Christchurch Airport has moved quickly to end accusations that baggage handlers have been throwing away unclaimed baggage after a video appeared on YouTube.
The video clip filmed by a passenger at the New Zealand airport on their mobile phone shows a handler picking up several items of luggage from an Air New Zealand trolley and throwing it into the back of a garbage truck.
Airport boss Jim Boult told stuff.nz that the incident captured on camera was part of a trial of its new baggage handling system.
He said his staff had spent months calling for old unwanted bags from the public and people were made aware the bags would not be returned.
An airport spokesperson said approximately 700 bags were donated from around New Zealand and were destroyed after the tests.
However, the person who posted the clip – a passenger on an Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur – replied that the airport should have been more discreet.
“Do you not think doing this while using an Air New Zealand trolley in front of 300 people waiting in a plane on the tarmac is the PR epic fail?”
Air New Zealand said it had no involvement in the incident. The baggage handlers had simply borrowed one of their trolleys.
