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‘5,000 bags left every day’: German air passengers face luggage fiasco

As well as delays and cancelled flights, the shortage of airport and airline staff is also leading to large-scale baggage losses across Germany.

Published: 19 July 2022 16:04 CEST
'5,000 bags left every day': German air passengers face luggage fiasco
"Baggage tracing" is written on a sign in front of suitcases and folded strollers in the baggage claim area in Hamburg airport. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Jonas Walzberg

The widely reported travel disruptions at German airports this summer is also having disastrous consequences on luggage transportation.

Understaffing on airlines and at airports means that passengers’ luggage is often being loaded onto the wrong plane, gets lost or is simply not checked in properly.

As a result, tonnes of bags are piling up in arrivals halls up and down the country and passengers are sometimes having to wait weeks to get their belongings returned to them. 

According to Bild newspaper, 5,000 suitcases from Lufthansa passengers alone are left behind at Frankfurt Airport every day. Some of these bags are now being transported by truck to Munich Airport because there is more capacity there to deliver the luggage to its owners.

Last Friday, a Frankfurt Aiport spokesman said: “At peak times, there is a four-digit number of pieces of luggage at the airport that have to be forwarded on to passengers.” 

A tweet by Welt newspaper on Sunday also showed thousands of bags waiting to be sorted at Düsseldorf airport.

Staff shortages at Munich airport are also leading to luggage pile-ups.

The airport is currently short of 160 baggage workers and the employees who are still there are currently overworked. 

One German travel website even reported a story about a family returning from the US to Munich who spent three weeks looking for their lost luggage – only to spot it in a newspaper report about chaos at the airport. 

A spokesman for Berlin Brandenburg Airport, Jan-Peter Haack, told Bild that stranded suitcases in the capital’s main airport are sometimes even disposed of, for example, if travellers are carrying food in their luggage and it begins to smell.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: How long will the flight chaos in Germany last?

What should you do if your luggage goes missing?

Firstly, you should go to the baggage claim desk at the airport and fill out the so-called ‘Property Irregularity Report’. 

If the counter is closed, this can often be done via the airline’s website, or you can visit the counter in person the next day.

You should also report the problem to your airline as soon as possible. If you’re travelling with multiple airlines, make sure to notify each company to be on the safe side. 

If your luggage is found again, the airline will usually bring it home to you. If the airline does not provide this service and you have to pick up your luggage at the airport yourself, you can have the travel costs reimbursed; including parking costs.

If your luggage does not turn up at all, you are entitled to compensation – up to €1,395 per passenger.

READ ALSO: Air passengers in Germany face long waits and flight cancellations

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WILDLIFE

Southern Germany sees explosion of mosquitos after floods

First flooding, and now a plague of mosquitos: hoards of the annoying bloodsuckers are spreading on Lake Constance. Here's what to expect if you are visiting the region.

Published: 24 June 2024 16:57 CEST
Southern Germany sees explosion of mosquitos after floods

After severe floods in southern Germany, conditions are ripe for mosquito populations to explode, according to an expert in the region. 

Rainer Bretthauer, environmental and climate protection officer at the city of Radolfzell on Lake Constance, told DPA that the popular holiday location is already seeing signs of a mosquito plague.

 Bretthauer said that the floods have offered perfect conditions for egg laying, resulting in masses of mosquito offspring.

People living around the area or visiting should be prepared, Bretthauer said. He suggested, for instance, wearing loose-fitting and long clothing.

Timing also plays a role when you’re outside. “They tend to bite during twilight hours when the temperature is higher than 18C,” he said. 

Mosquitos ‘not a bad thing for wildlife’

While growing mosquito hoards may ruin peoples’ camping trips and planned lake vacations, for local wildlife, the mosquitos are a good thing, according to the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (Nabu).

“All the insects that are now developing are a very important food source for many fish species and also for birds,” said Eberhard Klein from Nabu in Constance.

Around 50 species of mosquitoes are known in Germany. Some of them are counted among the so-called floodwater mosquitoes, which increasingly hatch after flooding.

According to experts, these mosquitos are particularly zealous blood hunters, as they have to reproduce quickly before the favourable conditions disappear again.

Floodwater mosquitoes like to lay their eggs on moist soil, often in riparian zones and floodplains. There they can survive in the soil for several years.

When these zones flood and the temperature is favourable, the eggs develop and hatch mosquitos. Therefore large-scale flooding, as seen recently in Southern Germany, can lead to mass hatching.

Mosquito borne illness is spreading to Europe as temperatures warm

Warming temperatures brought by human-caused climate change have allowed mosquito populations to extend further northward in Europe, including disease-carrying species that were previously limited to regions closer to the equator.

For example, the Asian tiger mosquito is not native to Europe but has already been observed in much of southern and central Europe, including Germany.

Tiger mosquitos are particularly concerning because they are known to spread diseases such as dengue fever, chikungunya and Zika virus. Mass outbreaks of these infections have been rising globally. Last year local Dengue outbreaks were recorded in France, Italy and Spain.

With reporting by DPA

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