VintageKrug - 15/04/2008 14:52 GMT
1. Wherever possible, travel light. The fewer belongings you have with you, the less you might have to replace should the worst happen. This makes sense environmentally, reducing the weight of unnecessary baggage, stops you hurting your back and that of the handlers themselves, and helps airlines keep ticket costs down, burning less fuel.
2. If you can, take hand baggage only. Most trips of three days or less should be able to be accommodated in one carry-on bag.
3. Use expandable luggage; if you do acquire a few items on your trip you can still carry everything back with you in one bag without doubling your chances for lost baggage (and potential extra bag charges!).
4. Ensure you hand baggage is robust enough to be checked if need be. Lockable wheelie bags are ideal for this.
5. Cross pack. If you are a couple travelling with two bags, try and mix your belongings together to ensure if you lose one bag you will both still be able to get by for a few days.
6. Label your bag properly, inside and out and ensure it's distinctive enough not to be confused by others at the baggage belt . Include name, flight details (including inbound and outbound flight number, routes and dates) contact information (email, mobile phone) and postcode, but not address as this could be a security risk. Double check the agent tagged your bag, and ensure the destination is the one where you expect to have to collect your bag from the belt especially if on a connecting itinerary.
7. Protect clothes by wrapping them in plastic bags – this stops any seepage from other neighbouring bags in the hold and ensures no inclement weather gets inside your bag. Putting layers of plastic also reduces crumpling and gives you something to put your dirty washing in whilst away.
8. Always carry valuables/medicine/irreplaceable sentimental items with you in your hand baggage.
9. If checking bags, take a day of supplies with you in your hand baggage; a basic change of clothes, essential toiletries and travel documents/money, as well as contact details of your insurer.
10. Have good insurance. Travel insurance is popular in Europe, less so in other countries. Many household policies and certain credit cards have excellent travel delay and missing bags insurance, and the knowledge of this can turn a traumatic incident into a therapeutic retail experience!
judynagy - 06/11/2008 19:58 GMT
Marking your luggage! Learned this the hard way last summer - I have a bright blue monster bag that I use for long European trips. Bright blue is the important phrase here. Another BA passenger on my flight from Roma had the same bag. My bag is festooned with tags and other interesting stuff. But ... she was chatting with her brother, father, etc and saw "her" bag come out, her brother leaped to pick it up for her and off they went ... with my bag of course.
She was sleeping in London and I was overnighting at a Heathrow hotel. Because I had my hotel name and phone number on the bag, she was able to call me in just a couple of hours and then sent my bag back out to LHR with a courier. Always put your contact info for each destination that requires a plane ride - I make up labels before I leave home and dutifully apply them every time I check a bag.
Now I'm also going to paint a big letter on both sides of my bag. Our bags didn't look exactly identical, but she was busy chatting when her brother picked mine up, an easy mistake. If there's anything a woman hates, it's being without her "stuff"!!
VintageKrug - 17/07/2010 16:14 GMT
Good advice judynagy.
carrotcake - 07/08/2010 22:08 GMT
Another good one Judynagy!! More appropriate for women is to have brightly coloured hand baggage. It is easily identified going through x- ray, less likely to be stolen. Also on the subject of x- ray, let one of your party go first, with little baggage. Therefore you have people both sides of the machine. Always put a mobile number or email adress inside your baggage, never a home address. Always have a tiny emergency toiletries and clothing pack in your hand luggage. This is good for the flight also. Off the point, but important, carry an old prescription note in your purse, that way, it is easier to obtain prescriptions if medication goes missing. Kind Regards.
judynagy - 07/08/2010 23:38 GMT
Good advice on the extra clothing, Carrotcake ... on that same trip to Roma my bag was lost for 3 days ... I am 6' tall with basketball player legs and linebaker shoulders ... difficult to find women's clothing in Europe ... maybe impossible, I've never tried ... but I had a complete outfit, including shoes and was fine for 3 days of sightseeing while "they" were finding my luggage. My dear husband spent a fortune on two new outfits and I smugly just waited for my big bag.
Hi VintageKrug
An excellent post but it does highlight an issue that does need to be resolved. Passengers being able to collect the wrong bag off the belt and being able to pass this through customs and security. Some years ago, LAX ran a pilot scheme where bags and their carriers were checked on leaving the arrivals hall after collection of the bags, but before leaving the aiport. With all this technolgy being introduced surely a system can be put in place to so that accidents of this nature can be avoided.
