|
PIA advertisement
from 1980. The advertisement reads: "What
we are all up against! Baggage loss is a $ 150 million world
airline industry problem. According to IATA, every year airlines
of the world spend more than US $ 150 million in meeting
passenger claims for lost and mishandled baggage. Most of them
admit that baggage handling is their biggest area of passenger
complaints and one which needs the greatest improvement.
PIA is no exception. Very
rightly we have been criticised for this. But how do we compare
with the airline industry as a whole.
In 1979 baggage loss claims
received by PIA did not exceed 1.3 per 15,000 pieces handled.
This figure would have been greatly reduced had all passengers
cooperated by properly displaying identification stickers in
accordance with the IATA rules and regulations.
For the same period many of
the world's major airlines reported baggage loss claims of more
than 4 to 5 per 15,000 pieces handled.
These airlines have the
advantage of sophisticated airport terminals, automation and
computerisation. Yet their performance has been severely
criticized.
In the US a major airline paid US $
2 million for baggage mishandling involving 60,000
inconvenienced passengers.
While major international
airlines are compelled to spend huge sums in settlement of
claims and improvement of facilities, PIA's consistently low
baggage loss ratio has convinced our insurance underwriters to
reduce our insurance premium rates by more than 10% for this
financial year. This is true measure of confidence in the
airline
Overall performance shows that PIA,
inspite of greater constraints, manages to maintain and,
wherever possible, exceed the standards of the world's best
airlines." |
