AirAsia apologises after video of mishandled bikes goes viral

 

 

Petaling Jaya - AirAsia has apologised to cyclists whose bicycles were seen to be poorly handled by ramp staff in a viral video.  

 

As a gesture of goodwill the low-cost airline will be waiving all fees to transport bicycles for April, said its CEO Riad Asmat. 

 

"As a cyclist myself, I was pretty disturbed when I saw the actions of our staff. Rest assured, we've taken action. We are looking into the matter very seriously and stern action will be taken accordingly.

 

"I hope we will continue to improve ourselves. Attention has been put into this particular example," Riad said in a video that was posted on the airlines' Facebook page on Thursday.

 

A cyclist had posted a video of a few bicycles being "mishandled" by ramp staff upon his return to KLIA2 from Kaoshiung, Taiwan recently. The video subsequently went viral.

 

AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes said that while the ground handling company is a joint venture called GTR, the airline would take full responsibility for the incident.

 

"After meeting all my ramp boys and girls, I'm really disappointed. We are a company that if we make a mistake we stand up and take the heat. We will get better. Apologies," he said in a Facebook post that was accompanied by the video.

 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30341591

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-3-23

8 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Rest assured, we've taken action.

Instruction to cabin crew "window shades must be down during baggage loading".

 

I see no mention of whether the owners of the damaged baggage were compensated (I may have missed it in my quick read).

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

I see no mention of whether the owners of the damaged baggage were compensated

It did not say, but I would assume so, seems a pretty sincere apology from the CEO...

 

There was no "we fired the guys" that's it, I think this is a case of looking at the handling procedures, clear labeling and rewriting the training manual...

Edited March 23, 20188 yr by Basil B

6 hours ago, Basil B said:

It did not say, but I would assume so, seems a pretty sincere apology from the CEO...

 

There was no "we fired the guys" that's it, I think this is a case of looking at the handling procedures, clear labeling and rewriting the training manual...

How about some simple respect for other folks property? How are they going to put that into the "training manual"? In big, bold, red print I should think. Wonder how much they paid to have the bikes shipped as luggage.

Edited March 23, 20188 yr by MaxYakov

This scares the bejeebus outta me. I’ll be transporting my downhill MTB with Thai Air in the very near future, a 225Kthb carbon rig. 

Here’s hoping Thai handlers are a little more respectful. 

I’ll be packing it in extra padding seeing this ?

1 hour ago, MaxYakov said:

How about some simple respect for other folks property? How are they going to put that into the "training manual"? In big, bold, red print I should think. Wonder how much they paid to have the bikes shipped as luggage.

I’d be curious also.  AirAsia website states costing is unavailable at this time. 

The baggage handlers weren't Air Asia staff, so it's good to see the airline taking full responsibility in this case...

It won't change anything, stuff will still get broken or stolen but at least they apologized for a change..

2 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

The baggage handlers weren't Air Asia staff, so it's good to see the airline taking full responsibility in this case...

It won't change anything, stuff will still get broken or stolen but at least they apologized for a change..

Joint operation ......... AirAsia own 50% of the company.

6 minutes ago, MaeJoMTB said:

Joint operation ......... AirAsia own 50% of the company.

 

Correct but it wasn't Air Asia staff.. It was GTR staff

14 hours ago, Crossy said:

Instruction to cabin crew "window shades must be down during baggage loading".

No such instructions can possibly be issued. Window shades must be up throughout landing.

There is nothing out of ordinary about handling the luggage in the video.. That's the common way they handle the luggage and they don't care. I've seen worse.

10 hours ago, MaxYakov said:

How about some simple respect for other folks property? How are they going to put that into the "training manual"? In big, bold, red print I should think. Wonder how much they paid to have the bikes shipped as luggage.

Looking at the video I would say those guys were under pressure as to lift off those bikes properly would mean having to stop the belt,  and move into a more better position to lower them to the floor, ideally they should have a table at the side of the belt that they could be slid onto and a second person lifts to the ground, it is not a question of just lifting to the ground, the operative needs to judge the weight and balance before positioning to lift...

