If baggage delivery has been a pain point for you in India, you might be up for a good surprise. The aviation safety regulator has asked all airlines to pull up their socks and remind them of their service guarantee timelines.
BCAS asks airlines to deliver baggage within 30 minutes of arriving at the gate
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has directed seven airlines to ensure that delivery of the last bag is made within 30 minutes, as per the Service Quality Requirements of Operation, Management and Delivery Agreement (OMDA). Airlines need to implement the required measures by February 26, 2024.
Airlines, including Air India, IndiGo, Akasa, SpiceJet, Vistara, AIX Connect and Air India Express, were sent these letters on Friday to implement the required measures to ensure that delivery of the last baggage is made within 30 minutes as per the Service Quality Requirements of OMDA. As per a press release issued by the BCAS, they continuously monitored baggage arrival at belts at the six major Indian airports.
The OMDA mandates that the first bag needs to arrive at the baggage belt within 10 minutes of shutting off the aircraft engine and the last bag within 30 minutes. While the BCAS monitoring was done at six major airports, the airlines must ensure the service standard at all airports where they fly.
In my personal experience, though, with five flights in January 2024 across India and four of them having checked bags, the bags usually arrive between 15-25 minutes on arrival, so I am not sure which airport and airline combination really showed these issues.
https://twitter.com/LiveFromALounge/status/1746144943444529493?s=20
Also, whether this would mean airline ground handling agencies will put more people and vehicles on the job remains to be seen. Remember, many domestic airports are still without aerobridges so bags have to be put on a trolley, then driven to the terminal and then put on the belt by a human.
Bottomline
The Indian Aviation Security Regulator has mandated to airlines that bags should be delivered to customers within 30 minutes of gates being opened. This requirement, which was already built into the service standards, is required to be fulfilled by February 26, 2024.
What do you make of the service standard reminder from the BCAS to Indian carriers?
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It will be great if this progresses beyond empty words/instructions … I’ve often had to wait for my bags at Delhi despite priority tags and long immigration lines
In India for at least the last 10-15 years it’s only with some international arrival flights where I’ve had to wait 30 minutes or more for checked bags to reach me on arrival at Indian airports. Otherwise it’s been faster than that for me.
This is a much-needed step. While domestic flights quickly unloaded baggage, I had torrid times concerning international flights, with waiting periods upwards of 45 minutes, especially at the Mumbai airport.
@Vatsal, this is regarding domestic flights only, even though not expressly stated.
The worst is the international airlines. It took me just 10 minutes to reach the belt, due to meet n greet and business class immigration but my first bag came in 5 minutes and the 4th came after 45 minutes despite having priority tags on the bag.