What to Do When an Airline Loses Your Luggage

It’s each traveler’s worst nightmare — you present as much as the bags belt and wait in your suitcase to reach. As every individual picks up their baggage, you could have the sinking feeling that yours received’t seem. As soon as all luggage are off the aircraft and yours is nowhere to be discovered, what do you have to do? I spoke with the Division of Transportation (DOT) to develop this information on what to do when an airline loses your baggage.

Sadly, it is a comparatively widespread prevalence. My suitcase has been misplaced earlier than, and numerous others have had the identical expertise. Though the numbers are trending decrease than the identical time final 12 months, lots of of 1000’s of luggage nonetheless get mishandled in transit for one cause or one other. A very powerful factor to do in case your suitcase will get misplaced is to remain calm. As a rule, will probably be discovered and returned to you. If it doesn’t, you may obtain compensation in your misplaced gadgets as much as a most legal responsibility decided by the DOT. Listed here are the steps you could take when an airline loses your baggage.

7 Steps to Take When an Airline Loses Your Baggage

1. Verify your baggage is definitely misplaced.

“Usually, when a checked bag doesn’t arrive at its vacation spot, airways are answerable for finding the bag,” says the DOT. “Airways have monitoring techniques in place to attempt to establish the bag’s location. Some airways now provide purposes for cell telephones, tablets, and different digital units, which offer passengers with information on the situation of their baggage.”

I’ve waited over an hour on the carousel to obtain my bag earlier than, so don’t mechanically assume it’s misplaced. Typically, it simply takes a very long time because of staffing points or the airport’s dimension. It may also find yourself at a unique carousel than you thought. When this occurs, having an AirTag or different monitoring machine in your suitcase is useful so you may shortly decide the situation. In the event you’ve waited and checked different carousels and nonetheless can’t discover your bag, you may discuss to the airline.

2. File a lacking baggage report.

You will have to find the bags desk for the airline that operated your remaining flight and allow them to know that your bag is lacking. The bags desk is often beside the carousels, so it ought to be straightforward to seek out. Present the agent the bag tag you obtained if you checked your bag. They could be capable of find your bag within the system. If not, you’ll must fill out a lacking baggage report.

Whenever you fill out your lacking baggage report, you’ll be requested about any figuring out details about your bag: the model, colour, dimension, any figuring out marks, approximate weight, and so forth. You’ll additionally must put your contact data, native deal with, and details about your flight. The extra figuring out data, the higher. So, in case you don’t already, ensure you have one thing notable in your bag to assist establish it, whether or not that’s a brightly coloured ribbon, stickers, or a powerful bag tag.

“Passengers ought to file a baggage declare with their airline as quickly as attainable and keep in shut communication with the airline after submitting a declare and through the baggage location course of,” explains the DOT. Be sure to preserve your case reference quantity so you may lookup the standing of your case on-line after you permit the airport.

3. Decide what the airline will cowl.

Most airways have insurance policies for misplaced or delayed baggage. It will differ between airways, so ask the consultant what will probably be coated for important bills till they find your bag. They may not proactively offer you this data, so it’s essential to ask. (I didn’t notice the airline had insurance policies for expense reimbursements on delayed baggage, so I paid out of pocket for my necessities when my bag was misplaced.) As soon as you realize what they’ll cowl, you may buy groceries. Maintain your entire receipts so you may submit the request for reimbursement. This isn’t the time to go on a full buying spree, however you may sometimes purchase stuff you deem important whereas ready in your baggage.

4. Perceive the distinction between misplaced and delayed baggage.

One other lesson I needed to be taught the exhausting manner is that there’s a distinction between misplaced baggage and delayed baggage. “Most airways will declare a bag misplaced between 5 and 14 days after the flight, however this could differ from one airline to a different,” says the DOT. “As soon as an airline determines {that a} bag is misplaced, the airline is answerable for compensating the passenger for the bag’s contents – topic to depreciation and most legal responsibility limits.”

