109
UPS, DHL, and pretty much any courier company can deliver from anywhere to anywhere, they don't require that the person handing them the package is the same person as the one paying the bill. So ask the hotel to pack up the coat and tell you the box/package weight & dimensions, then go to the courier website and fill in a package pickup request with the ...
48
Put everything which isn't physically attached to you in one place. You're less likely to leave all your luggage behind than forget one item, so it's a bad idea to have your gloves are on the seat opposite, your small bag in the overhead rack, and your suitcase in the luggage store at the end of the corridor.
40
Attach numbered tags to each bag. Then all you need to remember is the total count or attach the highest +1 to your keychain and count.
You can get 50 from Amazon for ~$10. Key Tags with Ring, Numbered Id Tags
You can easily make your own with standard luggage tags and numbered stickers you would use on a mail box.
33
The most important thing in this situation is to get documentation about your luggage as soon as possible. No matter what the airline says, the only thing that matters is what they write. As this issue might be continued within the legal system (lawyers, etc) you should start gathering documents you can show to the judge.
As I see it, the most important ...
30
From the data available here which is sourced from Air Travel Consumer Report issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation, 0.021% of luggage is never found
The rate of mishandled bags dropped 21% to about seven per 1,000
passengers.The good news about lost luggage is that airlines
worldwide eventually recover 97% of mishandled bags.Of all ...
29
Under virtually all circumstances if an airline fails to deliver your luggage to you when you arrive at your destination airport, they will deliver it to you wherever you are. Failure to deliver luggage is almost invariably the fault of the airline so they have to bear responsibility. (It's not as if weather could have delayed your luggage without delaying ...
24
What is an effective means for complaining to an airline and having my complaint properly addressed?
Twitter. Seriously, twitter.
I've not done it a lot, but have had to complain to a few airlines in my time travelling.
Phone: they didn't care, usually, just wanted to end the call.
Email: sometimes no response, sometimes automated. Sometimes helpful.
Facebook: I've not done this, but friends have had better responses here as it's also pretty public, and ...
23
What is an effective means for complaining to an airline and having my complaint properly addressed?
Social media is the way! file a proper complain via the airline's webpage or email, then follow up in Twitter or Facebook.
Airlines hate it when people pick on them publicly. They will love to look like they are doing a good job and then reply you online to undo whatever image damage you have done.
This is my advice as a person working for an airline.
23
I looked on UPS and DHL but didn't see anything obvious.
For DHL, the service you need is called scheduled pickup. You essentially arrange the shipping as usual, but you pay extra for your parcel to be picked up by a courier. Once you pay for your shipment, you'll get a DHL shipping label which you'll have to send to the hotel. They will print the label, ...
21
That's the IATA 10 digit "license plate" code. A summary can be found in this document, which gives this example:
The baggage license plate is a unique 10 digit number. The only
correct format of baggage tag number should be e.g. 7512123456 rather
than RJ123456.
In this example: “7” is the “leading digit” + "512"
is the 3-digit airline code + ...
17
On flights into Canada they repeatedly announce that all passengers must claim their bags and clear customs at the first point of entry, regardless of their final destination within Canada or elsewhere. Repeatedly. Also customs in Montreal usually asks if you have checked bags. It is really unfortunate that you were given wrong information by Qatar Airlines. ...
16
Each person has a bag or a couple of bags for which they are responsible.
So when they start walking they count (one, two or at most three items) and one or (when traveling as a couple) two people do an overall count.
You have to be really careful to do it really every time, as you noticed one hurried departure and forgetting to count or check is enough to ...
13
In addition to all the good ideas presented so far: You have to think of the one object you never fail to leave behind, that can be used to remind you to get the other objects you're usually not used to carrying.
For some people, that's their cell phone.
So if you attach Bluetooth Low Energy tags to your bags, you can have your cell phone/tablet blare an ...
12
No laws as such, but check with your travel insurance or your flight/holiday booker. If they are a part of ABTA, you should find the process relatively painless.
Responsibility is a tricky thing - most will blame customs, who are separate from the 3 organisations you have named.
I always use airlines that will reimburse my incidentals until my luggage ...
