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Most Baggage Lost Ever!
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There are some records that should never be broken. Take, for example, the dubious aviation record set in December 2004: US airlines "mishandled" 432,000 bags during that month.
Just when you thought air travel couldn't get any worse, the US Department of Transportation announced that last August a new record was set when 437,000 pieces of luggage were "lost, delayed, damaged or stolen" during this 31-day period.
A big part of the problem was the new regulations involving dangerous liquids that forced many people into checking baggage they normally wouldn't have checked. This resulted in a simple equation: more bags checked = more bags to lose.
But, come on folks! An average of 14,100 bags a day? That's a pretty big dose of incompetence if you ask me.
Filed under: Airlines
Reader Comments (Page 14 of 14)
Richard Knudson Oct 15th 2006 8:06PM
Most of the preventive ideas seem to make sense, however, I think that the airlines should be legally reponsible for the lost items (stolen?). There have been several magazine news specials showing baggage handlers stealing peoples belongings right out of the luggage. Saying that the item(s) must have just fallen out makes the airline an accomplice to theft. Who else sees or handles the flyers baggage from the time it leaves the customer until it is suppose to arrive at the destination? The baggage handlers!!
Jan Oct 15th 2006 8:10PM
For emphasis, YOU ARE NEVER REQUIRED TO LEAVE YOUR BAGS UNLOCKED FOR TSA SCREENING!!!!! You are welcome to stand there while your luggage is screened (put through the machine) with your bag locked, you just need to inform them that it is locked. If you are bright, you stand there and wait for it to come out of the machine. It will then be placed on the airlines belt and will no longer be touched by ANY TSA personnel, unless they need to open it to check something. If they need to get inside and you are not there, the airline first attempts to get you to come back to the ticket counter for a "message." If you haven't left yourself enough time to come back, or you just don't come back, THEN TSA will cut your lock. You will ALWAYS receive a notice inside your bag stating that it was opened by TSA if it is. AND they don't leave your stuff in a mess if it wasn't in one to start with. People just need to pay more attention to what's going on. PLEASE, lock your bags and save yourself trouble. AND take responsibility for ensuring that you are there when they have to open one of your bags. Trust me, it's easier for them if you are.
Joe Oct 15th 2006 8:14PM
#245 Jan you are so full of SH!T it's not funny.
Cecelia Oct 15th 2006 8:18PM
Arrived in France w/o luggage for 4 days! What a joke, I think the TSA and airlines should be held accountable.I agree with the previous post about handler scanning and signing when they process luggage.They may not like it but I bet it would cut down on theft as well as mia luggage.
Jan Oct 15th 2006 8:26PM
#246 Joe Really? In what way? All I wrote is the truth.
Jan Oct 15th 2006 8:26PM
#246 Joe Really? In what way? You're probably one of the people who try to claim something was stolen from them, when it wasn't there in the first place, aren't you?
Steve Oct 15th 2006 8:53PM
for those who don't know, there IS a lock you can place on your bag and lock it. Most of the newer locks have a special TSA lock which allows the master TSA key to open it. I've done it. I travel weekly, often more than once/week. I travel internationally. They all allow it if your flight originates in the US or destination is.
For those who pack medicine in checked bags, please don't ever do that again.
Bags do get tracked and have a UPS code attached to them. It happens. I also spent a few bucks extra to purchase lifetime guarantee luggage (only 2 pieces that I needed) including airline mishandling in case anything ever happens (Briggs & Riley does this and I'm sure many others).
I also look for Pepsi. Go United if that's the issue. America West also carries Pepsi products.
If you're really concerned about losing (not looseing, loosing, or any of the other things we see here) anything, ship it ahead with USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc.
Joe Oct 15th 2006 9:08PM
#250 Steve are you a woman? The TSA are the one's doing the stealing sister. They have keys to open those TSA approved locks. LOL
Josh Oct 15th 2006 10:26PM
What kind of idiots are posting here? How much money do some of you people think the rest of the world has? FedX luggage? Buy only First Class tickets? By the way doesn't matter because everyone has to check their bags or will Al Queda start splurging on first class tickets to carry out terrorist missions? I can't believe some of the arguments that are being made here. I don't understand what all they go through and how much luggage those poor souls have to deal with? GET A DIFFERENT JOB THEN! Plain and simple to pay for a service, you should recieve that service. I work in retail and when you are suppossed to take care of a customer, you take care of them. I work at a pharmacy, and because I have to deal with customers all day that are getting medication, it's alright for me to just not worry about it and if the wrong medication gets dispensed, oh well, they should have hired a personal physician to come into the store with them and verify the medicine. You rely on the company to provide the service you pay for, and if something goes wrong to rely on the company you make things right, you shouldn't have to go out of pocket and out of your way for these extreme round about ways to ensure that the person you are paying is taking care of the job you've paid them for.
