Porters At San José
Airport Go Unchecked
Just about every aspect
of the operations at the
Juan Santamaría (San
José) international
airport that visitors
come into contact is
regulated, like the
airport taxi fares, the
parking lot charges,
etc, except the porters
or baggage handlers who
take bags from the
terminal to a taxi or
the parking lot.
Porters, or at least
what they can charge for
their services, are not
controlled by anyone,
not the airport
administrator, nor by
the Aviación Civil,
which regulates rates.
Users of the Santamaría
have complained of
excessive charges by
porters, some demanding
as much as us$10 their
services.
Currently, the price of
the service is left to
negotiations between the
customer and the porter.
However, many customers
do not know this and are
shocked when asked for
more than what is deemed
reasonable.
Two companies have been
given the concession to
provide porter service,
the Asociación de
Maleteros Unidos Sky Cap
and the private company
CBS, who say that the
service is a necessity
because the "free"
buggies provided by the
airport for customers to
take their bags from the
carousels cannot leave
the main exit of the
terminal building.
Fernando Lara, manager
of corporate affairs at
Alterra Partners, the
airport manager,
explained that for
security reasons and to
avoid theft the carts
cannot leave the
terminal building. Lara
said that the units cost
us$200 each to replace
and thus the
restriction.
That restriction forces
many customers to use
the services of the
porters to the hands of
tour operators, taxi
drivers or family and
friends waiting their
arrival or to theri
vehicle in the parking
lot, who may face a
stiff fee if it is not
negotiated up front.
Viviana Martín,
president of the Consejo
Técnico de Aviación
Civil, says that the
controls on porters are
the responsibility of
Alterra.
According to Fernando
Quesada, president of
the Asociación de
Maleteros Unidos Sky
Cap, Alterra charges
Skycap us$1.800 monthly
for the right to offer
the service and confirms
that there is no control
on the rates they can
charge customers.
Quesada, who runs an
operation with some 80
porters, added that his
association has been
working at the airport
for the last 17 years
but declined to say what
each porter earns, only
to say that they money
they collect from
customers goes into a
pool and a "competitive"
salary is paid to each
porter. |
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