Thursday, July 17, 2008

The loss of a "left luggage" option - Airports in India

The day before yesterday, I lugged my baggage across to Mumbai and back just because the new airport BIAL has no left luggage option and all the airlines do not accept check-in more than 2 or 3 hours before travel time.

The problem arose as I had to fly out to Mumbai and back before I caught an international flight late in the night / early next morning.

In the end - I had to check in my baggage to Mumbai (waste of fuel / energy). Get to Mumbai to realize that they too do not have a left luggage !. Lug the bag in the boot of the taxi and ask for a "left luggage service" from the taxi driver :-)
I checked it back in the evening - unopened.
How I wish my travel bag had a frequent flyer option :-)

I did enquire and was given the standard "Security reasons sir" reply, but, that does not cut ice !

Contrast this to the left luggage desks you get in most railway stations in Europe. Infact, in Germany, the major stations have an "airline style" check in for left luggage. The bags are x-rayed, tagged and bar-coded before being sent to storage on a conveyor belt.

I think it is time people stopped repeating banal reasons as to why something is NOT workable, but, work towards providing solutions. Anyone for teaming up to provide left-baggage service as an entreprenuership option for BIAL ?

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