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Swiss has tightened the reins on hand baggage checks. Suitcases and backpacks that are too large must be checked in at the gate. Image: Adobe Stock

Swiss Airlines increases hand luggage checks: key findings

Reto Suter

In an effort to become more punctual, Swiss is checking passengers' hand luggage more strictly than before. The aim is to make flight delays due to slow boarding a thing of the past. According to Swiss, the measure is working. However, no concrete figures are available.

If you check in your suitcase when traveling by air, you usually pay extra and lose valuable time after arriving at the baggage carousel. This is why many passengers, especially on short-haul flights, only travel with hand luggage.

Unfortunately while it’s convenient for the traveler and good for the wallet, it causes a lot of problems for the airlines. With insufficient space in the overhead compartments for all the suitcases and bags, boarding often becomes a cumbersome task for both passengers and crew.

A lot of time passes before all the luggage is stowed correctly - often more than the flight planners had planned for boarding. As a result, the plane misses its departure slot, leading to a delay.

Airlines want to prevent this. Many airlines have therefore tightened the reins. They are stepping up checks on hand luggage. Passengers who turn up at the gate with hand luggage that is too big, too heavy, or exceeds the limit will be required to check it in immediately.

Positive impressions, but no concrete figures

Swiss has also been enforcing stricter controls on hand luggage for several months now - and after the challenging summer flight operations, is taking positive stock. Heike Birlenbach, Chief Commercial Officer and interim CEO of Swiss, recently said at an online conference: «There have been noticeable improvements. The stricter hand baggage checks have helped to speed up boarding and thus made an important contribution to punctuality.»

When asked by Travelnews, Swiss spokesperson Michael Pelzer explained: «Based on experience and booking patterns, we recognize conspicuous flights in advance. Then, if necessary, we increasingly rely on a corresponding check at the gate.» There is basically no leeway here. «If we discover at the gate that a piece of hand baggage does not meet the requirements, it must be checked in retrospectively and carried in the hold.»

Swiss had already taken measures some time ago to raise customer awareness of the issue. The airline explicitly communicates the rules for hand luggage on its website, in the booking confirmation and again at online check-in.

Swiss is unable to quantify the specific benefit of the stricter checks at the gate. Spokesman Michael Pelzer says: «Unfortunately, we cannot make an exact statement about the proportion of boarding-related slot forfeitures. The work processes surrounding boarding and ground handling are dynamic; numerous factors constantly interact and influence each other.»

Oliver Buchhofer, Chief Operating Officer of Swiss, provided figures on this at the aforementioned media conference. According to these figures, technical reasons, problems with ground handling or delays during boarding have been to blame for one in four delays since the beginning of the year. According to Buchhofer, this proportion is significantly lower than last year.

The stricter hand luggage controls therefore seem to be having a positive effect, and Swiss would be well advised to retain them. It has also initiated a further measure to prevent delays during boarding. As the aviation portal «Aerotelegraph» reported in June, Swiss is installing larger luggage compartments in three Airbus A320s and five A321s. They will offer 60 percent more space for hand luggage than the existing compartments.