Lisa Anderson Oct 16th 2006 7:23AM
Talk about morons! Use the TSA locks for goodness sake's. Baggage handlers CANNOT open those, only security can. I've used them for over a year now & have traveled nationwide and internationally with no incidents. Unlocked luggage is an open invitation for them to remove your "goodies". TSA locks can be purchased almost anywhere now....Walgreen's, K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Target, Osco, etc, and are only about $3.00 each. Also, all airlines tell you to NEVER put medication in checked baggage. Use common sense.
Joe Oct 16th 2006 5:17PM
You idiots are calling people morons telling us to use TSA locks. TSA employees steal just like the baggage handlers. DUMBA$S!
Kim Oct 17th 2006 12:08PM
I was married in May and my Husband & I flew our immediate family to Freeport, Grand Bahamas on Delta. My Husband & I arrived a day earlier & our family flew in the following day. We had a Group of 19 where Delta lost all of our Groups luggage in Atlanta to Freeport. Our Group did not receive their luggage until 2 days later. Thank God it arrived the day before I was married. One of our family members did not receive their luggage until 3 days later. As a bride to be at the time I was a nervous wreck! Being a Travel Consultant for a major corporation I am the one that booked our group on Delta & never again will I do so. FYI. When traveling from Atlanta make sure you have atleast 45 minutes to connect or your luggage may not make it to your destination.
Charlotte Oct 18th 2006 3:02PM
About a year and a half ago, my fiance returned from Kuwait. This is how his trip went. With flight orders from the Navy. Traveling many hours from Kuwait to the US on a Military flight. When he got to the US, got on his plane, I forget where he had to make a stop first. he was searched. Mind you, he had orders in hand from the Navy. When he arrived in Philly, they couldn't find his luggage for over two hours. The guy he talked to, could barely speak english.
To me, that was such a disgrace. Not only to be searched, after serving almost a year in a climate none of us could handle, then to be searched, then to not have his luggage for several hours. To be told they may not be able to locate it for days. UNREAL
Jack Welch Oct 18th 2006 3:26PM
Perhaps their should be an overhaul in the way checked bags are handled. Currently when we fly our ticket includes one peice of luggage to be shipped FREE. Instead what they should do is start charging people for checked bags. In addition to receving the shipment of their luggage, the passenger also receives an insurance policy on the luggage. This could work very similar to the way the USPS or UPS works. The insurance coverage could be negotiated at the time of the ticket purchase. If the luggage is lost or delayed then the passenger could collect on the insurance and be properly compensated. The current compensation of $25 from USAir is a joke. When my bag was lost back in August, I had about $2500 worth of items in it. (It sounds like a lot, but it adds up rather quickly if you sit down and do the math for a 10 day trip.)If the airlines were required to pay off the real value of the contents that were lost, they would crack down on lost luggage!
Tom Grgurich Nov 21st 2006 8:41AM
Traveling a lot will almost always result in lost/late bags, especially through Heathrow. British Airways actually told me they would send my (lost) bag with Lufthansa (who lost one that I never got back) because BA loses too many in Heathrow? Try 3 days in Egypt on an interview trip with only what you are wearing!
Tom
Sandra Dec 1st 2006 6:21PM
I just traveled on a direct flight from Las Vegas to Charlotte, NC. Mind you, I checked my bag at the skycab outside of the terminal at 5:00 A.M. for a 7:30 A.M. flight. Again, this is a direct flight. The skycab person for US Airways (who will only accept bags for people flying US Airways) did put the correct label on my bag (which also has a bright yellow luggage tag with my name, address, phone, etc.). Needless to say, my bag did not arrive. I filed a claim and they said it should be on the next flight. Yeah, right... They tell this to everyone... Well, it's now day 2 and I've left several messages on 2 different phone numbers that they gave me. US airways does NOT return phone calls. I've called their baggage claim dept. (they are located in Guatalajara (sp?) Mexico and only apologize and say that my bag has not been found. What a joke!! You pay alot of money for an airline ticket, they won't allow certain items to be carried on, which forces you to check your bags in. Again, you pay the skycab person to take your bag, and he works for the airline, but yet when you're bag doesn't arrive, they claim that they are not at fault. I don't get it. How come the airlines or TSA are not accountable??? Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do about the incompentence of the airline industry???