old added that there were some 30 passengers inquiring about their luggage at the airport. 

By the time she settled the paperwork and left the airport, it was about 3.45am, she said. The TR134 flight, which was supposed to land at 12.35am on Friday, landed at 1.20am, according to data from Flightradar24.

The passenger, who works in the tech industry, said she is “very unhappy” because she had packed 10 days’ worth of clothes and necessities in her check-in luggage that weighed about 15kg.

 

 

She had to fork out money to buy clothes and necessities while waiting for her luggage, she added.

 

 

“I wish I knew my baggage was not on the flight. I wish I was informed earlier or given some form of warning,” she said, adding that Scoot had not called or sent any e-mails to provide more information as at 7pm on Friday. 

“If I had not taken the initiative to call or ask them about their next steps, would that mean I would have never known?”

In response to queries from ST, a spokesperson for Scoot, the budget arm of Singapore Airlines, said some baggage was removed from the flight before its scheduled departure at 7.10pm on Thursday because of “unusually strong headwinds”, which “impacted the performance of the aircraft”.

“Affected passengers were informed that their baggage was offloaded upon arrival in Xi’an at 1.28am on Sept 15, 2023,” the spokesperson said. 

The spokesperson added that Scoot has arranged for the delayed baggage to be sent on the next Scoot flight to Xi’an, which will leave Singapore at 7.10pm on Sept 16.

 

The flight is scheduled to arrive at 12.35am on Sept 17, according to Flightradar24.

The baggage will then be delivered to affected passengers’ accommodation, the spokesperson said. “Scoot sincerely apologises for the inconvenience to our customers and we will continue to assist the affected customers.”

The budget airline did not reveal the number of affected passengers on this flight. 

In July, passengers on board at least two Scoot flights from Athens to Singapore had to fly without their baggage. Scoot had attributed the disruptions to the “extreme weather conditions” in the Greek capital, where temperatures exceeded 40 deg C.

The baggage was left behind due to “operational considerations”, the carrier had said. 

[XianGe]

Budget airlines = budget safety 

[DynamiteZerg]

10 hours ago, XianGe said:

Budget airlines = budget safety 

No lah, cut costs. Less weight means no need to take onboard more fuel.

[Coffee_O]

to be fair. i have seem alot of cheapo and chao kuang passengers for budget airline who bring multiple "hand carry" on board and refuses to buy check in.  then in the end cabin full liao. no choice cabin crew have to bring their "hand carry" to check in. KNN