 

It is not just bikes but obviously there are lots of bulky and awkward baggage coming off the plane that needs to be separated from the normal baggage, it seems to m the procedure is at fault also,  consideration of "Manual Handling" is very important to prevent injury to the operatives, that seems lacking in the video.

10 hours ago, MadMuhammad said:

This scares the bejeebus outta me. I’ll be transporting my downhill MTB with Thai Air in the very near future, a 225Kthb carbon rig. 

Here’s hoping Thai handlers are a little more respectful. 

I’ll be packing it in extra padding seeing this ?

Do you have or rent a top quality bike box, we cannot really judge from the video the quality of the packaging.

I was transporting my foldable Folbot kayak from LA to Mongolia. When it came out of the X-ray machine it was flying at around 20 mph. I wasn't happy, but I also over padded everything and no damage. But those guys loading and unloading were throwing stuff around, and their jobs are easier since they dropped the baggage weights from a max of 70 lbs to 50 lbs.

7 hours ago, peterpaintpot said:

Do you have or rent a top quality bike box, we cannot really judge from the video the quality of the packaging.

 Have an EVOC Pro MTB bag. They’re of very high quality.

True that not much can be told of the packaging in this case. Thanks for the reassurance! 55

The guy apologises for what happened.

That's how it should be done.

Then hopefully take measures to make it less chances it happens again.

 

 

Edited March 24, 20188 yr by dudopode

I took a bike from DMK to Mandalay and I was very impressed with the Air Asia service at both ends.

My bike was wrapped in cling film on the way out and cardboard on the way back. Super happy customer here

17 hours ago, Basil B said:

Looking at the video I would say those guys were under pressure as to lift off those bikes properly would mean having to stop the belt,  and move into a more better position to lower them to the floor, ideally they should have a table at the side of the belt that they could be slid onto and a second person lifts to the ground, it is not a question of just lifting to the ground, the operative needs to judge the weight and balance before positioning to lift...

 

It is not just bikes but obviously there are lots of bulky and awkward baggage coming off the plane that needs to be separated from the normal baggage, it seems to m the procedure is at fault also,  consideration of "Manual Handling" is very important to prevent injury to the operatives, that seems lacking in the video.

Nonsense. The one that dumped the bike on the ground from the belt could have easily swiveled and grabbed and lowered the bike. Of course that would have required that he expend more energy in the process, something I'm sure they've learned to avoid. There was only one item on the belt at the time and it was being accepted by the other handler.

 

If they were household movers moving your household goods would it be OK if they summarily dropped your moving containers from waist-high onto a concrete apron, making sure they were spinning in the process?

Edited March 25, 20188 yr by MaxYakov

I fly Air Asia all the time and I have to say that I find them a terrific airline, yes, sometimes things go wrong but as a low cost carrier, second to none. 

I also find the apology appropriate, no ducking and weaving good job Air Asia. 

Nothing new. Baggage handlers are not hired  for their intellectual skills. They have to load and unload within a set time period. They really don't give a sh*t. Every so often one gets a video like this from airlines around the world. 

On 3/23/2018 at 11:51 PM, Thunder26 said:

There is nothing out of ordinary about handling the luggage in the video.. That's the common way they handle the luggage and they don't care. I've seen worse.

Anybody remember the TV commercial from the late 60s early 70s of a gorilla throwing luggage around?  I think it was American Tourister brand.

 

 

On 3/23/2018 at 8:06 PM, SheungWan said:

No such instructions can possibly be issued. Window shades must be up throughout landing.

Luckily, baggage handling doesn't occur during landing.

On 3/24/2018 at 10:06 AM, SheungWan said:

No such instructions can possibly be issued. Window shades must be up throughout landing.

 

1 hour ago, whaleboneman said:

Luckily, baggage handling doesn't occur during landing.

Landing, including the whole landing process right up to and through disembarkation.