Aurigny baggage charge out of step

There is nothing new here, for some time the airline, which runs a monopoly of the key Gatwick link, has effectively been forced by passenger astonishment and anger to allow, for examples, ladies with handbags and everyone with laptops as an addition to another bag to take them on board without too much hassle from the somewhat surly airline representatives. There is no change in the weight or size allowance at all.

As a very frequent traveller who must suffer at the hands of the local airline, this cynical type of statement is yet another attempt to hide bad news for passengers; the airline is about to introduce a £45 charge for checked hand luggage.

This was announced to me when I saw an elderly lady confronted by a member of Aurigny staff at the new check-in process who could not remove her small bag from the hand luggage check basket by herself.

First, he refused to help, so it was left to other passengers to assist, then he laughed and said, ‘don’t worry, we will be charging you £45 next month to check that in’.

No doubt Aurigny, when announcing this new charge from next month, will incorrectly claim that it’s in line with other airlines.

I invite anyone to look at the BA policy on this, easyJet etc., to find that this is not the case, without even seeing how tiny its cabin size allowance is when compared to others.

I recently travelled on an ATR with 19 passengers and clients were still subjected at the gate to yet another cabin measure. Who is Mr Coupar trying to fool with his comments in the Press about ensuring there is enough space?

I am ashamed to admit that, to avoid embarrassment, I do not encourage business colleagues from other countries to consider travelling to the island for business purposes.

The States need to decide whether its airline is there to serve the needs of the islands first or to be a profitable business unit. The latter would not be possible with the current management style or personnel.

As chairman of two larger non-island organisations and deputy chair of another with collectively well over a million customers, if I witnessed the practices and approach of Aurigny’s management to clients their tenure would be short-lived. However, when you have a monopoly you don’t have to try very hard.

PETER HOBBS,

Address withheld.

Editor’s footnote: Malcolm Coupar, commercial director of Aurigny, responds: Thank you for the opportunity to reply to this letter and to provide some further clarity about our hand luggage allowance.

Firstly, just in case there is any doubt, we have not changed the maximum size of hand luggage items that can be taken on board our aircraft. The size remains 48cm x 36cm x 20cm.

We do understand that this is slightly smaller than some other carriers, and this is why we now allow passengers to carry an additional, second piece of hand luggage (35cm x 25cm x 20cm) which can be stowed under the seat. The combined weight of both pieces can be up to 10kg maximum.

The reason behind the size of our hand luggage allowance is due to the size of the overhead lockers in our aircraft, which are unfortunately smaller than on larger aircraft. The lockers are all multiples of just under 50cm.

For example, the majority of the lockers in the ATR72 aircraft are just under 1.5m long internally and can accommodate three bags of 48cm in length end to end, leaving just manoeuvring space.

The same locker would accommodate just two ‘standard’ sized bags of 55cm length end to end, leaving under 40cm space. It is the same situation on the jet, where most of the lockers are just under 2m in length, so they can accommodate four 48cm bags or three 55cm bags.

Unfortunately, in neither aircraft is there anywhere close to enough space for everybody to carry a 55cm bag.

I can assure you our hand baggage limit has been set at the largest possible size, which still allows everyone to take a carry-on bag onto the aircraft.

We have tried to make passengers aware that our staff are checking bags to ensure they do fit within our limits and everyone can take a bag.

In recent times, we have seen an increase in hand baggage being taken on board by passengers, and we believe this will only be more prevalent under our new fare structure, when we offer hand baggage-only fares for the first time.

This makes it even more important to ensure people do not carry oversized bags.

Under this new system, if you have a Smart or Flexi fare and your hand luggage is over our maximum limit, we will take your bag at the check-in desk or departure gate and check it into our aircraft hold.

Providing this does not take you over your unused hold baggage allowance, this service is free.

If doing this exceeds your hold luggage allowance, or you have booked a Light fare, with no hold allowance, there is a charge for this.

The introduction of the new fare structure and hand luggage only fares is ultimately about giving customers more control so they have the ability to buy tickets which best fit their needs.

It will enable us to offer lower fares, through the Light hand baggage only option, and offer two other fare types that give passengers more flexibility and a lower price should they need to change a flight. This should help us boost passenger numbers and in turn support tourism and the island’s economy as a whole.

Our advice to all passengers is to check the size of their hand baggage before travelling to ensure it complies.