Bad News for Luggage!

[ekerr19]

According to this article, problems with luggage got worse over the summer (our bag with formal clothes was stolen post cruise from a United carousel in May 2007) and it doesn't like things are going to improve anytime soon...

We just finally replaced all DH's formal attire, but the replacement cost ended up being about 20% higher than the original purchase price. I'm going to look into shipping my luggage for the next cruise. :cool:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21072802/

[RevNeal]

According to this article, problems with luggage got worse over the summer (our bag with formal clothes was stolen post cruise from a United carousel in May 2007) and it doesn't like things are going to improve anytime soon...

We just finally replaced all DH's formal attire, but the replacement cost ended up being about 20% higher than the original purchase price. I'm going to look into shipping my luggage for the next cruise. :cool:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21072802/

Ugh!
I try to fly direct as often as possible to reduce the chances of lost bags (in transit). But that won't help if someone takes a bag that doesn't belong to them. Airports should really provide security to make sure that people are picking up bags that belong to them. They don't do it at DFW. I've seen such being done in NYC, but that was a while ago (a few years back).

[sail7seas]

I saw a report on Fox News about how much luggage has been lost this year. Over a million pieces! Airlines don't think it's all that bad seeing as it's only about 1%. Sure isn't all that bad if it isn't their suitcase they need for their vacation/business trip. And they wonder why so many of us cannot use the word 'like' and 'airline' in the same sentence.

[sail7seas]

Ugh!
I try to fly direct as often as possible to reduce the chances of lost bags (in transit). But that won't help if someone takes a bag that doesn't belong to them. Airports should really provide security to make sure that people are picking up bags that belong to them. They don't do it at DFW. I've seen such being done in NYC, but that was a while ago (a few years back).


That would require them paying someone to check baggage tags to receipts. .

[RevNeal]

That would require them paying someone to check baggage tags to receipts. .

Silly me!

[eh2zed]

You hear so many stories about people taking the wrong bag. You even see it at the carousel when someone pulls off a bag only to put it back after checking. I remember when there were luggage tickets anmd they had to be checked as you left the baggage claim area. It was a bottleneck but at least it saved a lot of misery. People just need to be more careful.

[sail7seas]

Silly me!


:D What WERE you thinking??? :)

[peaches from georgia]

They do check tags/receipts in Atlanta as you get to the terminal doors.

[sail7seas]

Good for them!! :)

[jhannah]

They used to check tags in Las Vegas. But the logjam of people it caused was such a nightmare they finally stopped doing it. Wasn't seen as worth the bad PR for what relatively few cases of theft/mis-identity there are.

[michmike]

It won't help with on-purpose theft, but to prevent someone mistakenly taking your bag we use rainbow colored straps that go around your bag. Makes it easier to spot yours coming out on the carousel and perhaps spot someone grabbing yours either intentionally or unintentionally.

In addition wife has 5 inch diameter rubber duckie luggage tags on hers.

Have heard others who mark theirs with ribbon, yarn etc

[PhoenixCruiser]

According to this article, problems with luggage got worse over the summer (our bag with formal clothes was stolen post cruise from a United carousel in May 2007) and it doesn't like things are going to improve anytime soon...

We just finally replaced all DH's formal attire, but the replacement cost ended up being about 20% higher than the original purchase price. I'm going to look into shipping my luggage for the next cruise. :cool:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21072802/

My bag was lost in May as well, I totally understand about the replacement costs. :mad: Did you get reimbursed yet? I received a check from AA a few weeks ago.

###

[ekerr19]

My bag was lost in May as well, I totally understand about the replacement costs. :mad: Did you get reimbursed yet? I received a check from AA a few weeks ago.

###

PhoenixCruiser -

We got a check for the full amount of the claim - just under $2,500 - from United about 6 weeks ago.

We spent $1,700 outfitting DH with new formal clothes; the cost of the tux alone was up about $200 since we purchased his last one in 2005.

