South African Olympic athlete, Akani Simbine, took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to express his disappointment with OR Tambo International Airport after having to replace items stolen from his bags.
According to Simbine, his baggage was broken into with some of his personal belongings stolen as he was transiting through the airport. He also revealed that this is not the first time that such an incident has occurred.
“@ortambo_int I can’t keep having to deal with having my bags being broken into each time I fly in or out of South Africa and my personal items stolen by your employees the whole time. This is too much now and it’s a constant thing,” said Simbine.
@ortambo_int I can’t keep having to deal with having my bags being broken into each time I fly in or out of South Africa and my personal items stolen by your employees the whole time. This is too much now and it’s a constant thing!
— Akani Simbine (@AkaniSimbine) October 6, 2024
The X post prompted more travellers to share their experiences on having items from their luggage stolen as well.
This is my luggage yesterday!!the damn thieves couldn’t break in and broke the latch int the process,i had to pry the zip open to get my stuff and now im in another country without a suitcase 😭😭😭 @ortambo_int this cannot be the norm! pic.twitter.com/H8dxqLx7Df
— Good Things💫 (@lesbonneschose) October 6, 2024
One traveller, @lesbonneschose, said: “This is my luggage yesterday!!the damn thieves couldn’t break in and broke the latch in the process, i had to pry the zip open to get my stuff and now im in another country without a suitcase 😭😭😭@ortambo_int this cannot be the norm.”
Experienced same thing on Friday night.@ortambo_int and @Airports_ZA say it's not their problem and we must speak to airlines. It's disgusting-theu cut out locking systems. They all work together as hoe do the thieves leave the airport after work with all our stolen goods?
— Karabo Ozah (@Karabo828) October 6, 2024
Another user, @Karabo828, said: “Experienced same thing on Friday night. @ortambo_int and @Airports_ZA say it’s not their problem and we must speak to airlines. It’s disgusting-they cut out locking systems.
“They all work together as how do the thieves leave the airport after work with all our stolen goods?”
I stopped checking in my luggage because of this very problem. They took my stuff worth more than 4k but I only received R600 because they claim to weigh your stolen items.
— Academia and the world (@Zolani31809016) October 6, 2024
Whilst @Zolani31809016 said: “I stopped checking in my luggage because of this very problem. They took my stuff worth more than 4k but I only received R600 because they claim to weigh your stolen items.”
Responding to Simbine, OR Tambo International Airport said that airlines are responsible for the handling of passenger luggage.
“It’s important to note that airlines have direct service level agreements with baggage handling companies, such as Nas Colossal and Menzies.
“Additionally, the airline is responsible for passengers’ luggage from check-in until baggage collection as part of their service level agreement with passengers,” said the airport.
Good eveing Akani, thank you for reaching out tonus and we are sorry to hear about this unpleasant experience. Have you reported this to the airline? If you have already done so, please send us your case file number and baggage tag via direct message so we can follow up with the…
— ORTambo (@ortambo_int) October 6, 2024
The airport also offered an apology for the inconvenience and said that ACSA will fully cooperate with the relevant airline during the investigation process.
