The free luggage trolley is back at the airport to combat fraud

At Malpensa airport the free luggage trolley is back  ( the photo is from a tweet posted by the always alert Lombardy airports). The service is now free but before today it was at the price of € 2 for each trolley. This initiative has been taken to defeat a phenomenon that is spreading these times: the illegal renting of luggage trolleys.

The airport is such a vast place and it is frequented by all type of people, and any kind of chink is immediately filled up by small-time cheaters or  illicit behaviour. You could see it with the illegal taxi drivers before access was strictly controlled, or with the thousand ideas dreamt up by shrewd people or  out-and-out thieves who tried to cheat some passengers.

After all, the airport is an area that is constantly frequented by people of different nationalities who, for obvious reasons, are often disoriented. It is a very appealing opportunity for those that live from hand to mouth and have to invent every day a new gimmick to scrape by.

This specific phenomena is well known: at the international airport, there are people, especially around the railway station and in front of the car parks, who “offer” the baggage trolleys to the departing travellers, offering their help in exchange for a tip for the service. Last August the Border Police Force identified at least 18 cheaters. Now, besides the advantage for the passengers that can get for free the baggage trolleys, it is also hoped to fight this phenomena and restore normality.