The clothes I lost I consider irreplaceable as you can no longer just "buy them" because women's fashion change so frequently - and I had two formal outfits that I just loved! I also lost my favorite coat.

Knowing that someone out there has our stuff was such a strange feeling, almost like we were violated or something. I hope we never have to go through this again.

[Boytjie]

Airports should really provide security to make sure that people are picking up bags that belong to them. They don't do it at DFW. I've seen such being done in NYC, but that was a while ago (a few years back).

I have not seen anyone chack lugagge tags at the baggage area for a few years now - not in New York (home) or any of the airports I have flown too.

[richwmn]

They do check tags/receipts in Atlanta as you get to the terminal doors.
Mine was not checked in Atlanta last June when I returned from a trip.
Rich

[Robin7]

It won't help with on-purpose theft, but to prevent someone mistakenly taking your bag we use rainbow colored straps that go around your bag. Makes it easier to spot yours coming out on the carousel and perhaps spot someone grabbing yours either intentionally or unintentionally.

In addition wife has 5 inch diameter rubber duckie luggage tags on hers.

Have heard others who mark theirs with ribbon, yarn etc

We've tried everything! The problem with the straps is the baggage handlers grab them and use them to pull/handle the luggage so they break and fall off or are lost. That includes large baggage tags. (We've 'lost' six or seven now.)

My husband used to have to travel with a hard-side suitcase with his trade show stuff. If you pulled on the pull-up handle, it could break and/or bend so he put a very clear sign on it 'do not use this handle'. In the three-and-a-half years he was traveling 150,000+ miles a year (all in the US), we had to replace that suitcase three times because of poor baggage handling!

Here's my plan this time: I'm buying fabric spray paint and painting our last name all over our black (of course it's black) luggage. And I also thought I'd paint the word 'itinerary' with an arrow to the outside pocket I put our itinerary in. (Although I was wondering recently if there's any inherent security risk in doing that. Still mulling that part.) There's gotta be a solution.

We had a business trip to Walt Disney World a couple of years ago, and my suitcase got lost because by the time we got to Orlando, both my large, new luggage tag and my permanent, smaller luggage tag had been lost so my bag went who knows where. Disney, thankfully, tracked it down for me by late that evening, and I was grateful I wasn't on a ship that was sailing before they found it.

Robin

[O2B@C]

... yet another reason to fly in at least a day before embarkation - especially if taking connecting flights! Much more chance your luggage will catch up with you.

I braided three strands of bright-colored six-thread embroidery floss, and tied the braids tightly to the handles of my luggage. I have been on numerous trips with these, and they have not come off. Not as easy to spot from a distance as the large straps, but they are distinctive. If anyone pulled my luggage off the carousel by mistake, they'd certainly notice them before walking out of the terminal.

I also never buy black luggage. There's just too much of it out there. :rolleyes:

I also always pack a piece of paper with my name and contact information inside the bag. If someone were to take the bag by mistake (not a thief, just someone with severe jet lag or something), that way there would be some hope they'd return it. Fortunately, I've never had occasion to see if this really works! :D

[NHBob]

We've tried everything! The problem with the straps is the baggage handlers grab them and use them to pull/handle the luggage so they break and fall off or are lost. That includes large baggage tags. (We've 'lost' six or seven now.)


Robin

I used to use straps, but had some of the same problems, and some airlines discourage luggage straps because they tend to get hung up in baggage conveyors. Also, if TSA has to open a bag, I can't imagine their taking the time to put straps back on properly.

I've had the most success in avoiding honest mistakes by tying "pom poms" to bags, made using strips of the brightly colored 1" ribbon that surveyors and construction workers use to "flag" things around a work site. Rolls of this ribbon are inexpensive and available from most hardware and building supply stores in several colors. I combine at least two colors, hopefully to distinguish my bags from the others. Of course this won't stop a thief.

