If travelling to Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport, be incredibly careful with your luggage. AFTER checking in our luggage in Karachi, our luggage was ransacked and a lot of stuff was stolen. It was an inside job. They sealed the luggage up afterwards so that we couldn’t tell by looking at it that stuff was stolen. Upon arriving in London, opening the suitcases and realising that a lot of stuff had been taken, we contacted Gulf Airways (the airline we travelled on) where they told us that Karachi airport is infamous for this. In fact, ours was the third complaint they received today. Stuff was missing from our luggage when we first arrived in Karachi. So, they managed to rob us twice. sigh
Khair, they didn’t take anything valuable … just some artificial jewellery that looked real. Still, keep any valuables in hand luggage.
If they are taking stuff, after you have checked in your luggage, then there is really not that much you can do, except to inspect the luggage with eagle eyes at the destination to file a complaint right away.
Judging by airline's response, it doesn't seem likely they are too bothered about it or are going to help you recover the losses - which is a shame, because it is the airline's responsibility. They can't pin it up to an unnamed airport worker.
The other thing that happened to my family at the Lahore Airport was that{ although nothing got stolen },but all of their suitcases were broken meaning some of them had broken handles & some with the broken wheels.
So luggage handling at Pakistan airports is not good at all.<<Do try to take your "puraanay" bags with "rassees" & "taalay" on!!
You should lodge a claim with the airline and they should compensate you. A few years ago I was travelling with British airways and upon arrival in UK I noticed that the handle on my suitcase was broken. I reported it to the airline and they replaced it with a new one. Now that is service.
I can imagine airport staff manhandling luggage..like I brought two oil paintings from UK. They were in proper frames and I had stickers on them saying ‘Fragile handle with care’ and checked them in at over-sized baggage booth…but when I received them at Toronto airport..the frames and glass were broken
But stealing stuff is really low and the fact that we can’t do anything about it other than a mere complain is just frustrating. How was your Gulf Air experience?
We did have locks on all of the suitcases. Only when arriving at our place in London did we notice that the locks on two of teh suitcases were gone. the thieves did an excellent job though. they sealed the suitcases up quite well so that you couldnt tell by looking at it that they were ransacked.
i should have noticed when we arrived at heathrow. after travelling from karachi 3 hours to bahrain, then waiting 6 hours there for our connecting flight to london, then flying 8 hours to london .... your mind kind of goes numb .... at least mine did. i only noticed when actually opening the suitcase and seeing that everything was a mess and then seeing that all the jewellery boxes were empty. sigh Oh well ... they were artificial jewellery sets so the chors at karachi airport will be cursing us for stealing worthless stuff. :)
Khair, we did complain with Gulf Airways and they said that this happens all the time at Karachi airport. When the suitcases are x-rayed, the people behind the counter eye each other so that they know which suitcases to break into after the luggage is checked in. So, if they know this is happening and the staff at karachi airport are all in on it, why don't they do something about it?
Ugh Karachi people at least they gave you the suitcase they literally took our suitcase, it was never put on the plane for us, our suitcase never left Karachi!!!
wow that's unfortunate and the first time i'm hearing that...my family including i've travelled thru khi airport so many times but such a thing never happenned to us [Allah ka shukar hae]...and we've been carrying expensive stuff a lot of times which i'm sure came on the X-ray machine...
i think you should email them as Zakk pointed out above...its prolly the luggage handlers who did it and the higher officials prolly have no idea...
or write a letter to the DAWN editor about it...www.dawn.com...
Mehnaz next time you should lock your bags...i always do...though this time i didnt but alhamdulillah nothing happenned...
and also at Karachi airport they always put those plastic strips around ur luggage to secure it...right when u enter the lounge where the airline counters r, to ur right is the dude sitting with the machine who does that...didn't they do that to your luggage? next time rmemeber to get that done...its free...
i had a funny experience at Karachi airport. We were on a transit flight from Lahore back to Holland about 2 yrs ago.
After having walked in the vicinity of the airport (we had to wait 11 hours for the next flight!), we wanted to enter the airport and book our luggage. But cuz of the security this officer stepped onto us and asked if we were a family together. My father said yes, and after that the officer asked us to put ALL our luggage aside cuz they were gonna check it ( can u imagine! unpacking 15 cases, bags, backpacks etc etc )
clearly we weren’t in the mood to go through this all, everyone was tired, and we were running out of time. So what my father did is go to the officer and while pointing at us, said: ‘these kids of mine are all doctors in Holland’. Woh bechaara officer looked at us amazed, doubting whether or not to salute us and said that we may go on
I never lock my luggage...traveled zillions of time around the world...neverever anything was stolen...most of the times, my suitcase weigh around 12 kg(including 7 kg of suitcase)...I think the airport personnel are disappointed when they look at my luggage... :D
Irem, *I did * lock my bags. Next time, I'll use a combination lock instead of the regular key locks when travelling to Pakistan.
They stole stuff when we first arrived and when we left. I have already launched a complaint with Gulf Air. As I said earlier, Gulf Air personnel and other airline ticket agents in London (UK) told us that this has been happening a lot lately at Karachi airport. The staff at Karachi airport are all in on it .... so we were told. Apparently, it's some sort of Mafia.
Mehnaz I travelled through Karachi too a couple of times. My dad had purchased the ticket for me and it was my first time travelling alone. So at the check-in counter the guy tells me the tax has not been paid on the ticket. I hadn’t the vaguest idea so I paid him whatever amount he told. It didn’t even occur to me to get a receipt from him. When I got to my destination I told dad and he was like… it was paid for! Why didn’t you ask for a receipt??? That’s when it struck to me! Was too late by then, I had been cheated
Welcome back home by the way. Will u be posting pictures?
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*Originally posted by MehnazQ: *
I have already launched a complaint with Gulf Air. As I said earlier, Gulf Air personnel and other airline ticket agents in London (UK) told us that this has been happening a lot lately at Karachi airport. The staff at Karachi airport are all in on it .... so we were told. Apparently, it's some sort of Mafia.
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I still think its the Airline's responsibility and they are trying to shove it off with no good reason. If I were you, I'd be firm with the airline and tell them in no uncertain words that I really don't care who is doing what once the bag goes from behind the check-in counter and the airline is responsible for its safe-keeping and so they should compensate for the loss.
One thing to remember is that airlines pretty much leave it for their baggage claims folks to decide how much they can pay a disgruntled passenger in cases of baggage dispute. Most often these airline fellows adopt an official matter-of-fact tone to suggest that under the rules they can't pay you anything until such and such thing happens (most often if your baggage is delayed they say they won't pay you any compensation for the first 24 hours). In reality, its all BS. I and also my friends have pointed arguments with the airline folks and they paid us $150/day on the spot when our bags were delayed and were not expected to arrive for another 3 days. Its a sizeable money, and the airlines know they should pay it, but they just act cool with the passengers to save as much as they can (I guess the airline fellows get bonuses of the amounts they can save and not pay to the passengers).
Moral of the story: Don't let the airlines off the hook just because they have concocted a cock-and-bull story about airport staff. Its airline's own staff who is responsible to take the bags from the check-in counter to the airlines. The airline is responsible to compensate you for the loss. File a claim for $$$ and tell them you want the money right away. You have nothing to lose anyway, and this will make the airlines take your claim seriously.
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