Hey, there! Log in / Register
If you check something at a JetBlue gate, make sure any breakables are wrapped really well
By adamg on Sat, 03/25/2017 - 7:28pm
— John (@Johnfpc) March 25, 2017
John watched a JetBlue worker unload some baggage at Logan this afternoon.
UPDATE: JetBlue tells WCVB the baggage handler did nothing wrong; the belt is made of "soft rubber material with shock absorbers."
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
I thought this was going to
I thought this was going to be a video of the worker accidentally or deliberately throwing something over the railing. But all the bags and strollers went down the slide rail. Am I missing the point of this video? There's a LOT worse videos of baggage truly being mishandled on Youtube.
I'm not seeing the problem.
I'm not seeing the problem.
Something wrong?
With the way she's doing her job? You gotta be a major snob or painfully naive to think that's not normal.
It doesn't look like the set
It doesn't look like the set up allows her to be much more gentle. Perhaps I can't see well but it looks like the only option is over the railing and that's well above her waist.
So what is the problem?
Yawn. This is news?!?!?
Not worth filming, not worth tweeting, not worth publishing
Simple things amuse simple people, especially those who evidently don't spend much time at the airport.
This is the way luggage gets handled, even gate-checked luggage. And -gasp- your luggage may even get stuffed under a much heavier piece of luggage when it's put in the hold!
So yes, you should always wrap your breakables really well, if you're not going to be able to put them in the overhead.
Slow news night
Looks like standard protocol,
Looks like standard protocol, though i wonder if this set up is OSHA compliant. Looks painful having to hoist items above the waist.
I know the woman isnt entitled to any expectation of privacy, but its creepy to record her for no good reason.
Not only a simple person
But also a likely snob that knows nothing about airport operations, and a nosy rat. I'm sure you'd love it if you and your fellow cube monkeys were unknowingly filmed at work. Especially when the filmers sole intention was likley to try and get this worker terminated.
You're welcome to film me at work
I'm usually sitting in the second row in Room 809 at City Hall every Tuesday and Wednesday at 10 a.m. And on noon on alternate Wednesdays, you can find me sitting in the first row of the media/staff section in the City Council chambers on the fifth floor of City Hall.
Only thing is, you'll probably get incredibly bored after about five minutes, if not way, way sooner. I sort of just sit there, slack jawed, either taking notes on the agenda of the meeting I'm in, or typing notes on my laptop or checking my Twitter feed. I'm really, really, boring, sorry. If you're lucky, you'll catch me taking a photo.
City Stenographer. History of the City Messenger Department.
Observe the efforts of the City Stenographer setup with the Stenograph machine, computer, yellow notepad. Then the Stenographic Record and the additional file of abbreviations, abbreviated shortcuts, acronyms compiled in the Council Chamber during the Public Meeting are removed from City Hall not in accord with Massachusetts guidelines for preservation of municipal records to keep originals in City Hall http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcrmu/rmuidx.htm
Journalists studying our Massachusetts municipalities will one day profile the history of Boston City Stenographers and City Messengers from the historic times when the City Messenger Department held forth http://ur1.ca/qomxd
*facepalm*
Adam, you knew your comment was gonna make that happen, right?
I have observed the city council's stenographer
She seems very good at her job stenographing.
To be honest, though, I'm much more interested in what the councilors and any people who address them have to say and so tend to pay attention to them instead.
Buses, transportation services with runs between NY and Harvard
Looking for buses or transportation services with runs between New York and Harvard (or Central or Kendall)... even not to rule out drivers appreciative of an amicable passenger.
GoBus to Alewife, then Red Line
https://www.gobuses.com/
NYC to MIT (or Central or Harvard)
Thank you!
NYC to Alewife Cambridge https://www.gobuses.com/go-buses/
Darn
I'm sorry I'm not headed to NYC as I think traveling with you would be fascinating. (Not being sarcastic.)
hes not a spectacle to be fascinated by
he is a human being
Tonight! 9pm Free Software/Culture Community Pub Night. Grendels
Tonight! 9pm Grendel's Den Free Software/Culture Community Pub Night
https://www.libreplanet.org/2017/social.html
Close out LibrePlanet 2017 with us at Grendel's Den! This local institution has been welcoming to Boston (and visiting) hackers for over ten years. All ages welcome!
https://www.yelp.com/biz/grendels-den-restaurant-and-bar-cambridge?sort_...
When: 21:00, Sunday, 3/26/2017 26 March - 01:00, Monday, 3/27/2017 27 March 2017
Where: Grendel's Den at 89 Winthrop Street between John F. Kennedy Street and Eliot St, Cambridge, MA 02138 near Harvard Station on the Red Line
Wheelchair access: There is elevator access upon request. Call 617-491-1160 to have someone from Grendel's assist you.