NTarrant - 08/08/2010 07:08 GMT
About five years ago they used to do this at La Guadia, NYC and would write over the tag receipt. Not only to make sure everyone has their own luggage but to stop people claiming their luggage has not arrived
VintageKrug - 20/12/2010 10:07 GMT
Probably worth bumping this in light of recent events.
It is certainly worth travelling with hand luggage only (where possible) to ensure you can simply walk away if your flight gets cancelled, even after you have boarded..
I agree VK, perhaps this thread should be re-visited.
A couple of points from my perspective. I usually wrap my bags in plastic to protect them from damage/pilfering and find it best to do this off airport if possible as it's half the price. Many car rental and off airport parking now offer this service.
If you have any status with the airline, or are flying premium, insist the check-in personnel put on the priority handling tags. They sometimes forget to do this and need "gently" reminding.
Miles and More and Virgin have baggage tags with just your name and membership number. These are very handy, quite solid (I've only lost one) and do not give away your address. The Senator ones are in a red leather pouch and when I called for some extra they sent me 4 without any problem at all.
Finally, if traveling with family and checking in together, make sure someone notes which baggage tag applies to which piece of luggage. This is invaluable if you should lose two pieces. We name our bags "big red", small red", "big yellow" etc so it's usually just a mater of writing "BR" or whichever on the receipt.
Kalicouk - 29/12/2010 15:38 GMT
MartynSinclair hits on a valid point. Why hasn't technology evolved in baggage handling?
If new luggage was brought to market which incorporated RFID (Radio Frequency ID) technology then it would be possible to have a central register of who owns which bag.
Then, when checking-in, all that needs to happen is a database gets updated linking the passenger, the route they're travelling and the luggage (if RFID chipped). It could even link the loyalty programme (such as miles and more) and the passport number.
The possibility of someone walking away with someone else's luggage would be virtually zero, especially if one had to pass through a scanner on entrance into customs. It could soon be flagged if a case was moving through the RFID scanner alongside a person who was not 'tagged' to that bag.
Whilst that's just an abstract concept, it never ceases to amaze me that we have such an antiquated way of routing luggage. That is, barcodes on bits of sticky paper! Surely we can do better and as I understand it, RFID is now a mature technology and relatively cheap.
If mobile phones can have an IMEI number which is unique to them and cannot be easily changed, which is linked to a SIM card and the owner, then why not the same with luggage?
For now, my method is to use a thick permanent marker to write my mobile number onto the base of each case (including the international code of course). I'm more concerned with keeping my bags close or getting them to me quickly, than I am with the cosmetics of it. As a frequent traveller, it's proved its worth many times over the years and cannot get pulled off like a tag.
Kalicouk, this (apart from the passport data and the scanner match on collection) is what Qantas is now introducing in Australia.
http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/next-generation-checkin/global/en?int_cam=au:info:promo:nextGenCheckin:lang:en
Having viewed the Qantas presentation, it made me wonder why Oneworld doesnt pool resources and develop this as a JV with other Oneworld members. It looks superb and feels very "next generation". Well done Qantas, I wonder when this will breach the boundaries of Australia.
VintageKrug - 30/12/2010 05:46 GMT
I liked the presentation, but apart from the clever electronic bag tags I didn't see much that was different from the current iPhone app from BA, or bmi/Lufthansa's SMS boarding pass, the latter of which has been around (and is useable internationally) for almost two years now.
One glaring difference is that not everybody wants or uses an iPhone or SMS boarding pass. The issue with the SMS boarding pass, is that if its not on your phone and 'alive' at the precise moment, it gets fiddly just as you are at the front of the Q. The 2 systems are like chalk and cheese.
VintageKrug - 30/12/2010 07:04 GMT
Its a good point Martyn, but I think the difficulty is that any system is only as useful as its "weakest link".
In Australia, this will be used only domestically. It's a relatively closed market, with Qantas getting much (not all!) of the regular Business traffic; it makes sense to invest in the hardware and peripherals needed to manage this.
Less easy in Europe or the US where a wide range of airlines flies to multiple different airports.
iPhone boarding passes are relatively light on up front investment, and that is why I think they are more practical.
