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Entry bubble Dude, Where's My Luggage?

By: Sam | September 26, 2007 | Category: Travel

Rounding out the fab five is me, Sam, your Wednesday blogger.  Since this is my first post, I wanted to start off by talking about one of my favorite topics....travel!

Who hasn't at one time had the unfortunate realization that your bag with the easily identifiable ribbon has not joined you at your final destination?  Simply put—it's not fun.  (Who can survive with only one pair of shoes?)  And if you flew in 2006, there's probably a good chance you said "Dude, where's my luggage?"  Lost Luggage

According to the 2007 Airline Quality Rating report, for every 1,000 passengers, 6.5 bags were lost, stolen, or damaged in 2006.  So, what's a jet-setter to do?

Delayed or Damaged Bags

ConsumerAction.gov offers these tips:

1.  File a report with the airline before you leave the airport.

2.  Some airlines give you money to purchase a few necessities.  If they don't give you cash, ask what types of articles are reimbursable, and keep all receipts.

3. Ask if the airline will deliver your bags free of charge once they arrive at the right airport.

Lost Bags

If your bag is declared officially lost, first, take a moment of silence to mourn for your lost items and then submit a second, more detailed form within a time period set by the airline.  The information on the form is used to estimate the value of your belongings.  The most an airline will have to pay, according to the Department of Transportation, is $3,000 for domestic flights and about $1,000 for international.

Here's wishing you safe, hassle-free (fingers-crossed) travels this fall!

| View Comments [3] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: airlines   consumeraction.gov   luggage   travel  

Comments (3):

blue comment bubble Posted by mjohansen@sfpl.org on October 01, 2007 at 01:29 PM EDT

My advice is try not to book a flight with a connection that puts you on a different carrier! If your luggage is lost (as mine was), there is no way to know which carrier lost it. You have to deal with two different companies and they pass it on to the other one. I finally recovered mine (a week AFTER my Christmas visit) and found it myself in a pile of beat-up and dirty luggage at the New Orleans airport. I now book on only one carrier even if the connection is not as convenient.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Sam on October 01, 2007 at 01:53 PM EDT

Thanks so much for your sharing your experience. Does anyone else have a similar story? Or maybe some more helpful tips?

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blue comment bubble Posted by PLG in US on October 06, 2007 at 02:24 AM EDT

Well I don't know if these tips will help, I am flying for the first time as an adult and hate to fly and then to add to it all the misery I hear about security, default on planes and lastly lost luggage. I have come to the solution of packing light and carry on only, however I still don't have enough room so I went snooping around and asked fed ex if I could send packages through them to a fed ex near where I was destined, to my surprise I can do that, However I will pack it there so they may see what I am putting in it for security reasons. I find this will help, it may add a little cost but I will send the light stuff and carry on the heavy stuff with me. I won't have time to look for lost luggage then or even after my trip and I figured by the time I get to it I will have replaced what is missing. Hopefully this will help if this is a viable and convenient resource, the trick is having a fed ex near where you are going or the ability to have them deliver it to where you are.

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