AL_September_v5

The Basics of
Outbound
Bags
With Tobi Oyasodun
What’s the one thing you can’t go without when
travelling? Well, your passport is probably the
best answer to that, but following closely behind
in second place, it has to be your luggage!
We’ve all experienced that moment while waiting for your
suitcase to appear on the conveyor belt, with every piece of
luggage that passes by, a new level of worry creeps into our
heads, ‘maybe it’s on the wrong flight, maybe it’s lost. I’ve
only got the jeans and the hoody that I’m wearing, and I’m in
32 degree heat for the next two weeks!’ Although somehow
your case may always seem to be the very last one on the
carousel, thankfully it usually turns up just in time before you
start to hyperventilate. But it doesn’t get there by magic…
This month, Tobi Oyasodun from Homerton in East
London, who has been a Baggage Handler at LCY since
2012, ran us through the basics of Outbound Bags.
“Firstly, passengers drop their bags at the check-in desk,
and then they’re loaded on to the conveyor belt which
runs directly to us at OBB. An X-Ray machine scans each
and every bag and staff from Mitie monitor them as they
come through, checking for any suspicious items.
“Each bag is weighed, and any bag over 20kg has to have
a ‘heavy’ tag attached just so we’re aware before we pick
it up and can avoid strains and injuries. The bags are fed
round to us on the conveyor belt and surrounding the belt
are 27 bays, each with a trolley that’s ready to be loaded.
Above the belt are screens which show all the upcoming
flights and tell us which flight’s trolley is in which bay.
“So we check the destination code and flight number on the piece
of luggage, pick it up and stack it on the correct trolley. After a
little while, you just know what trolley to go to and the process
quickens. One trolley can hold up to 40 bags, once it’s full we
hook it up to a tug and then an OBB Driver delivers it over to
the aircraft. It’s unhooked under the wing of the aircraft and
then it’s over to the Ramp Agents who reload it in to the hold.
“The trolley has to be at the aircraft 30 minutes before departure.
This year OBB are smashing their records and have
already processed more than 500,000 bags. We met with Tobi
Oyasodun who ran us through the basics of Outbound Bags.
Luggage comes in all shapes and sizes
Any bag that gets to us after the trolleys have
been taken over to the aircraft is classed as a ‘late
bag’. It’s still possible to get them to the aircraft
before it departs, but sometimes they have to
be rejected by the dispatcher in order to avoid
the flight being delayed. When this happens,
the bag is rushed on to the next available flight.
It’s not ideal for the passenger, but it’s the best
solution without delaying everyone else.
“So to put it basically, it’s our job to pick up the
bags, stack them and match them to the right
trolley. I’ve always been passionate about what
I do and I know just how important it is. We may
only fly to certain destinations once a day or less,
so if the bag misses the flight a passenger’s trip
Lee Merrison, Team
Leader driving a tug
could actually be ruined. I believe you should treat
people how you’d like to be treated yourself and
I definitely wouldn’t want that to happen to me!
“We have 10-12 people on shift at a time
including two Team Leaders, the banter is pretty
much constant so we do get to have a laugh.
Paydays are always memorable, but jokes aside
I’ll never forget the day we had five full trolleys
for just one flight to Amsterdam which was then
going on to Lagos, some of the cases were 32kg!
I’m Nigerian and I know that Nigerians take
everything on holiday with them, and when I
say everything I mean everything, from their old
toothbrush to a pack of dried fish - I’ve seen it!
Luggage being X-Rayed and monitored
“It can be non-stop at OBB sometimes; Monday,
Thursday, Friday and Sunday are always the
busiest. Not long ago we processed over 3000
bags in just one shift. Now that summer’s
here we’ve seen an unbelievable amount of
bags on their way to Ibiza where I’ll be going
soon for the end of season closing parties!”
OBB are processing more bags than ever before,
in July 2016, 101,247 bags passed through
the department, which is an all-time record
at LCY. So far, more than 500,000 bags have
been processed this year, so we may be about
to see a record-breaking year for OBB.
mitie
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