10
The barcode on the baggage tag consists of a 10 digit number, of which 9 are used to identify the bag.
The first 3 of these 9 digits will usually be the specific code allocated to the airline by IATA. In most cases this will be the same as the 3 digit codes used at the start of ticket numbers (eg, 016 for United Airlines, 001 for American Airlines, etc).
...
9
That's unfortunate, and when it's all sorted out, I'd suggest a letter to Air Canada / Air France asking for some points as compensation.
In the meanwhile, you can only do a few things:
wait. This will take time. All bags are tracked electronically in the system, so it's a case of the right person finding the log for where it has been, and it should show ...
8
We're a travel website and are not responsible for Termini Station.
The people responsible for the station recommend that you contact the lost property office run by the Rome City Council and/or the Railway Police.
The telephone number listed on that page is 06 67693214 / 3217.
8
Also some data here: (and bonus - you may find your lost stuff ;)
Although over 99.5% of domestic airline’s checked bags are picked up
at the baggage carousel, lost luggage is an unfortunate part of
airline travel. The airlines conduct an extensive three-month tracing
process with the remaining .5% of unclaimed bags in an effort to
reunite them ...
8
You can get pairs of tags. You attach one to your bag, and to other your person (or pair to your phone by bluetooth). When the two tags are separated, the tag on your bag will beep very loudly. They are generally called "anti-theft alarm tags", or "child proximity alarm"
This should remind you that you've wandered too far from your bag. However, they might ...
8
Luggage handling is much better than it used to be and large airports have sophisticated systems to track and transfer luggage.
The main issue is generally connection time in which it is possible for a luggage not to make the transfer, even though sometimes it does and the passenger doesn't nowadays. With a large connection time, chances of your luggage ...
7
Firstly, the lesson for next time - if you've got something important, especially if it's small like documents, then always carry it onto the plane with you rather than putting it in your checked luggage. There is always the possibility of bags being lost, and taking it in your carry-on is always the safer option.
As far as getting your bag back, there is ...
7
You can fly without your luggage, your luggage can fly without you if it fails to make the connection which you made, it is done often.
I guess it is a case of an airline mistake that they do not want to admit, made worse by the fact that there were two airlines involved.
It seems that you have done much already to claim compensation, and got more than you ...
7
Plan ahead
Travel follows a similar pattern: You board, travel and then alight. Set some time aside to prepare for alighting. This will give you unhurried time to check your luggage as well as remembering you that there is a task which will require your full attention.
A few minutes as the train is pulling in will suffice.
Establish a routine
I really ...
7
If you purchased your Ticket through Delta, they will be responsible for your baggage. You should file a claim through the Delta baggage claim website.
They will then take care of your reimbursement and then bill the baggage handler internally.
Also, if they checked your baggage through, which is a normal thing outside of the US, even for long layovers, you ...
7
the very important things about what are your rights and airline duties are hold by the Montreal convention:
Lost baggage
The Montreal Convention changes and generally increases the maximum
liability of airlines for lost baggage to a fixed amount 1,131 SDR per
passenger (the amount in the Warsaw Convention is based on weight of
the baggage). It ...
6
Things you could try if you're getting nowhere with the Central Baggage Office, trading your time and inconvenience for the possibility of resolving this more quickly:
Track your bag on WorldTracer to confirm its whereabouts. You can use this in the next two steps so that you can say, "I've tracked the bag and see that it has been here in Montreal for the ...
6
Their phone is in the Lonely Planet for Malaysia - it's (604) 885-2936. The first three numbers are the country code and the area code for Penang, if you're calling from outside the country. Here's the source. Good luck getting your stuff back!
6
This happens quite often (although not as often as it used to). Mine was lost probably around dozen times or so. Always made it to me though.
You should file a written claim with the airline right at the baggage claim. This usually involves signing the custom forms for international flights (the airline would clear the luggage through Customs for you).
You ...
6
We can only speculate.
Sometimes bags don't get taken where they are supposed to go, because they get forgotten, put in a dusty corner, mixed in with bags of a different priority, or any number of reasons.
Sometimes tags get separated from bags, so then airline staff have to identify whose bag it is and try to figure out where it was supposed to go.
...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
