What to do to avoid losing luggage at the airport
Few things can ruin a trip faster than discovering your luggage is missing, delayed, damaged, or worse, stolen. Whether you’re at your destination or heading home, it’s a stressful situation no traveller wants to face.
But do not panic; there are clear steps you can take to report the issue, seek compensation, and recover your belongings. Here’s what to do immediately if your luggage doesn’t arrive as expected at the airport.
Book nonstop flights
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If you are really concerned about your checked luggage, prioritise nonstop flights or at least layovers with a generous amount of time.
Quite often, bags are most likely to get lost in that transfer between planes at the connection, especially if there’s a tight connection.
Take pictures of your luggage and its contents
Take a photo of your bags because the first things airline offices will ask you is what the brand name of the bag is, what the colour of the bag is, the size of the bag and the contents of the bag.
Use baggage tracking
Many airline apps allow travellers to see the status of their bags in real time, showing when they are checked, loaded onto the plane, and offloaded. So you might as well jump into the tracking trend and check the state of your luggage.
For extra safety, you can set up your own bag tracking. And travellers using Apple AirTags can allow third-party access to tracking information, giving airports and airlines another tool to hunt for bags in real time.
While packing, always consider putting your info on the inside, too, in case your outside tag gets torn off.
Carry-ons
The airlines may not lose baggage that you never checked in, hence always prioritise packing as light as you can and using just carry-ons. You’ll save time leaving the airport and have more peace of mind.
Lost
Check your airline’s claims and compensation policy. Each airline should have website information on what to do if your bag is lost. If you see that your luggage is damaged while still at the airport, report it there.
