A major airport in Scotland has suspended its customer service helpline due to the volume of verbal abuse received from disgruntled passengers who have misplaced their luggage while travelling. ‘Unfortunately, we have seen an increase in the amount of abuse our teams are receiving from passengers,’ an Edinburgh airport spokesperson told Insider. Edinburgh airport is located west of Scotland’s capital city.
According to the spokesperson, 90 percent of the problems handled by the airport’s customer service team are related to luggage. The baggage of passengers is the responsibility of airlines and handling agents, not the airport, they added. ‘We have temporarily suspended service to allow our teams to work through a backlog of airport queries and to protect them from this verbal abuse’.
The airport understands that passengers are frustrated, but the abuse is unacceptable and inexcusable, according to the spokesperson. Although the phone lines are down, passengers can contact customer service via email or the chatbot on the airport’s website, they added. On July 6, BBC News reported that hundreds of passenger bags were being held at an Edinburgh airport warehouse. One passenger told the broadcaster that she spent hours looking for her luggage in the warehouse after her Air Canada flight.
The decision by Edinburgh Airport to suspend its customer service line comes at a time when the airline industry is dealing with an increase in summer travel demand as staffing shortages take their toll. Passengers have complained about long check-in lines, difficulty contacting customer service, and missing luggage.
According to The Wall Street Journal, one American Airlines passenger drove 45 minutes to Denver airport to rebook his plane seats after the customer service helpline left him on hold for nearly four hours. A passenger who lost their luggage claimed it contained their parents’ ashes, while another person’s $10,000 luggage went missing with her wedding gown inside.
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