Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport has offered Aeroflot transit passengers transferring between the new Sheremetyevo Terminal 1 (B) and the other three terminals (or vice versa) until July 30 the option to transport their baggage between flights between terminals. The cause was the failure of the new baggage tunnel under the airfield. The tunnel has been out of service since last week, according to a Travel.ru correspondent.
This airport proposal puts passengers with short connections in a difficult position. They are faced with a dilemma with no good choice. If they check their baggage directly to their final destination at the departure airport and don't have time to reload it at Sheremetyevo, they risk not seeing their belongings for several days. If they follow the airport's advice and check their baggage only on their first flight to Moscow, intending to pick it up at Sheremetyevo and transport it themselves to another terminal, then if the first flight is unexpectedly delayed (or the baggage service is simply slow), they risk not having time to check their baggage on their second flight at the other terminal after receiving it.
In the current force majeure situation, it would be nice to hear some guarantees from the carrier—Aeroflot, whose flights are carrying all the passengers in this difficult situation. The company could, for example, offer passengers the opportunity to change their flight combination to one that allows more time for a connection in Moscow, or guarantee the baggage check-in for connecting passengers at Sheremetyevo later than the standard 40 minutes before departure, or guarantee such passengers transfer to the next onward flight if they fail to secure their baggage in time. However, Aeroflot has remained silent so far.
In this situation, passengers seem to be left to their own devices and choose the lesser of two evils. One option for those with limited luggage is to take everything in their carry-on baggage, as Aeroflot's allowance allows for bags measuring 55 x 40 x 25 centimeters, plus a briefcase, handbag, or small backpack.
As a reminder, Travel.ru previously recommended using self-service baggage handling only for passengers with ample time on their transfer. This time limit can be estimated at a minimum of two hours, given the average 30-40-minute wait for baggage unloading at Sheremetyevo and the need to drop off baggage for a second flight more than 40 minutes before departure, in a different terminal. The journey to this terminal, using a properly functioning passenger shuttle in a nearby tunnel, would take an average of 15-25 minutes. Passengers with one of their international flights should also factor in potential time lost during border and customs control; for them, a comfortable baggage handling time of two and a half hours is estimated.
As a reminder, this issue affects passengers arriving on domestic flights already transferred to the new Sheremetyevo-1 (B) terminal and transferring in Moscow on the same ticket to any other flights, both domestic and international, departing from all other Sheremetyevo terminals. The same issue applies to passengers transferring back from other terminals to Sheremetyevo-1 (B).
In its statement, Sheremetyevo dismissed the TASS report two days earlier about a flooded baggage tunnel between the terminals as "untrue." However, the airport went on to state that the tunnel problems were caused by "high humidity, intense precipitation, and heat in the Moscow region."
"The ventilation system forces hot, moist air into a cool tunnel, creating favorable conditions for condensation. As a result, moisture accumulates on the automated baggage handling system components, causing slippage and obstructing the movement of the automated baggage carts," the airport explained. As a result, baggage between terminals is transported by vehicle around the entire airfield, inevitably leading to significant delays in its processing and loading onto flights.
Source: travel.ru