Best way to get there
Fly Jet Blue.
It is kind of foolish to
It is kind of foolish to video tape an airline worker unloading baggage on to a conveyor belt off an airplane , im sure her supervisors instructed her to unload baggage onto a conveyor belt that is 6 feet below airplane from the side passenger doorway of plane.
I don't think in anyway this video will get her fired.
Wrong side of the airplane
She's not unloading luggage; she's sending excess cabin baggage down to the baggage handlers who will then load it onto the airplane.
I've worked for a major
I've worked for a major airline for many years , trust me many of those bags that are being thrown on the belt is normal procedure , it's not like she's tossing baggage from a 3rd floor window down to a concrete surface, Mind you, she is also standing on a slippery surface a metal portable stairway , which is about seven feet high from ground. Tossing items to belt which is at arms length from where she is standing.
I hope the worker gets to film John at work someday
Ugh- if you click over to twitter, news stations are asking permission to show the video. The worker is actually pretty careful with the three strollers and about as careful as she can be with the two suitcases considering she has to get them over a barrier. I really hope she doesn't get in trouble for this.
I rarely dispute Adam's news judgement, but ...
in this case, i have to agree with the above commenters. This video doesn't belong here.
JetBlue reviewed the video
And found nothing wrong. Added a link to the WCVB report in the original post.
Why isn't the door pinned
Why isn't the door pinned back? Why does the person have to deal with holding the door open and slinging the freight?
It's a secure door, it's not
It's a secure door, it's not allowed to be kept open at any time since passengers boarding would have direct access to the ramp.
WCVB should be focusing more
WCVB should be focusing more on hiring Asian and Black anchors instead of Hiring native South shore Irish than placing useless news like this.
Team Ramp Agent!!!
I would like to see "John from Boston" do better than this woman. If anything, JetBlue should be criticized for a setup that forces the employee to lift bags up and over a chest-height railing.
So confused.
I'm glad the worker won't face any repercussions. I watched the video a few times because I kept thinking I had missed the bad part. After reading the Twitter comments, and the news station requests, I wondered again what I was missing. Reading the comments here made me feel sane again (and this is one of the few sites that you can ever say that about!!).
I'm struck by how poor the
I'm struck by how poor the ergonomics are in this video.
First the worker has to open the door each time she picks up something. When she picks up each item, she's not bending at the knee engaging her legs and glutes, but bending at the waist and rounding her shoulders to reach down with her arms.
She then has to lift each item over the handrail, while twisting her waist at the same time in too small of an area to drop it on the conveyor. Not a good recipe for injury reduction.
It sounds as if Jet-Blue's set-up for their workers needs change
If this:
really is true, it sounds like a perfect set-up and scenario for the acquiring of crippling injuries for Jet-Blue's workers. Not a good omen for either Jet-Blue regarding their reputation, or their workers, for that matter.
Concern for the breakable worker ....
.... is what this video left me with. She is trying her best to handle the luggage gently under ridiculous and dangerous working conditions. I can't imagine what pain she must feel and what injuries she must sustain after working a full shift.
This is exactly the point, Lee.
That's the point that I've been trying to drive home here. The fact that Jet-Blue does subject their workers to such dangerous and potentially crippling working conditions speaks volumes about their policies and overall attitudes...and not positively, either. Why should anybody have to put up with those kind of working conditions that could result in their receiving potentially crippling injuries? They shouldn't, imho. The fact that the climate here in the United States has been a poor climate for unions for the past several decades hasn't helped, either.
In my younger years, I worked
In my younger years, I worked for a small company where I occasionally had to load, or unload trucks, sometimes handling 70-80 lb boxes. We always lifted with are legs -similar to a weight lifter's squat. I can't imagine picking up something and twisting as I was lifting it higher to throw over the railing.
come on.
This is not hard work for many Americans. Lifting small bags (that were too not too heavy to be placed in the regular checked baggage) over a 3-4 foot railing isn't easy, but shouldn't be a work hazard for someone in shape.
Lifting them repeatedly can be a problem
Even if you are in shape.
What is easy for one person to do once can be damaging when repeated hour after hour for multiple shifts.
This is questionable workplace design if best.
This is why airlines fought the ergonomics standard early in this century - cheaper to damage people than to design the tasks properly.
I'm sure that you guys have never done farm work, but wouldn't understand why it is tiring and damaging, either.
Repetition is the key
No matter how good shape you were in, If you were at the gym, and tried lifting 35 lbs, holding it at chest height, and twisting as you did it, I would hope some trainer would run over and stop you. It's a formula for screwing up your spine. Do it again and again all day, and it's almost a guaranteed injury. Strength conditioning can protect you to some degree, but it doesn't make your back bulletproof.