Also related to baggage, don't know if they still do it, but at FLL airport HAL for a while was intercepting bags with HAL tags before they ever got to the carousel. So, if the airline lost a bag, you probably wouldn't miss it until after sailing! As a result, I never put the cruise line tags on my bags until I am headed to the port from airport or hotel.

[peaches from georgia]

Mine was not checked in Atlanta last June when I returned from a trip.
Rich
I have no idea if it is every flight every day or not. I just know when my son and family have flown in from Seattle they always have been checked at the door going out of the terminal. I thought it was great and hope they do it more often than not.

[richwmn]

I have no idea if it is every flight every day or not. I just know when my son and family have flown in from Seattle they always have been checked at the door going out of the terminal. I thought it was great and hope they do it more often than not.

I think it is a good idea as well, but it might depend on the airline and/or time or something else. I was returning to ATL from Kansas City on Delta in the late afternoon if that makes a difference.

Rich

[serendipity1499]

We also have braids of wool or lightweight cord, approx 6 inch long, two colors, on each handle (all our bags have two handles)..They can't come off....Also have luggage tags on each handle & place the itinerary both in side & an outside pocket of each piece..

In addition, we put the first initial of our last name, approx 3-4 inches high, in red tape on all sides (top & 4 sides) of our luggage..Do the same on our carry-on bags...Brother-in-law taught us this trick..No one would have dared to steal any of those bags...Realize it's over-kill but retired from the Airline Industry & have seen many lost bags..Have never lost one of ours & hope we never will! ;) "God willing & the crick don't rise"

If someone was artistic, you could draw something like a sea scene or garden scene on your luggage with paint..Last week took our House Guests to the flea Market & saw a lady purchase a hot pink suitcase with black polka dots..Wow was it bright..;)

There's also a good possibility that many of your lost bags finally ended up in the Lost baggage Depot of the Airline & was subsequently sold to the "Unclaimed Baggage" Depot in Scottsboro, Alabama...

http://www.unclaimedbaggage.com/tourthestore.html

Understand its a city block long...Thousands of bags & millions of pieces of merchandise (some very unique) end up there every year...This depot is the only one of it's kind in the country, near Birmingham, Alabama...
Someday would love to go there just to see what bargains I could pick up..;)

Has anyone ever been there? Betty

[SarasMommy]

Back in 2004 on our Mediterrranean cruise, there was a whole plane full of people whose luggage went missing. Actually they saw it in a container sitting on the tarmac while the plane was pulling away. They were reunited with it, though - in Monaco, which was our second last port! The suitcases were all lined up on the dock when we got there. Plus it was a tender port, so that must have been a pain, transporting it to the ship.

Then there was another lady that I talked to who lived somewhere in Utah, I think. She had about five connections - starting at a regional airport in Utah to Salt Lake City, then to New York, then Brussels, then she missed her connection to Milan and was rescheduled to a later flight, and then to Athens. That's just a recipe for disaster! Needless to say, her luggage didn't make it.

My mom's luggage was lost in March after disembarking the QE2. She was supposed to fly out of Dubai, but the airport was closed after a plane went off the runway. They were taken by bus to Abu Dhabi, which is where her luggage got stranded. Good news is she got it back within a week. Thank goodness, because we left for our Asia cruise three weeks later. If not, we would have had to take her on one heck of a shopping spree!

Regarding luggage claim tags, I have always been given one at check-in, but not once has anyone checked it.

[JimVrhovac]

Another reason not to fly. We have to fly to San Diego in Feb for Oosterdam cruise and we already are going to ship stuff ahead to prevent this problem...

Ruth & Jim

[SarasMommy]

Another reason not to fly. We have to fly to San Diego in Feb for Oosterdam cruise and we already are going to ship stuff ahead to prevent this problem...

That's why the Canada/New England cruise on the Maasdam is so appealing to me. It's a 5-hour train ride to Montreal (which I've always wanted to do anyway) and Boston would only be a short 1 hour flight home. A cruise without several hours of flying before and after would be a dream come true.

