Frankfurt Airport comes up with new baggage system

[sn26567]

You pay for your trolley but get your money back

Users of Frankfurt Airport (FRA) should note that very shortly the airport will be introducing a new baggage cart concept with a refundable deposit system. Trolleys at FRA will still be essentially free while availability and ease of finding them will greatly improve says the airport. All of the approximately 2,000 baggage carts in the public areas of the terminal complex will be adapted to the deposit system by April.

More than 100 storage points will be available particularly in the check-in and baggage claim halls, at the Terminal 1 and 2 forecourts, and at the parking garages. Users will be required to pay a €2 deposit by cash or credit card, which is refunded in cash when returning the cart to one of the depot stations.

Cart availability at each depot is monitored by computer, allowing staff at the control centre to keep a close eye on requirements and to respond accordingly. Improved passenger flow and guidance in the terminals will be another benefit of the new system.

Source: AERBT and http://www.fraport.de

[Polaris]

This makes me think of the movie 'The Terminal' with Tom Hanks. He played the role of an eastern immigrant stuck at JFK airport and survived by returning the trolleys for money.

[regi]

dreadful. There were so many complaints in the past about Brussels airport where people had to pay for the trolly. But who had Belgian coins, arriving from somewhere in the world ?

[earthman]

At least you can use euro coins. And you can pay by credit card.

The trolleys at DTM cost 1 euro and you don't get a refund. Unsurprisingly I hardly ever saw anyone use one.

Is there really a problem with availability and finding trolleys at FRA? Maybe it would have been easier to just buy more trolleys? And hire some poor schmuck to roam the airport and drag abandoned trolleys back to the depots?

[Stij]

Personally I don't have a problem with it! If you see how and where people leave trolleys behind (both in the parking lot and in the check-in area), I think it's a good idea. Sometime people check-in and just leave the trolley there, the next one may sort it out.
True, in the old Brussels times, it was a mess, but this was in the BEFfie days. Now, if you don't have a 2€ coin or a CC, you shouldn't be travelling in the first place.

Cheers,

Stij

[regi]

Personally I don't have a problem with it! If you see how and where people leave trolleys behind (both in the parking lot and in the check-in area), I think it's a good idea. Sometime people check-in and just leave the trolley there, the next one may sort it out.
True, in the old Brussels times, it was a mess, but this was in the BEFfie days. Now, if you don't have a 2€ coin or a CC, you shouldn't be travelling in the first place.

Cheers,

Stij

Sounds reasonable untill you think about the reality.
2 € coins. Which Chinese has it in his pockets arriving at FRA ?
Or a Westerner? When I travel abroad for a long time, I empty my wallet from European coins.
Credit card: aha, the perfect solution. To my great frustration I have encountered many disfunctional credit card devices, especially in the land of Grundlichkeit. The best ones you find at the parking of the Paris Trade Fair. Worst are those at Utrecht trade fair. But Hannover is terrible as well. To everybodies' unbelieve, most of the devices in the many parking lots don't accept CC anymore. Kaput.
I still don't know how you will get a refund if you first use your CC , and give the chariot back. Do you get than a 2 € coin? As a Chinese who flies back home, you get stuck with a useless coin.
But you also are right about the nuissance of chariots. I struck once one at a airport parking when I turned in a parking space and didn't see the chariot left behind, standing in the shadow. Another bumper scratch.
Safety: I do remember that BKK chariot collectors had received a brief training to be extra eyes on the ground. They were trained to be alert for left parcels, strange behaving people, things like that. I don't know about chariot collectors at other airports. But I think that it scares off car thieves if uniformed chariot collectors wander around on the parking lot.
Extra note: is it not so that at most airports, you cannot wander everywhere with your chariot? ( you have to leave the chariot behind at passport control ) Some parkings have poles through which the chariots cannot pass.