Luggage lashing, take two

I work for an airline in the baggage service office and would like to respond to the reader’s observations regarding lashing bags together to save on extra-bag fees (May ’10, pg. 16).

When two bags are secured together to form one piece of luggage, there is only one bag tag or claim check issued, resulting in only one of the bags having the bag tag attached to it.

There are times when the method used to secure bags together fails and the bags end up being separated. It is next to impossible for the baggage-sorter system to determine the destination of the tagless bag.

I have seen this happen when two bags were secured together with rope or duct tape or within a large plastic bag.

Having detailed identification on each bag and attaching an itinerary to each bag is very helpful to an agent trying to reunite a passenger and his luggage.

MARY ANN BARKEY

Fairview Park, OH