[arabrab]

My teenage D wasn't so thrilled, but since we have fairly standard black wheeled luggage from Costco that at least superficially looks like about 40% of the bags in the luggage area, I used gold fabric paint to paint the initial of our last name as big as would fit on both sides of the bag. I've seen people pick the bag up and put it right back down. It has been very durable -- I must have done it five or six years ago and I've never seen any flaking.

It doesn't help if your bag was routed someplace where you weren't, but it does seem to virtually eliminate the chance of accidental pickups.

[Tucker in Texas]

Houston Hobby checks when you leave the claim area--or at least did the last time I was there.

Tucker in Texas

[Solo Cruiser]

When I began flying on business trips a colleague told me this trick to distinguish my black or navy luggage from all the others: I wrapped both handles of the suitcase with colored duct tape I found in Walmart. I also put a double strip of it on the bottom and the back of the suitcase so I could recognize it if it were upside down on the conveyor. My old luggage just recently had an untimely death so I had to buy a new mid sized suitcase. First I didn't choose black again and my next move is to go get hot pink duct tape (to match my luggage tags :D ) to add to the handles and bottom.

[Tucker in Texas]

I have a question for you all which I hope won't come up. We are going on a trans-Atlantic cruise leaving from Barcelona. We will be flying non-stop to Gatwick using the 2nd half of a frequent flyer ticket (we used the first half coming home from a spring Trans-Atlantic) on Continental. Once at Gatwick, we will be switching to British Air to Barcelona. What would happen if our luggage did not make it from Houston to Gatwick. Would Continental see that it got to Barcelona or would they just blow us off saying once it is at Gatwick, it is your problem to get it to Barcelona?

Tucker in Texas (who is glad the layover in England is 7 hours and we have a non-stop)

[bepsf]

I have a question for you all which I hope won't come up. We are going on a trans-Atlantic cruise leaving from Barcelona. We will be flying non-stop to Gatwick using the 2nd half of a frequent flyer ticket (we used the first half coming home from a spring Trans-Atlantic) on Continental. Once at Gatwick, we will be switching to British Air to Barcelona. What would happen if our luggage did not make it from Houston to Gatwick. Would Continental see that it got to Barcelona or would they just blow us off saying once it is at Gatwick, it is your problem to get it to Barcelona?

Tucker in Texas (who is glad the layover in England is 7 hours and we have a non-stop)

Continental and BA aren't travel partners - so when you get off the plane in Gatwick you're going to have to go out from the secure area, pick up the luggage from Continental Baggage Check, then check it in with BA and go through security again for your flight to Barcelona.

Therefore, no - Continental technically isn't responsible for getting it to Barcelona.

[Sunshine91]

One of our Veendam cruises left from FLL - must have been in 1998 because at that time HAL offered the service for them to pick up the luggage from the carosel & deliver it to the cabin. We had had a tight connection in ATL so we weren't too keen on that idea. We wanted to see the bags for ourselves before we left the airport. Good thing, too.

Our luggage is the large duffel-bag style. Not too too common. And it was dark blue. Because we were going to pick it up & give it to the HAL rep, we had the HAL Mariner tags already on it when we left Baltimore. Another good thing.

Well, when the carosel started up, I had a good spot for viewing & saw a bag coming along, but neither of us could get to it the first go around. The rest of the bags came along, but the one never did come around again. We waited & waited & waited. Now I'm a bit nutsy about marking our bags - before each cruise I buy a roll of bright ribbon at the craft store & tie a bow on each bag - including our carry-ons.

We finally checked in with the HAL rep & told him/her what happened & then had to go to the baggage claim reps. There was another bag on the carosel that was very similar to ours - same brand - that had not been picked up, so we grabbed it & took it with us. We figured that it's owner, going on a Princess cruise, took our bag. We told our sob story to the baggage claim rep, who wanted us to call the phone number on the ID tag :eek: . Like that would do any good. But we did. No one was home. Finally, a supervisor, who had been listening in the background, took the bag bound for Princess, found the truck it was supposed to be on & there was our bag, waiting to be loaded onto that truck!

