On December 21, 1988, a Pan Am Boeing 747 was also destroyed by explosives, killing 243 passengers and 16 crew members on board. Eleven people on the ground at Lockerbie in southern Scotland also perished, bringing the total fatality to 270.
A passenger who has checked-in with bags but fails to show up at the gate will cause delay.
Do Away with Delays
Delayed by Passengers If a passenger with no checked-in baggage fails to turn up on time for the flight, he will be left behind. However, on international flights, a passenger who has checked-in with bags but fails to show up at the gate creates a bigger problem. The flight cannot depart unless the checkedin bags are off-loaded (in case the luggage carries harmful contents that may endanger the aircraft during flight). If the captain ignores this to avoid the delay, he would infringe on strict rules (Annex 17 of ICAO), leading to severe consequences for the pilot and the airline. The objective of this rule is to ensure passengers board flights onto which they have checked-in their baggage. The general security presumption is that terrorists will not want to kill themselves, and will not board an aircraft if they have placed an explosive in the baggage, although nowadays, suicide bombers have no such compunctions.
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To achieve compliance, loading of baggage is done manually onto the cargo compartment. In this case, each luggage item is tagged whilst being loaded. The other part of the baggage tags, which are bar-coded, are stuck onto a sheet and compared to a list of the passengers on board. When a passenger with a checked-in bag fails to show up, the baggage handlers will remove the particular piece of luggage. Depending on the position of the luggage in the aircraft, this may take a lot of time and cause major delays to the departure.
Flight delays cost time and money to passengers and airlines and are more than just an inconvenience. Passengers, however, can help to mitigate this problem by observing the below listed: • Arrive early at the airport and check-in early, allowing ample time for any possible queues and delays at the counter. • Arrive early at the boarding gate by not wandering off too long to duty-free shops. • Be aware of what is allowed in your hand luggage, especially with regards to LAG (liquids, aerosols and gas). Ensure you do not carry more than the allowed quantity and if in doubt, declare it to the security officers.
Contents that Kill Unaccompanied bags, which were found to have explosives have led to the destruction of two planes. On June 23, 1985, Air India Flight 182, operating on the Montréal-LondonDelhi route on a Boeing 747 was blown up by explosives, crashing into the Atlantic Ocean. A total of 329 people died. Checking-in early helps to make your flight depart on time.
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