Hong Kong airport baggage handlers caught red-handed throwing luggage around as Facebook video goes viral
37-second video shows luggage, boxes, and fragile items being slung from conveyor belt into bag cart
A video showing airline staff hurling passengers’ luggage as they take it off a plane at Hong Kong International Airport has gone viral on social media over the past two days.
In a 37-second video posted on Facebook on September 27, two men are seen throwing a dozen bags from a conveyor one by one into a cart.
The bags include suitcases, cardboard boxes and goods with fragile stickers. Another two people stand and watch while the bags and boxes crash into other items.
The staff unloading the luggage were dressed in the uniform of Hong Kong Airport Services (HAS), a service provider wholly owned by Cathay Pacific. According to its website, HAS has been awarded the passenger handling permit since 2008.
Walker told the Post she was surprised about the impact of the video.
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“I don’t have any intention to make any trouble to the workers,” she said. “I only wanted other people to be aware of the situation.”
She said she wrote to HAS on Friday, but had not yet had a reply.
In response to questions from the Post, a spokesman for HAS said the company was aware of the footage, and had taken the matter up with the outsourced supplier involved.
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“We sincerely apologise to the passengers of our customer airlines in this particular incident,” the spokesman said.
The Airport Authority declined to confirm the amount, and only gave a vague explanation that money would be clawed back from the airline’s contractors on a “cost recovery” basis.
A search on YouTube found that this is not an isolated incident, and there is evidence of poor handling of luggage at other airports in Britain, the United States, and China.