We were profusely thankful & got on that HAL bus right away. :)

[ekerr19]

For the life of me, I just don't understand why people don't check!!!! They just lift the bag off and away they go...

One cruise (post) my DD said, "Mom, I think that guy has one of our bags!" (We have bright neon bag tags on all bags - very noticeable) - I told her to run and check - sure enough, he did. He came back all apologetic, but clearly hadn't been paying any attention.

We thought having the airline priority tags would help as the pririty luggage is supposed to come off first (but sometimes it doesn't) and after our bag was stolen, we realized it was just a magnet advertising first class baggage to thieves.

[hammybee]

They used to check at ORD. It took time. People complained. The check point was eliminated.

I wonder if the majority of luggage snafus are people, not necessarily fellow passengers, walking off with other people's luggage or, mishandeling of baggage by airline employees.

Earlier this year, we flew R/T to Florida for less than the cost of one way taxi to the airport. Consumer emphasis on cheap flights means cut backs, in all areas. Luggage management is one of those areas.

[GmaPajama]

There's also a good possibility that many of your lost bags finally ended up in the Lost baggage Depot of the Airline & was subsequently sold to the "Unclaimed Baggage" Depot in Scottsboro, Alabama...

http://www.unclaimedbaggage.com/tourthestore.html

Understand its a city block long...Thousands of bags & millions of pieces of merchandise (some very unique) end up there every year...This depot is the only one of it's kind in the country, near Birmingham, Alabama...
Someday would love to go there just to see what bargains I could pick up..;)

Has anyone ever been there? Betty
I've been there, and must say - It's Amazing! It takes a full day to see it all.

In another life, I was a powerseller on Ebay. I thought this would be a great source for merchandise. Drove all the way from Chicago to Huntsville just to check it out. I didn't buy much though - it made me waaaay too sad to think about the folks who were still hoping to see their personal possessions show up on their doorsteps.

One look around the place was plenty for me to get home and do some serious personalization of my own luggage. Nothing as creative as what I've read here - but I am definitely going to incorporate some of your ideas.

[Tallydog]

I like to tie those bright plastic hawaiian leis to my luggage. You can easily spot it a mile away.





Coming Soon!
Zuiderdam 12-08-2007

[Tallydog]

double post, sorry





Coming Soon!
Zuiderdam 12-08-2007

[Gerd]

Hello all

I feel so sorry for all of you with all your lost luggage – and yes, we were also "obliged" to learn these ones.
But not at the airport, but inside the cruise terminal in Lisbon – it was after our transatlantic cruise with the old MS Noordam. Our luggage was wrong-taken on a trip to Haifa…..:confused:


As I already have mentioned on another thread, started by "ecker19" some time ago, one think I recognized a quiet a view times at US airports :
The luggage delivery carousel is already in the main public zone, and meanwhile in open area. There everybody could "pass-by" and take your luggage.

Here in Europe this is almost not the case. Here, only those people inside the restricted internal airport zone - could be only a potential theft. Which reduce already your "risk" very well.:p
And because the arrival to the carousel for al passengers on your flight will be almost on the same time (and usually there is per carousel only one flight), you are more secured and able to get your belongs.


And we also put large color badges on our luggage, in order everybody is aware, that this one does not belong to him or here…. ;)


Kind regards

Gerd



Our marvelous cruises :

MS Ryndam – Wayfarer – March 1997
MS Noordam - Transatlantic Island Hook - April 2001
MS Volendam - Southern Caribbean - April 2002
MS Volendam - Westfarer Caribbean - April 2004
MS Prinsendam - Windmills & Waterford – September 2004
MS Westerdam - Western Caribbean - April 2005
MS Statendam - Hawaii Circle - September 2005
MS Rotterdam - Vikings and Czars – July 2006
MS Veendam - Southern Caribbean – March 2007

106 days - 29'479 Nm


Future Cruise :

At least a 7 day Caribbean Cruise in the next 18-month => just won from its MS Veendam raffle, oh happy cruising days....


