What to do when your luggage gets lost during Air Travel
Flight travel makes you tired not just during your journey but because of various other formalities at the airport. After all hectic travel, you have to wait for your luggage at the destination. It’s an awful experience when you find that your luggage is not available. It is not a rare problem as it happens to anyone. However, as per the Air Travel Consumer Report, only 2.9 mishandled baggage cases per 1000 passengers have been recorded. That includes damaged, stolen, and delayed luggage. The passengers have to do several things after arrival like attending business meetings or leisure activities. All the plans are spoiled if you find your luggage is missing. We have compiled here everything you need to know when you lost your luggage.
Delayed Baggage Most of the time, the lost-luggage is not actually lost. When your baggage is not shown on the carousel, then immediately go to the airline’s lost-luggage counter or ask any airline employee where to go and report about the missing luggage. Make sure you have luggage receipt for each
luggage you checked. If your luggage is delayed, then airlines will have to pay reasonable expenses until they found your bags. In case it is completely lost, then airlines will have a maximum claim allowance which is mentioned on the back of your airline ticket.
File a Report It is important to file a report about your missing luggage before leaving the airport. Most of the airline have claim filing deadlines so it is suggested to file a report. Apart from that, keep your packing list handy to make the claiming process easier and fast.
Negotiation One should ask exactly about how, when, and where the airline plans to deliver your luggage. Usually, the airline delivers the luggage to a local hotel, or the residence address at the same the luggage arrives at the airport. In case you want to deliver it to another location, then you can ask them for it. Apart from that, the airlines deliver the luggage at no cost to you. However, some may ask you to pay for the delivery.
Have Patient In order to locate your luggage, airlines can take a few hours to a month plus another few weeks or months to reimburse you. In most of the cases, they offer various travel vouchers that are worth more than the cash. However, you have to make sure that they are not restricted by any limitation or blackout dates. Some precautions you can take to avoid such situations: • • • •
Place your contact details on your luggage. Remove your old tags from your luggage to avoid confusion. Hang a trinket, keychain, or place a sticker on your baggage to identify it easily. Take a picture of your luggage before checking in as it will be more effective while describing about your lost luggage.
