Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Weight And Balance
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors; Procedure
While boarding and loading baggage; the ramp agent came up to the flight deck with completed load report and Notification to Captain form. The ramp agent stated we had 24 LBS of dry ice in the forward cargo compartment as indicated on the load report as 24 LBS CTC (Counter to Counter). I questioned this statement and asked what the total weight of the cargo was. During this time; gate checked bags were added and the load report had to be amended. The ramp agent appeared to be confused from my question and stated we had a total of 24 LBS of cargo in the forward compartment. The amended cargo report came back to the flight deck with no changes to cargo load and it had 22 checked bags and 4 gate checked bags. At this time I went down to the ramp to get clarification on the loading. The forward compartment door was closed and ready for departure. I asked to see the package with dry ice in it. It was at this time I noticed there were two boxes loaded in the forward compartment. I again questioned their load report and the ramp agents said 'oh you know what you're right. We'll fix it.' The ramp agent came back up to the flight deck with completed load report and no changes were made. For a third time I questioned the load report and the two boxes. The agent explained that the second box was accounted for as checked luggage. I assumed that the box was a passengers and the weight and dimensions of the box were at or under 30 LBS. While in ORD; as I looked into the forward cargo compartment; the cargo net was down and I did not get a good look at the two boxes. When we arrived I decided to walk out and check the cargo load coming off the plane. When I did this I noticed the cargo boxes were marked cargo. I asked ramp agents how many bags they unloaded and they responded with 26. So it is my understanding we had 26 bags on board; 24 LBS of dry ice in a box and another box labeled 85 LBS. The box labeled 85 LBS was apparently not accounted for in the load report. After repeated attempts to discover the correct load of the aircraft; ORD ramp agents were unable to provide me with a correct report.
EMB175 Captain reports receiving an inaccurate load close out from a Ramp Agent; even when the Agent is directly questioned about an extra box in the forward cargo compartment. The box is described as gate checked baggage and not included in the weight and balance. It was actually 85 pounds of cargo.