=>> MS Volendam, April 1st 2008

http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/4;10731;128/st/20080401/e/MS+Volendam%2C+Panama+Canal/dt/6/k/0b7b/event.png
(http://www.TickerFactory.com/)

[vbmom87]

Ugh!
I try to fly direct as often as possible to reduce the chances of lost bags (in transit). But that won't help if someone takes a bag that doesn't belong to them. Airports should really provide security to make sure that people are picking up bags that belong to them. They don't do it at DFW. I've seen such being done in NYC, but that was a while ago (a few years back).

Many years ago, I can remember one airport in California where you had to go through a turnstyle and show you had a tag that matched the tag that the airlines had put on your luggage. This would surely cut back on stolen bags. However, I am sure the airlines decided it is cheaper for them to pay for lost/stolen bags then to pay for this kind of security.

[Sunshine91]

The article ekerr19 (OP) linked to in the original post also appeared in today's Washington Post. I finally got around to reading it. Sorry, Laura, reading the responses was much more fun. :o :D

I was amazed at some of the stories there, some really sad, some really stupid - the woman who put $18,000 worth of jewelry into her checked luggage!!! I think if I did something that incredibly, well, backwards, I wouldn't want my name printed next to it. :confused:

Below is a graphic that accompanied the article in the Post. It shows, by airline, the missing luggage rates.


http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2007/10/01/GR2007100100117.gif

Anybody ever watch Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe? He did a stint as a baggage handler at an airport in the middle - Kansas City, maybe. It is simply amazing how much of the job (and the tracking) is really not electronic, but manual labor. It's a wonder that as much of the luggage gets TO its destination with the passenger as it does. :)

[jcrandle]

It won't help with on-purpose theft, but to prevent someone mistakenly taking your bag we use rainbow colored straps that go around your bag. Makes it easier to spot yours coming out on the carousel and perhaps spot someone grabbing yours either intentionally or unintentionally.

In addition wife has 5 inch diameter rubber duckie luggage tags on hers.

Have heard others who mark theirs with ribbon, yarn etc

I mark mine with duct tape!! Well, it's really not so much to mark it, as to try to keep it together for one more trip.:D

[kdowneymd]

Earlier this year I bought two suitcases and matching carry-ons in neon lime green anticipating our cruise leaving from Rome. We were flying from JFK. All arrived well in Rome and to the cruise ship. There were multiple horror stories on the ship over 25 passengers did not receive luggage until the third port. I was somewhat smug. Coming home and waiting at the Delta carousel at JFK a woman approached me and asked if I had the green suitcase to match my carry-on ( I was asking who is this weirdo?) when I answered yes, she said she also had the same luggage and we must be careful to make sure we got our own! Since I had not only one but two lime green bags, I was so appreciative that she was so observant! We each got our own but I came home and added a large stripe of ugly pink duct tape to each bag. You just can't win sometimes ( or I guess sometimes you actually do by the help of others)!

[RuthC]

Houston Hobby checks when you leave the claim area--or at least did the last time I was there.
They didn't check at the Southwest terminal when I came through there last Thursday (Sept. 29). I wish they would.

There must be some way to set it up to be done on a scanning machine. The traveler would have to scan the receipt, then in turn the tag from each bag to insure they match.

[RuthC]

Grrrrr.

[silvercruiser]

Colored duct tape, choice of 4 colors, $2.49 a roll at WalMart works for me. I put strips of it on all sides and bottom of the suitcase. Also wind some around the handle.
Colored nylon scrubbies (I use orange ones) tied to the top handle of the bag. When you get off a cruise ship and have to find your luggage it makes your bags easy to spot.
And here's a nightmare experience from a friend who was invited to a lovely house party in England recently and picked up the wrong suitcase at the airport.

