Reaching A Human Being

[KARL]

I am trying to reach anyone who can connect me to the hand baggage search people at Edinburgh Airport (before gates/airside), or best of all themselves direct, to ask for clarification. The premium number for the airport appears only to lead to various recordings and I have already spent a tidy sum to no avail. There appears no choice leading to a switchboard or whatever. Among the many attempts, I did in desperation in one of them select the menu option for the police but got a police call centre off the airport where I spent several minutes in a queue until I hung up. Through other searches I have spoken to different offices such as lost baggage, handlers of various types, etc. but they could not help as they were direct numbers. I do not want a recording, only a person at the airport (not elsewhere) because I do not want to be caught by an obscure interpretation of the restrictions, as I have been in the past.

[dzug2]

I fear that if your point is that obscure then asking a person at the airport will not lead to a consistent answer - the next shift may well give you a different answer or even different people on the same shift.

Best advice is to avoid doing whatever got you caught before.

[KARL]

I would like advice on how to achieve what I am trying to do rather than a tangential thought on why others have different preoccupations. Previously I asked a direct question at a different question and got a very straight forward reply, all by telephone. If you are travelling with only hand baggage then you have an all or nothing choice. The thing most people who read the rules are caught by is that "tools" are not allowed. Toothbrushes, combs, etc. are definitely tools but they are (usually) allowed while a variety of other things might for search purposes be called tools and be disallowed. Dzug, thanks for stating the obvious - that is exactly why I won't be making the same mistake twice and that is precisely why I want to get clarification in advance on anything I have never before carried and/or had passed.

[boxtops]

so what sort of things are you looking to carry in hand luggage, carl? It wouldn't cross my mind to call a toothbrush or a comb a "tool", I'd apply that terms to say chisels, or knives.

[KARL]

*....question at a different airport...... Apologies

[KARL]

Oh, dear, not much hope of help with telephone contacts advice here then. Plenty of chance to get into some sort of argument though. Enjoy yourselves all......

[naomi24]

I don't think you can get through to the people you want to talk to. Why don't you just ring customer services and ask whether or not whatever it is that you're intending to pack is permitted?

[boxtops]

I agree with naomi, the people you need are not accessible to the public - they don't want people ringing them up. The airline itself will be able to give you the information you need, surely?

[ladybirder]

Does this help?

https://www.gov.uk/hand-luggage-restrictions/overview

[KARL]

As I said, I cannot get any "Switchboard", "Reception", "Customer Services" or any form of human being to speak to (apart from Police, as described) at Edinburgh whereas I did once get a very good, sensible and helpful reply by phone elsewhere on a previous occasion, including name and title of the individual and encouragement to quote. Incidentally, tools such as scissors and knives are allowed but within certain limits. Thank you ladybirder, but no, the published general descriptions are all lacking detail to the extent I need to remove all doubt. Yes, it does appear the airports do not want to direct people to anyone who might help - it is not that people at the airports don't want to help, just that the systems don't provide a processing centre.

[ladybirder]

Here you go, I copied this from saynoto0870:

Edinburgh Airport (EDI) 0870 040 0007 0844 481 8989 0131 344 3213 use 141 to withold number!
Edinburgh Airport (EDI) 0870 040 0007 0844 481 8989 0131 344 3486 Lost Property
Edinburgh Airport baggage handlers 0131 348 4130
Hertz 0870 846 0009 0131 333 1019 Edinburgh Airport
Menzies Baggage Tracing 0871 288 7359 0131 348 4130 0871 number is for calling about delayed/lost baggage from Flybe (and presumably others that use Menzies baggage services). 0131 number is specific to Menzies baggage enquiries at Edinburgh Airport.
NCP Scotpark Edinburgh Airport

[237SJ]

It`s probably G4S that do the searches. Your question could probably be found elsewhere though.

[Prudie]

If it's simply a question of asking what you can or can't take in hand baggage your best bet would be to ring Customer Svcs of the airline you're travelling with. They definitely answer the phone, albeit eventually.

[Prudie]

Actually I will be landing at Edin airport tomorrow morning and coming back Tuesday - do you want me to ask them for you?

[Cadigan]

It's unlikely that you will be able to reach hand luggage personnel by telephone. I am fairly sure that they are not allowed to take calls on duty. And in light of the nature of the job, no one will give you contact information for a specific employee. Your best bet would be to talk to a department head, or contact airport security directly.

Even if you were to reach a specific employee, there is no guarantee that this employee would be the same one searching your hand luggage.

[KARL]

Thank you ladybirder for the thought - I have already followed up all the saynoto08... leads and got nowhere. The airlines will not be definitive, only parrot the generalisations and in any case they will not guarantee anything whereas the search staff are quite definitive. 237SJ, I am unable to get a human to speak to anywhere in G4S because they are closed - you may be correct though. Prudie, thank you very much for the offer because that would definitely be the solution. However, I am travelling from EDI tomorrow, Monday, and it is unlikely I would see your response until after my journey. If you are willing, then if you are able to find out a way to reach the security staff by telephone and post it here then that would be brilliant - useful for me and anyone else in the future.

[EcclesCake]

If you tell us what it is you want to take on board and which airline you are travelling with someone with personal, recent experience may be able to advise you.

[237SJ]

Eccles, it`s a secret :-)

[boxtops]

why don't you just tell us, Karl? There may be people on here who will know, but you are being too secretive.