Don't misunderstand, I am very impressed indeed with what Qantas are proposing - and hope it will be rolled out as open source technology with an easily accessible international standard. But RFID was trialled by BAA at LHR T5 (of all places!) almost three years ago in Feb 2008:
www.airport-technology.com/features/feature1712/
For now, until that happens, iPhone boarding passes are the most practical option, and I have to say I don't really find them any more cumbersome than paper tickets.
The other problem with the iPhone boarding pass, and in my opinion its weakest link, is you need a data connection to access the boarding pass. I have yet to visit an airport which has free wifi for this purpose or else I need to spend a fortune (relatively speaking) to download it using 3G (unless in my home country). I have not yet found a way of storing the pass on the iPhone that does not then require a separate app.
It's a nice novelty, but I prefer to check-in online, print my boarding pass, or else turn up at the airport and have them do it for me when I'm checking in my baggage.
One other downside = a flat battery!!!
Flip the argument and look for the strongest link, which is the investmnent opportunities by Oneworld as oppose to a single investment by Qantas.
SSTBeliever - 30/12/2010 20:24 GMT
Practical help please!! I arrived on BA10 from SYD on 15/12 in F and a GC holder. One of my bags was badly damaged (which I have to say has never happened to me before) and I duly reported it to the BA baggage Officer who gave me a reference number and told me to call Customer Service and Sales on 08444930787 later and they would advise me what to do. I duly did this and was told to ring Antler on 01617625005 (apparently Antler deal with all BA passengers damaged bags). I rang them and was told that BA had not uploaded the information to them yet but they would chase BA to do so on my behalf and call me back when they had the relevant information. Nothing heard so I called back on 17/12 to be given the same story and profuse apologies. I then called the BA baggage tracking number on 08444930785 and went through a number of recorded messages telling me to report the damage online and I would get a Reference number that I already had before the line cut out saying they were very busy!! Hmmm now what to do - tried the ECGC number to be told they didn't have a clue what to do and given the Baggage tracking number again. Friday evening by now so gave up for the weekend and went through the same process on 20/12 and 23/12 and again today to no avail. I need my bag replaced to travel on 10/01/11 but at this rate I will still be in an infinite loop and no-one to speak to who can help!! Not what I would call good customer service to a regular F passenger - BA are in danger of losing my business and that of my two GC working children but I don't suppose they give a damn and all because a simple computer upload has not been made. Any advice gratefully received!-apart from marching into Waterside and blocking the Ops Room door I am running out of ideas!
Dear SSTBeliever - I think part of the issue is that your problem occured during a very challenging period for ALL airlines. I would imagine that passengers in and out of Heathrow have been the priority, thats not to say that a damaged bag be ignored.
My best advice would be to leave it until after the holiday period. With Heathrow and passenger flows getting back to normal, along with Holidayitus, I dont think you will get much common sense from anyone until after the 4th.
I know that you intend travelling on the 10th and it may be that you need to buy another suitcase in the interim. If that it is the case, I would keep the receipt. The other option could be to contact your travel insurance or contents insurers to see if the damaged case is covered.
I think though that it would be a pity if this one incident was the cause of you along with your 2 gold card working children taking your business away from British Airways. If you are getting no joy, my advice would be to do as you suggest, march into Waterside and demand action, otherwise, try using the online Exec Club contact as it has never failed to provide a repsonse to me in the past.
Happy New Year to you and I hope your case is resolved.
Dear SSTBeliever, I agree with Marytn, but perhaps I could go one step further.
I travel with old hard shell Samsonite's. These are virtually indestructible and so battered and scratched that further damage is not really noticeable. They also float! Some years ago when transferring the baggage to a boat, the trolley fell in the water. My two bags floated and were quickly picked up - and the contents were all dry. Everyone else's sank!
Secondly, and this is perhaps a terrible thing to say, but you did get your bag. Perhaps this is the coward's way, but is it really worth the time and hassle you are spending on this. Cost the damage out over the number of flights you have taken, and I would think the cost is very low.
Shrugging it off and letting them get away with it, will reduce your blood pressure and leave you more time to do other more practical things.
Finally, blacklisting BA will in the end only inconvenience yourself. BA and QF have a revenue sharing agreement, and flying Emirates or their ilk will mean an inconvenient and, probably, middle of the night transfer.
So in the end, give it to your insurance, buy a Samsonite (or other hard shelled case) and look forward to all that 2011 will bring ;-)