The stay at Hampton Court was a once-in-a-lifetime experience! There were 30 of us there, 13 couples and 4 children. A wonderful mixture of people whom we'd never met. Only glitch: when I was unpacking my bag after driving 5 hours from Heathrow, I was shocked to learn that it contained someone else's clothes, so I wore my jeans for the first three days, even to the formal catered dinner the first night! But no one seemed to care and I decided it wasn't going to spoil my stay. Eventually went out and bought a few things. It's amazing how little I actually 'needed'.

[terrydtx]

Stealing bags from the terminal carousel is a huge problem that the airlines do not and often will not take credit for mostly they blame security or lack of on the airports. :confused: :rolleyes: :( I know this first hand having had it happen to me several years ago and I got no compensation close to what was in the bags. Now I hurry up to the carousel from deplaning and position myself where I can see the bags coming off the conveyor belt and make sure I get my bags before someone else has time to steal them.:cool:

[RevNeal]

My bags have several forms of identification on their outsides ... color and name oriented. On the inside I also place several forms of identification.

Once I saw someone pull my bag off the carousel and and not bother to double-check if it was there's as they waited for another bag. So, I moved over and asked them if they were sure it was their bag. They got indignant and said "why, yes!" So, I asked them to look again, and they did and got sheepish and said "uh, no ... it's not mine."

It can happen innocently too.

[Robin7]

It can happen innocently too.

One time I flew to see my parents when I was nearing the end of one of my pregnancies. We waited and waited and waited for my bag. There was a lone bag remaining on the carousel, one that looked a lot like mine but wasn't. It belonged to a man. Imagine his surprise when he got home and opened up a bag containing all those maternity clothes. :D The airline delivered my bag the next day.

Robin

[iancal]

This is one reason why we travel carry on as much as possible vs. checking baggage. We know where our bags are and they arrive when we do. I think they check tags in Vegas as well as Seattle. And the loss percentages are increasing.

[toots]

Last August we flew from Orlando to Stockholm via Newark with two checked red bags with bright red/white ribbons. For the first time in many flights, one bag did not arrive with us. We did not get it for 13 days! We filed a missing suitcase report in Stockholm and joined the ship. It's a sickening feeling when you're starting a 24-day cruise and only half your luggage is with you. Luckily, and for the first time, I had packed half of DH's and my things in each suitcase. But it was Northern Europe, and we needed our coats and sweaters and good walking shoes from the missing case.

We were on the Marco Polo, who had also arranged our flights, and they were very apologetic, but of course it was Continental's fault, not theirs. They said that bags usually showed up and would be forwarded by the Stockholm agent to wherever we were docked. The MP offered us free daily laundry, which was a tremendous help, and $200 shipboard credit until we could file an insurance claim. Every day in the various ports, we looked for clothes on sale since the ship didn't have much in their shops and European clothes are expensive. We had to buy toiletries too, plus the MP gave us courtesy toiletry bags with the most important items. The dear lady who is the future cruise consultant even loaned me several pairs of slacks!

After 13 days and many ports, we looked out our cabin window in Invergordon, Scotland, and there sat a lonely red suitcase with red/white ribbons on the dock! I screamed for joy and couldn't wait to be reunited with MY BAG. Luckily, nothing was missing or broken, and we could finally stop wearing the same clothes over and over. After checking all the tags on the handle, DH said his underwear had been more places than he has. It went to Latvia, Poland, Frankfurt, and finally to Scotland where it found us.

We had taken out cruiseline insurance and filed a report for delayed luggage, but have not yet received any reimbursement. We don't need the extra coats, sweaters and shoes in Florida!

