posted by The holiday season is coming up again and many of us will be flying around the world to be with our loved ones. During the coming week, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Paris-Charles de Gaulle will be crowded with passengers leaving the country or continuing on their way to the next destination. Of course, it’s important for everyone that their aircraft leaves on time and we will be doing our utmost to make that happen. But passengers can also make a huge contribution to this by limiting their hand baggage to the minimum. Let me explain why.
All hand luggage needs to pass through the X-ray equipment, either at the gate or at transit. Bags need to be opened and this leads to considerable delays. When boarding starts, space has to be found for all of the hand baggage in the overhead luggage bins, but full is full. The cabin crew are not allowed to store baggage in locations that might endanger the safety of passengers and overhead luggage bins may never be too full to avoid falling baggage in the event of turbulence. This means that hand luggage that cannot be stowed has to be checked in and transported in the cargo hold.
This causes delays. The aircraft won’t leave on time, will arrive too late at its destination and passengers risk missing their transfer connection.
So please, if you start your trip from Amsterdam or Paris, or continue your journey through one of these hubs, limit your hand baggage to the minimum. And if you travel with extra baggage, make use of the reduced fares at klm.com.
We wish you a great holiday season.
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