On its own, travelling is not the best thing there is. It can mean sitting for very long hours for example which is not particularly good for you health-wise later on as a feeling. In the process then, it is common for people to switch off and mess up which includes losing property.
It does not help things either that the big volumes of cargo that planes have to work with can result in mixing up things there costing passengers at no fault of their own big losses. SITA, a technology company that specializes in luggage tracking, has established that as many as 3.6 million passengers reported property cases in 2023.
In this article, I will share about ways and tips to ease the stress of losing luggage while flying and how to avoid related complications from both these angles as well as how to deal with them when they come up.
Reporting missing luggage
I understand how confused or even angry you might feel upon being told that your luggage is missing. Most of us, will want to walk out of the airport for this very reason right away. It is very important though that you stay for a while.
In particular, make sure that you find an official who can connect you to the inline department. By doing this, the airline workers will set out to work on the query. If you don’t notify them however, they could very well find your things but then not know who the owner is and therefore simply put them away.
Once you have identified whom to talk to, you should describe to them the appearance of your luggage as precise as you can, the items that are contained in the said bag (it is possible for something things to be found and not others), and your contact information– for follow-up purposes. If you have any pictures of this stuff, you should share them too as they are more elaborate than words.
As you can see then, I would advise you to always keep a list of the things that you carried with you whenever you hit the road because it is not guaranteed that you will reliably remember everything when bad luck comes your way.
Report early for the flight
Some of us are last minute people but as a wise man once said, it is the early bird that catches the worm. PS: I am not asking you to change your entire life; only one aspect of it.
When you report early for a flight, it helps the staff to carefully handle your property e.g. when labeling and loading it. In the opposite case, things become complicated because they are not just working on you, but have to do so within a short window of time. Even if your luggage is not left behind, it could be damaged.
Moreover, not all property loss is caused by inefficiency on the end of the airline. Sometimes the passenger is to blame. You may for instance leave your stuff somewhere else but then fail to realize it because you came in rushing. Plus, even in remembering, one will fail to recover their items because there is no time to go pick them and return for the flight in time.
Arriving on time thus, allows you an opportunity to double-check and make sure that you are still in possession of everything that you need prior to setting off.
Labeling and the general external appearance of the luggage
Airports always provide free labels for passenger luggage and they will offer to put them on the property too. This is great but you can take it a step further and label it yourself. This because it is possible for you to carry the same bag as someone else and without paying attention, you might take their property home thinking it is your own as the airline labels will carry the same colors.
In terms of what you should write on the label, a name is good but even better is your contact information and address. That way, when your property gets misplaced, the person that finds it will have a starting point to track you down.
On top of the labels, you should be creative too about the appearance of the bags themselves. You can carry one that has your picture printed on it, or one that you bought from another country, or one that you bought many years back.
The intention here is to have luggage that is unique on the outside and therefore easy to identify from the rest. Any other thing that you can do that meets this goal is welcome.
Virtual tracking
Technology has simplified our lives so much for the better and this is true of the dilemma that we are trying to overcome today. Several models now exist to solely enable you “keep an eye” on your property at any time including when you cannot physically see it.
Mainly, these services are offered in two different ways i.e. either by independent tech companies outside the air transport industry or via applications operated by airlines.
Tile and Apple AirTag fall in the first bracket whereas United, Delta, and American are transport companies that have property tracking technologies. Depending on what’s most convenient for you then, you may prepare to seek recourse of a third party software or that of the plane that you are flying on ahead of the journey.
There are requirements that you need to satisfy first though prior to enjoying these benefits. You want to make sure for example, that your phone is compatible with the technology at hand.
You should note too that because of safety precautions, not all tracking devices out on the market are acceptable on flights. If you are not sure about the one you are interested in, then you should checkout with the travel company or the airport.
Board direct flights
There are advantages of connecting between places e.g. travel expenses in some cases. At the same time, you should weigh these against the downsides one being losing property. This especially happens during transfer of the luggage from one plane to another.
Of course, airline companies try their very best to minimize these cases but the reality is that they cannot stop all of them and when one falls on you, it does not matter that it is part of a negligible few. It will still hurt you greatly.
With direct flights though, the risk of losing stuff remarkably reduces since they exchange hands only twice i.e. at the point of boarding and then the place where one gets off.
Moreover, the more the number of people involved with your luggage, the higher the likelihood that it will not be found or take so much time to be found when it gets lost.
Think about it this way, once an airline discovers that your property is missing, they will consult with all the airports and planes through which they passed and the property was carried respectively. Figuring out what the trouble that led to the loss is and when it happened thus becomes a puzzle that requires time to walk around.
If anything, lost luggage is always somewhere. Recovery is mostly a challenge of streamlining the ecosystem.
Checking items for damage
In case you are lucky such that upon searching, your items are recovered, don’t be excited until you have established that all that was lost has been returned and nothing is damaged. In the event that some were damaged, you should notify your carrier of this.
In doing so, you should haste as some companies have deadlines as tight as 24 hours after which you cannot submit any such claims.
While at it, you need to indicate which items are missing or have been damaged and prove that they were not in this state when you went on board.
If they agree to compensate you or buy you the damaged property, the airline might ask for receipts in order to determine the prices. This differs from one company to another though. Some might just pay you the market price of the items.
Obviously, there is going to be some bureaucracy at this stage too so if you feel like you have gone through a lot already to even recover the items found or that you do not badly need to be repaid, then it is fine for you to just call it off at this point.
Insurance
In many cases, we humans do not like to think about the fact that life goes wrong at times. As a result, insurance remains rather unpopular among many people as it is viewed as calling misfortune onto one’s self.
Obviously, you are entitled to hold this view but should you revisit your position or if you already recognize that it is better to prepare for a rainy day, then travel insurance is something that you should consider.
This means that rather than go through the mess of corresponding with your travel plane, you would simply turn to the insurer and prove to them that you lost property.
Upon assessing the issue and ascertaining that it is one of those covered by the policy that you have with them, they will kick-start the process of indemnifying you.
If this is more than what you can chew, then consider always paying travel fees with credit cards. Some types guarantee compensation in case of losses of this nature at times going to as much as $3,000.
Be intentional when packing
It is a public secret that when going out, people tend to overly pack things and yet, the phenomenon remains pretty prevalent. If you can only take the things that you need however, you will find that it helps you to recall since there is little to focus on.
If you like the suggestion but find difficulty in choosing which of the stuff you have are absolutely key for your journey and which ones are not only a waste of time, but also a burden that will complicate your trip for no reason, then you can check out my article on this platform about tips of managing luggage.
If I can give you a general trick that will start you on this journey in the meantime, aim to carry only carry-on luggage for short destinations. Because of planes restrict how much of this weight you can take with you, the incentive to only work with essential stuff will be triggered in you in a way that you usually don’t see.