Crj-900 captain reported his wingtip was struck by a baggage cart while parked at the gate.

Narrative:

With all doors closed; almost ready to push; we felt a brief shake in the aircraft. Shortly after; we received a call from the back flight attendant telling us that a passenger saw a moving luggage cart hit the left wing tip. We immediately opened the cabin door and my first officer and I started a walk around. We found the left winglet hit with white paint and some structural damage. We asked the rampers what happened and they told us that nothing had happened. Apparently they had no idea what just had happened with the damage aircraft. I called dispatch and maintenance control and explained what happened. My first officer called local maintenance and they inspected the aircraft and told us that further inspection was needed before a re-dispatch could be accomplished. Passengers were deplaned by jet bridge normally and no injuries or complaints were received by the passengers. After an aircraft swap at the new gate we departed without any other issues.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CRJ-900 Captain reported his wingtip was struck by a baggage cart while parked at the gate.

Narrative: With all doors closed; almost ready to push; we felt a brief shake in the aircraft. Shortly after; we received a call from the back flight attendant telling us that a passenger saw a moving luggage cart hit the left wing tip. We immediately opened the cabin door and my First Officer and I started a walk around. We found the left winglet hit with white paint and some structural damage. We asked the rampers what happened and they told us that nothing had happened. Apparently they had no idea what just had happened with the damage aircraft. I called Dispatch and Maintenance Control and explained what happened. My First Officer called local maintenance and they inspected the aircraft and told us that further inspection was needed before a re-dispatch could be accomplished. Passengers were deplaned by jet bridge normally and no injuries or complaints were received by the passengers. After an aircraft swap at the new gate we departed without any other issues.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1520681
Time
Date	201802
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Regional Jet 900 (CRJ900)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Ground Event / Encounter Vehicle