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Barclay Crawford

Celine Sun

Technical glitch causes scramble for departures

More than a thousand passengers were delayed and Chek Lap Kok airport disrupted  when the in-town airline check-in system broke down yesterday morning.

Airlines were forced to check in bags manually when the in-town system collapsed at about 5am. Flights were delayed by as much as two hours  as passengers scrambled to reach the airport in time to catch their flights.

By last night, 47 flights had been delayed because of the baggage glitch  at Hong Kong and Kowloon stations. Beijing Airport  also suffered similar problems last night, forcing more delays.

A spokesman  for the Airport Authority said most airlines' baggage systems were up and running again by lunchtime.

However,  Lufthansa, Finnair, Air France, Air Canada, KLM, Continental Airlines and HongKong Express services were still experiencing trouble last night.

Late last night the authority said the check-in system was back to normal following emergency maintenance and check-in counters at Airport Express stations would be open from 5.30am today.

The system contractor is investigating the cause of the failure.

An MTR Corporation spokeswoman said  the disruption caused by the breakdown need not have been so severe.

'We always tell  our in-town check-in services customers to arrive 90 minutes before the flight and if all passengers observe this advice they will be fine,' the spokeswoman said.

Kenneth Yam, who had planned to check in his luggage before going  to a business  appointment in Central, had to take  four suitcases with him  to the meeting.

'It's so inconvenient,' said the financial analyst, who was flying to Beijing at 4pm.

'Why didn't the authority  release this message to the public much earlier? We didn't get any information from the media this morning.'

Nepali  Rai Sidhi, heading back from a holiday in Hong Kong, complained that the service suspension  would keep him waiting much longer  than usual.

'It used to take me only  10 minutes to check in at the Hong Kong station, yet now I have to do it in the airport where I am very likely to wait for one hour in a long queue,' he said.

Some passengers who had made plans before going to the airport decided to leave their bags at the left-baggage counter at the station.

But many were angry at having to pay at least HK$35 for each item of luggage.

Taiwanese student Liu Ying-yen and his friend, who were to meet  friends at lunchtime in Central, spent  more than HK$200  to deposit their bags. 'I never expected this kind of problem  would take place in such a modern city,' he said.



In-town check-in fault hits flights