STRANGE NEWS FROM THE GULF
There are many interesting developments in the Travel Industry, new destinations, new routes, new concepts, indeed constant change. However, ‘Dubai International brought to a halt by round bags’ is not a phrase one expects to hear.
You would have thought that stretching 140km and covering 75 football fields, the baggage handling system at the world’s arguably most state of the art airport would be capable of literally handling anything that you could throw at it.
TOO BIG, WRONG SHAPE AND DEFINITELY NOT ROUND
However you thought wrong, it appears that the system is freaked out by that most fiendish of travel technology, the ’round bag.’ The system, apparently, only likes luggage with at least one flat surface. The baggage carousel may go round and round, but your cases can’t !.
The restrictions come into force on March 8th, and from then on round bags will be rejected. It appears the system also has problems with large baggage and other irregular shapes.
So from now on round bags are banned, and passengers will be given the ‘option’ of placing the offending bags in boxes (presumably slightly flat ones), but there will be a charge.
The baggage system has 15,000 trays and is run by 21 motors, handling 9.3 million items of luggage in January alone. Each bag averages 29 minutes in the system.
I am sure that many passengers have had problems with lost luggage and many more are irritated by hand luggage restrictions (so beloved of the low-cost airlines in particular). I am not sure that many can say their journey was inconvenienced by a pesky ’round bag,’ but at Dubai International, this apparently happens.
DUBAI EXPANSION CONTINUES
Dubai is on schedule to be the busiest airport in the world by 2020, and as well as being the regional hub for the Gulf States, is also being used for long-haul to Australia and the United States, as well as a convenient connection to Europe. Qatar, Emirates, and Etihad airlines are becoming world players in the Aviation industry.
It seems obvious that the authorities at Dubai International Airport are preparing to smooth the way for continued expansion.
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