But they go to the gym!
They know everything about lifting!
Pete -
With all due respect, it is not the weight of the bag, per se, but ability to do the motion (the job) in a manner that is safe to your body. She has to lift, twist, and lob it over the railing and/or dangle and drop. The set up for her to do this job duty should not be a detriment to her body.
It appears you need more info. Here you go:
https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/baggagehandling/
I understand all that.
And this woman appears to have the upper body strength to handle the first two bags anyway, but at some point there is a line whether someone is healthy enough (and not just "strength" but agility, flexibility, stamina, endurance, etc) to do baggage loading for airlines.
That link doesn't really give me much. It just says that airlines should make sure workers use the correct techniques and stretch, etc before shifts? Kind of backs up what I was thinking/saying.
I expected to see the Jet
I expected to see the Jet Blue employee tossing suitcases onto the tarmac below in a blind rage. I don't understand what the complaining tweeter is upset about. If you have fragile items you would like to transport of course you don't pack them in your suitcase. Has he never flown before? It's common knowlede that the most prudent way to ship fragile items when travelling is to have FedEx or UPS pack and ship them for you, and to get the item(s) insured if they are valuable. Publicly shaming this baggage handler is pretty low... looks like back-breaking work.
Not checked luggage
I'm carrying something fragile, I wouldn't check it; I would put it in my carry on.
And, to borrow your turn of phrase, if you've ever flown before, you would know that this is not checked luggage, it's carry-on luggage that was taken from the passenger and gate chaecked when the overhead bins (severely undersized on JB's E190s) ran out of space.
Which is not to say that the worker is doing anything wrong here. Jet Blue, on the other hand, could easily redesign the chute so that the worker could pass the luggage through at knee level instead of needing to heave it over the top.
jet blue could redesign the chute
you think jet blue has anything to do with that chute besides using it because its at the terminal?
Yes, I do
Yes, I do. A major tenant at an airport has everything to do with the design, cofiguration, procurement, and engineering of the stuff there.
Ok I'll say it.
The woman is clearly not in any sort of shape to be doing arduous, strength involved tasks that require endurance and stamina like unloading luggage over a long period of time, although I'm not sure if that what her job is. (and for the record, probably 20-40% of cops and firefighters aren't either).
The first bag she picks up and tosses over the railing in a manner that probably isn't the best for her or the bag given the equipment and room she has to deal with. I'm wouldn't be worried about stuff inside that would break, but the zippers on some of these bags might get damaged over time if someone drops the bag like she did over and over again.
Should she be expected to lift the whole bag, bring it to the railing, lean over and put it as close to the chute (zippers up) as she can? Does she have the strength to do this? I would say that within reason a baggage handler should have to do as much as possible to see that as few bags as possible get damaged, but that's Jet Blue's policy, not mine I guess.
Sorry for being the A-hole here but I think she could have done a better job with that first bag at least.
Even if what you say is true..
.. which pretty much amounts to "one of five items seen in the video was placed on the belt with less care than one might have wished", it didn't call for public shaming of the employee or endangering her job.
I do not know what shape she is in or not.
However, there is very poor ergonomics going on here that is not helping the situation. I would like to see the public shaming of workers, such as she, stopped.
The best practice with fragile items
Plan to gate check your bag on full flights. Bring a bag that you can fit anything fragile into to go by your feet or "sneak" into a compartment (since there are often gaps between bags). Remove the item before handing your bag over.
I have done this on numerous occasions - I usually stuff my coat in the gate checked bag when I do.
A couple of points:
A couple of points:
1. Propping a door open that would allow an unauthorized person onto the tarmac is likely against security regulations.
2. If you're working 20 feet up in the air hoisting around unwieldy objects you're probably better off with a higher railing so you don't accidentally fall off when your glove, uniform, etc. accidentally catches on said object and attempts to drag you with it.
Was a waste of time clicking
Was a waste of time clicking on this video
If you thought this is bad.
If you thought this is bad. Watch how UPS or FedEx loads your packages.
If I were her...
I'd be thinking, "Glad I'm just packing this plane, not flying on it. I know what three freakin' strollers means...."
Turn your phone sideways
when taking a video, John!!!!
If you look closely, those
If you look closely, those jet bridges have a little square door that's on hinges right about her thigh level, but nobody uses them because it's just as inconvenient and too small, and the jet bridges are about 40 years old to begin with and not designed to handle today's size carry-ons and mammoth double strollers.
Does John expect her
to dangle each piece over the railing and ever so gently place in on the belt? Unless something crushes the suitcase, your stuff will be fine. Anything that you are concerned about? Stick it in your overhead bag.
And what what his point? Do get her fired? Methinks that John should perhaps try her job for a week or two and then stick his phone up his a**.