Lost Luggage!

I saw a man at the airport and he had stuck little colourful dots all over his black case.You could buy a colourful case or add strings and things to make it look different from the others, this would obviously help and hopefully stop people taking the wrong one at the carousel!

Maybe you could put your surname and a telephone number, nothing more than that. One name and a mobile/cell phone. Definitely add your destination a few times so that if any tag should fall off, you have some others saying at which airport it should turn up in (this would of course give you a greater chance of retrieving it!!!!

Good luck!!! Reply to this

I have a very bright yellow backpack cover that encloses my backpack which I then seal with a single lock. It is very easy to see from long distances - I can even spot it being loaded onto the plane from the terminal. Finding it at the luggage carousel is likewise easy - once my eyes start hurting, the cause must be the yellow bag.

The distinctive colour has definitely avoided my luggage going missing on one occasion. I was in Kenya about to board a 12 seater plane heading to Lamu. I was on the tarmac waiting to climb into the plane and when looking around (as you do when waiting) I saw my bag some distance off waiting to be placed on another plane - it may have been heading to Mombasa or Eldoret. I spoke to the staff and said, "That yellow one over there is my bag", so they retrieved it for me and loaded it onto the correct flight.

I also carry a picture of my baggage, so if it does go missing, I can show people a photo of it on my computer.

The yellow cover (which is not being made anymore) is looking a bit tatty at present, but I'm loathe to give it up due to the ease at spotting it at airports the world over. Reply to this

Hello Matt 😊

I think, if the airline cant find your bags soon after they are lost, then anything you do to follow it up will be more trouble for you than it is worth. I have never been able to get an airline to take responsibility for anything of mine they lost or broke. If they didnt manage to find it in 24 hours, that was it gone forever and you can forget any ideas about them replacing or compensating you for it, because nobody could tolerate the amount of telephone hold music you would have to listen to when chasing after it. And, taking any legal action would not be at all worth the inconvenience, for any lost luggage not matter what was in it, in my opinion.

What would give you the peace of mind?

My solution to the risk of losing luggage is to travel light and put all valuables and most things I really would hate to be without out(such as my Lonely Planet guide books) in the hand luggage. It would still be a pain if my checked in bag got lost, but at least it would not be expensive to replace its contents. ie I make my luggage 'easy come, easy go' these days. And, I never travel with expensive bags. I just buy a cheap bag or backpack, and then replace it with another cheap one if it is lost stolen... Same with the clothes I take with me, cheap and cheerful.

One of the biggest nuisances I have had with airlines and luggage, is when my daughter was a baby. They broke every baby buggy we check in, and you have to check them in because they are too big to take on the plane. I think there were around 5 broken, and the rain cover was lost from one of them. We tried telling the airline the first time it happened, but didnt bother to any of the other times, because it was easier to just buy another second hand buggy, than to deal with uninterested and impatient airline staff.

Mel
Reply to this

For my luggage tag, I laminated a business card. This way it is my work information on it instead of home. Reply to this