By: Sherrie Chen
While luggage is expected to arrive the same time as the passengers, the delayed bags can cause trouble to people, especially frequent fliers. But what if people are told prior to boarding that their checked luggage simply wouldn’t be joining them on the same flight? For Malaysia Airlines passengers flying to Europe from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, actually had to face the situation.
This week, the airline announced that it banned checked luggage from flights on January 5 and 6 because “the headwinds over the last four days were in excess of 200 knots, which can add up to 15% fuel burn on a B777-200 aircraft”, limiting the airline’s ability to carry baggages. For people who wished to get their luggage checked, they were told that their bags would be on a later flight. Luckily, everything has gone back to normal as of Wednesday morning.
Aviation expert Tom Ballantyne, chief correspondent for “Orient Aviation” magazine, told CNN he has never heard of an airline taking such measures.
“Normally, if there’s an issue with range because of headwinds, a carrier would reduce the passenger load overall.”
Furthermore, Malaysia Airline’s Boeing 777-200ER, used for its Paris and Amsterdam routes, is an older aircraft that has a upper flight limit of 14 hours while newer engines can last for up to 17 hours according to Mohsin Aziz, an aviation analyst at Maybank.
Flights from Kuala Lumpur to Paris and Amsterdam take about 12 hours — so there is a little leeway with the older jet, says Aziz.
With all the confusion, Malaysia Airlines responded that each airline conducts its own risk assessments and the safety of their passengers is of the utmost importance.
