What To Do When The Airline Loses Your Bag

Travel for long enough and your baggae will disappear!

Airlines manage to lose 3000 bags a day and if you travel for long enough they will lose one of yours. As a savvy traveler, it is nothing to worry about because you have that hand luggage bag with all your documents and a change of clothes Your main pack, of course, has a neat little label with your details on for easy identification.

While airlines have plenty of experience at losing bags they are, to be fair, almost as good at getting them back. Less than 0.5% of lost bags stay lost forever! If you main pack goes AWOL in transit, there is a very good chance it will turn up in a couple of days. Start the recovery process as soon as you realize you are the last person left at the carousel:

Find out who the baggage handler is for your airline in the airport and report the loss to them. They will want to see the stub you were given on check in. As a savvy traveler of course, you didn’t leave this on the plane!Get a loss report so that you have proof that you told the airline your bag is missing.

Now get on the phone and find a hostel or hotel near the airport that has a room. Give the baggage handlers their address, along with a description of the bag and its contents. Next wait around for a bit to make sure it didn’t just drop off the carousel and then head to your hostel.

In the morning phone the airline to find out if there has been any progress, or get the staff to do it for you if you don’t speak the lingo. If your bag shows no sign of turning up after a few days report it lost to your insurance company and go shopping!

In many cases you are entitled to compensation directly from the airline so phone them up or look online. Airlines are not always upfront about paying out so don’t take their word for anything if they have lost your bag, especially if you had to pay to check it in the first place. Keep any receipts for valuables that you are carrying home in your pack as well, as the airlines will demand them. Be careful claiming back costs from the airline and again from your insurance company, they might just check.

To reduce the risk of your backpack disappearing in the first place put it into a big carry sack before you check it in. This stops all the straps and other dangly bits from snagging. Take off old tags to make sure your bag doesn’t go back to the last stop off.