Has an airline ever lost your luggage? What happened next?
Not a frequent flyer here at all, but twice my luggage was lost. The first time, I think, was a return home flight with Jet Blue and they found it and delivered it to my house the next day. The other time was on a return home flight with United and they never found it, in spite of the fact it was scanned onto the plane, didn’t make it off at my stop and was never found at the terminus. Hard to understand. They did reimburse me quite fairly, though.
I never lost a luggage permanently. I would hate that. They did lose my luggages temporarily a few time. Usually, it shows up a few days later. Once it was lost the entire time we were gone. They found it 10 days later on the last day of our trip. I told them to return it the home airport and picked it up on the way home.
I have had my luggage take an itinerary/side trip other than the one I was on several times :). Never lost it permanently. The longest I had to wait for a reunion was 4 days. The airline knew where it was …but nothing…and I mean nothing…gets transported on a weekend. So I had to wait from Saturday until Tuesday.
Hence, we always pack enough for 3 day survival in our hand luggage.
Never lost luggage permanently. Thank goodness… Good reason to not take expensive stuff with you in checked baggage
Since then I take a phone picture of my clothes laid out on bed before putting in suitcase and a picture of the suitcase afterwards. Two seconds for a decent record.
Easier to say “here is a pix of my suitcase and what was packed (or close anyway)” than “it’s a weird blue color …and can’t remember exactly what was in there…”
I’ve had luggage lost for, I don’t know, 6 months or so? Honestly I’ve forgotten. I think when you fly a lot like I have, all the things that stand out to less frequent flyers (lost luggage, rescheduling, etc) just go in one ear and out the other to us. I know it’s happened but I don’t even remember the resolution.
I’ve gotten mine delayed a few times, but never lost. Usually they deliver it where I’m staying, and one time it took 2 days to get to me. I couldn’t pack my contact solution in my carry on because of the liquid limitation, and the people on Nevis had no idea what it was or where to get it.
Now I always pack carryon to last me a few days - undies, jammies, bathing suit, regular outfit for dinner. It’s saved me on several occasions. I never put anything valuable in the suitcase unless you count my shoes.
D lost a bag once. She had a turquoise ribbon tied around the handle to make identification easier for pulling it off the baggage carousel and that make it easier for the lost baggage folks to find and identify it. It made it back to her in less than 24 hours.
D’s luggage was lost when her plane landed 3 hours from her destination returning to college.
I found a taxi that was willing to drive a carful of students to the school. Do not remember why the airline was
not responsible.
Her luggage was sent to her original destination. For days I tried locate it. It was not at the
luggage room (whatever that is called). I talked to security and learned that the airline desks did not
have outside lines. Finally I called the Hertz desk and talked to a lovely young man who walked over
to the airline counter and found her luggage sitting right there.
One of my more creative problem solving moments. The airline sent it to her school an hour away.
I’ve lost mine twice(and recovered) and D has lost hers three times. In all five times it can be directly correlated to arriving and checking in bags late. Air France not only lost D’s bag but it was returned to her destroyed. They returned the contents but also gave her 900 EU flight credits and 600 EU cash.
We used to live near a small airport that used one person to deliver all the lost luggest for all airlines serving the airport. We once got a message from her that said since she frquently delivered to our address she knew it was ok to leave the bag on the front porch and had done so. I think that was bag 6 or so in less than 18 months.
We generally check in about 2 hours or more before the flight. I have had ONE bag taken off the flight in the decades of flying and it was because a woman got off the plane before the final destination because it was cheaper than a direct flight to the destination so they took off ALL our luggage in case she had planted a bomb! They delivered the bag to our home the following day.
I guess our checking in early helps avoid the lost or missing luggage issue. I always watch when the luggage comes off the conveyor belt to be sure to pull off our bags (when it’s not all carry on). Generally, on our way out, I don’t check, only on the way home do I check. H lives dangerously and checks whenever he can, nearly all flights. Since we have status with United, it’s free.
We’ve never lost luggage and rarely even had it damaged. The TSA folks DID break a bottle of checked mango chutney once by opening, carelessly inspecting and re-wrapping the box continuing the chutney improperly without the padding we originally packed it with. We were annoyed, but what can you do?
I’ve never lost luggage permanently…knock on wood. The on,y bad time was on a trip from Capetown to Kigali Rwanda. My bag didn’t make it. The airport in Kigali is something out of the 50’s. I had to go to the airport every day and check their baggage area hold (which was an unlocked room off of the luggage claim area). The fourth day, the bag showed up.
I always carry at least one change of clothes, and all necessities in my carry one…but really, I was getting tired of wearing the same two outfits. Not that anyone cared!
If you are traveling with a spouse or friend, pack several outfits in each other’s suitcases. That way if one of the bags is lost you are not completely without a change of clothing.
I was out with a friend from church several years ago. She and her husband were going to Europe and she wanted some tips for packing. I gave her that one. I got a long email from her when she returned saying that one of their bags was missing for 3 days and my tip really saved the day.
I’ve always told D to bring whatever you need for your first three days in a carry on. She took the gown that she would wear for a concert in Paris in the day to follow but neglected to carry on the shoes and makeup. When she called me I told her to immediately buy some good shoes and whatever else she needed in Paris and on the same day send the receipts along with a printed music program to Air France and explain her immediate need. (Only the French would understand how important high end shoes and makeup are. B-) ) They issued her the 600 EU check the following week. (Even though they did recover all of her belongings a few days later)
@silverlady, I just heard this tip from my FSIL’s mom and it is so smart that I was surprised I had never heard it before at my advanced age You should keep sharing this one!
We’ve had bags delivered a day late several times, but the worst was a trip to Scotland. They lost my husbands bag. We were staying a different place every night. And every day dh spent what felt like hours on the phone while they promised to get it to the next stop. And every day they didn’t and he’d go out and waste time getting another change of clothes… It was so annoying. They did reimburse us, but by the end I was wishing they’d lose it for the Ceilidh and we could have charged them for a kilt.
A couple of years ago my D flew from Chicago into a very small midwest regional airport. She checked in for her evening flight and checked her bag, since she had contact lens solution exceeding the liquid limit. They boarded the flight, then said they had a problem with the crew and they canceled the flight. She couldn’t get her luggage back that night so had NOTHING for the evening, and had to purchase new contact lens solution for the night. They rescheduled everyone on a flight the next morning. When the flight arrived at its destination, there was NO luggage unloaded for the ENTIRE flight. Her checked luggage was delivered the next day.
We don’t travel very often, and it caught up with us on our last flight this past April. Neither my wife nor I could find our suitcases at baggage claim so we went to the customer service rep who sent us to the office where we waited in line behind about 5 other people whose baggage had been lost. While standing in line, Captain Obvious (that’s me) pondered the extreme unlikelyhood of BOTH of our suitcases being lost, after we checked them in and watched them go down the chute, so I went back to baggage claim and found them. Both had been upside-down and we didn’t recognize our own suitcases!
I did something equally stupid and time wasting at the rental car booth, so when we finally got to my cousin’s house he was asking what took us so long (we called him when we landed) and I just told him I shot myself in the foot a few times.
You should keep sharing this one!