[terrydtx]

One of the more bizarre luggage stories I have heard was last year in Florence Italy. Our luggage was delayed one day in England, which is not bizarre, while in line at the airport to pick up my luggage the couple behind us had this story. This couple was on their honeymoon and flew from New York to Florence on Alitalia airlines connecting in Rome. The luggage did not make the flight from Rome to Florence and they had been in Florence for 5 days when the airline finally found their luggage and put it on a truck to ship it from Rome to Florence. They were leaving that day to go to Venice for a week and were hoping that the luggage would be at the airport that day. After I got my bags I overheard the lost luggage people tell this couple that the truck with their luggage had been hijacked in route from Rome to Florence. Evidently this is very common to have these luggage carriers hijacked and under Italian law the airline was no longer responsible for their luggage and this couple got no compensation. This couple told me that Alitalia has the worst lost luggage record in Europe of any airline so beware flying to Italy on Alitalia.

[jhannah]

Wow! That's horrible! The airline accepted the luggage for carriage to the destination. They should be responsible for it, regardless of having a contractor involved in delivery. It was the airline's fault that the bags didn't make it in the first place.

[terrydtx]

Wow! That's horrible! The airline accepted the luggage for carriage to the destination. They should be responsible for it, regardless of having a contractor involved in delivery. It was the airline's fault that the bags didn't make it in the first place.

That’s what I thought too, but in Italy you are more or less helpless when dealing with lost luggage. The airport in Florence had a lost luggage department that is contracted by the air carriers, so you don’t deal with the airline directly. This office was manned by one employee and on just our flight about 15 people had lost luggage and we waited in line for over 2 hours to file a report. Then after we filed the report they gave us a sheet of paper in Italian with a phone number to call to get updates on our luggage. When I called the number it was an automated system with instructions in only Italian, which I didn’t understand. So I made several cab rides to the airport when I knew the next flights from London were due in that day at a cost of 65 Euros per trip, and waited in line again to find out updates. This trip was last September right after the airline banned all liquids from carry on luggage and limited carry on to small purses or bags as well. So we had no clothes, make up for the wife and the lost luggage people wouldn’t even give us the complimentary toiletries like a toothbrush unless our luggage had been lost for more than 48 hours.

[Tucker in Texas]

Similar thing happened to three people on our River cruise. The unpleasantness at Heathrow went down while they were in the air flying from the US to Heathrow to connect to Berlin. They got their luggage at Heathrow but had to put everything they owned into it because all they could carry on the plane was a baggie with their passport, travel documents, cash and credit cards. Not even medicine and one lady was on heart medicine. The airline assured them they would have their luggage prior to embarkation which was two days later in Berlin. Two didn't believe them and did some fast shopping in Berlin to tide them over. One did believe them. Luggage never showed up. The poor woman that believed them wore the same pair of capri's the entire cruise. She was a tiny thing and no one had anything to loan her other than some tops. I asked her if the boat was laundering them for her and she said "she was rather fussy, she did them herself". Fortunately, they were dark so she could get two days wearing out of them. One day they weren't dry in the morning so she wore oversized shorts she borrowed and bought them up on deck to dry in time for the afternoon tour. As for the lady on her heart medicine, all the doctor in the US could do was tell her to cross her fingers and gut it out and see him as soon as she got back. Her luggage finally showed up in Prague at the end of the cruise but the doctor told her to not take the medicine as the dosage would be too high since she had been off it so long.

We left a day early for Berlin and it went down while we were on the Frankfurt to Berlin leg so escaped the "baggie." Mercifully by the time we returned in two weeks to the US, they had loosened up the restrictions to let you take a carry-on (no liquids) which meant we at least had a book to read on the long flight home. I will say the women that lost their luggage had a good sense of humor about it. Said they probably wouldn't get it because it takes a long time for the baggage handlers to go through the suitcases and steal perfume, cameras, cigarettes, etc. I didn't get a chance to ask them if they had anything missing when the bags showed up.

Tucker in Texas