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When in Rome, Do As the Baggage Handlers Do. Relax!
Those flying into Rome Fiumicino airport must have been hating Rome the minute they arrived this past weekend. There is nothing like a warm welcome to a foreign country! Hundreds of thousands bags got delayed as baggage handlers "took their time" getting them from the plane to the passengers. The reason? Low pay.
European workers have had a long tradition of going on strike but this seems more creative than a regular strike. They were apparently slowing down the flow of baggage by using things such as chewing gum to cover up barcode readers that sort the bags and that electric trolleys used to ferry bags to and from aircraft were often found to be lacking power.
Stranded at the airport for hours waiting for one's bags is a good time to contemplate how accustomed we have become to things working on our own schedule. If you are sitting at terminal A right now, wedged between a couple of sweaty tourists, you probably don't understand what I mean. All I am saying is, "things going wrong" is a part of travel. One day, this will make a good story.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rome tour Aug 13th 2007 3:47PM
And this is only the beginning of the story: personally I am a Rome driver guide and I do Rome tours for the tourists coming to Rome by plane and by cruise ships; each time I make my group pick-up at Fiumicino airport,I have to wait minimum two hours because there is always a luggage problem due to a bad organisation in the luggage sector.
Don't forget that Alitalia,an Italian flight company,is looking for a partnership with other companies for fix the economical problems that are killing the company. And what's the best deal to buy their own part of the company if the same company has a lower value for the bad organisation of its luggage sector?
My name is Filippo Biasini and if you want to know more about what I do and how I do, feel free to visit http://www.rome-tours.org