“Delayed baggage” implies that it has been discovered and will probably be delivered to you inside a couple of days. In case your bag is delayed, make certain they drop it off at your native deal with. You shouldn’t have to return to the airport or pay for it to be delivered. “Misplaced baggage” means it’s genuinely misplaced and can’t be discovered.

5. Contact your bank card firm.

In the event you booked your flight utilizing a journey bank card, it is best to contact your bank card issuer as quickly as attainable. A number of bank cards, just like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, provide baggage delay insurance coverage, which could cowl as much as $100 a day for 5 days in case your suitcase has been delayed. Understanding the distinction between misplaced and delayed baggage is essential right here.

My airline-branded bank card coated misplaced baggage, so I went out and spent a couple of hundred {dollars} on garments and toiletries to cowl me for the primary few days. As soon as my bag was discovered and returned to me, it was thought-about delayed baggage, which the cardboard doesn’t cowl. This meant I used to be on the hook for the cash I spent and wouldn’t get reimbursed. Though they sound very related, and my bag actually felt misplaced earlier than I received it again, this distinction meant I misplaced lots of of {dollars}.

6. Maintain monitoring your bag.

This goes with out saying, however regulate your bag and the standing of your declare by utilizing the reference quantity given to you if you crammed out the lacking baggage report. Keep in fixed communication with the airline to obtain probably the most up-to-date details about your suitcase. Ideally, it’s shortly discovered and returned to you, but when not, you could know the following steps to obtain a refund.

In case your bag is taken into account misplaced and you’re given a reimbursement, the maximums are set by the DOT. “For home flights, DOT regulation permits airways to restrict their legal responsibility for a misplaced, broken, or delayed bag to $3,800,” explains the DOT. For worldwide flights, that quantity goes all the way down to about $1,700. Whereas airways are free to pay greater than this most, they don’t seem to be required to take action.

7. Escalate when essential.

In the event you aren’t getting wherever along with your contact on the airport, escalate issues to a supervisor or one other individual on the airline. If all else fails, contact the DOT. “If a passenger experiences issue associated to mishandled baggage or compensation for mishandled baggage, then that passenger ought to file a grievance with the airline,” says the DOT. “DOT requires airways to acknowledge shopper complaints inside 30 days of receiving them and to ship customers written responses addressing these complaints inside 60 days of receiving them.”

The best way to Stop Misplaced Baggage

The DOT gives intensive steerage on preventing lost luggage on its web site. Probably the most useful strategies is to plan forward to keep away from the extra severe repercussions of misplaced baggage. This implies you shouldn’t pack any small valuables or important, irreplaceable, or fragile gadgets in your checked bag. Within the unlikely occasion that your bag does get misplaced, having this stuff in your carry-on prevents any main penalties.

Make sure that to maintain an AirTag or different monitoring machine in your suitcase. At all times label your bag along with your title and cellphone quantity on a baggage tag and the within of the bag. If it does get misplaced, this may assist establish your baggage so it will get again to you sooner.

One other nice approach to forestall misplaced baggage is to examine in in your flight early. In the event you examine in on the final minute, it may be more difficult in your bag to get on board, which could lead to it getting misplaced. When the agent offers you your baggage declare stub, preserve it till you could have your bag in hand.

Lastly, attempt to preserve your itinerary so simple as attainable. In case you have a number of layovers, particularly brief ones, there’s extra probability that one thing may occur. When my bag was misplaced, I flew from Mexico Metropolis to Vienna with two layovers — one in Atlanta and one in Amsterdam. My bag made it to Amsterdam however by no means received on the ultimate flight to Vienna. Fortunately, it was returned to me a couple of days later, but it surely was nonetheless a aggravating course of. Lesson discovered: Attempt to keep away from checking a bag on a route with a number of layovers.

Backside Line

Misplaced or delayed baggage generally is a aggravating and irritating expertise, particularly if you’re on trip. If it does occur to you, observe these steps to make sure you get it again shortly, or on the very least, you obtain compensation for the bag’s contents. At all times preserve your most dear possessions with you, and by no means place something you may’t reside with out in your checked bag. After I journey, I at all times preserve my laptop computer, chargers, drugs, and primary toiletries with me, simply in case.