Two organized groups of suitcase packers share Terminal 1 of El Prat. Its members move around with a roll of cellophane in hand and offer their services to travelers while they queue to check in. There are about fifteen people stationed next to the entrance doors of the arrivals area of the infrastructure. They do it without any kind of permission, clandestinely, and they only hide for a while when they catch a glimpse of a policeman, a security guard... It is a business that is as submerged as it is lucrative.
This service was offered by a private company before the pandemic. At that time, the terminals had machines that the operators activated and where the suitcases were turned until they were perfectly shrink-wrapped. With the drop in passengers due to the covid, the contract was extinguished. When the flights returned, several people detected that there was an unresolved need and began to offer their services, with a roll of cellophane under their arms, with a bundle of adhesive tape as a bracelet, some with gloves, in such an irregular way as spontaneous. In recent weeks, however, with the airport in full swing for the summer season, the atmosphere has become rare.
A look at the very long queues at the check-in counters reveals that this is all very profitable business. There's big money at stake. Packing a small suitcase costs five euros; a large one, ten, although the price is not written and varies depending on the purchasing power and the number of cash bills that they detect in the customer. Hence the growing tension. Here no one can stand happily. Everyone has their role, their space, their work area.
In fact, the latest interventions by the Mossos d'Esquadra have tried to stop the usual fights for territory between the two groups that are spread out on either side of the departure area of Terminal 1. Some mainly hang around the flight counters transcontinental bound for Asia, others focus on waiting for planes going to America. The central zone, in which Vueling reigns with European destinations, is not of interest to them, travelers who decide to pack their suitcases tend to spend many more hours on a plane, probably with a stopover at another airport.
They whisper “packing, packing” all the time to people who arrive looking at the time and don't want to find their suitcase ripped apart when it shows up on the baggage claim belt at the exotic destination they're traveling to. A few packers also show up at Terminal 2, taking advantage of the fact that low-cost airlines have recently put more obstacles than ever to cabin baggage.
They take the suitcases in question and turn them over on the floor, over and over again, until they are completely wrapped. The private security agents at the airport take a routine turn and then all of a sudden disappear, but in less than five minutes they have already recovered their positions. The usual immigration control devices deployed by the Mossos and the National Police fail to intimidate them either.
Pirate packers are not an exclusive profession at El Prat airport. They can be found at many airfields in the rest of the world. They also try to make a living at other Spanish airports. What happens is that the one in Barcelona is the only one among the most important that has not yet been able to recover the conventional packaging service, which is still pending the award of the corresponding administrative concession.
Aena put it out to tender a few weeks ago, and the deadline for submitting bids closed on July 31. Sources from the airport manager confirm that there are companies interested and, therefore, before the end of the year the service understood as it was before the pandemic will be recovered, with those platforms that rotate on themselves, payment with a dataphone and even an invoice.
“This, well, it has its days –says one of these clandestine packers, somewhat elusive–... Today a lot of people are coming, but more slowly than I expected, really”. “We are here because we can,” says another, visibly annoyed by the questions, with a frown. The police know we're here. We are all identified. We only pack suitcases, what is the problem? is there a problem? Has anyone complained? So then...". “Let's see – a third party intervenes, more than annoying, one of those who has the upper hand in all this – that the people at the airport have told us that nothing happens as long as we are discreet, that we do not put ourselves in front of cameras , that we don't let ourselves be photographed and stuff, that if television comes to record any news, then we should hide it and wait a moment, has anyone complained?
So when the photographer from La Vanguardia is caught taking the snapshots that accompany these paragraphs, unrest breaks out among the packers. "You have no right to photograph us without our permission." "They have to delete all these pictures right now." “Do you want us all to come? because we are more than fifteen! understands?". Some surround the photographer, following him up the ramps that lead to the taxi stand. "You are not going to leave here with those photographs, you have no right!" "We will call the police!" These ways are not a reflection of the impunity with which these organized groups act at El Prat airport, but of the fear of losing one of what is to be one of the most lucrative submerged businesses this summer.
