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Business Travel 911 September 2005 • Vol.3 Issue 9 Page(s) 104 in print issue |
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Lost Luggage |
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 None of these bags looks familiar. They have been going around the carousel for a long time now, and there haven’t been any new suitcases coming down the chute in a while. Even worse, it seems that everyone else on your flight has found their bags already, and now they’re off scoring all the best rental cars and hotel rooms. Even if you're returning home from a trip, it's still a major frustration when your luggage appears to be missing in action. Here’s a quick guide to what you can do when your bags are headed for Tulsa, but you’ve disembarked in Toledo.  Make A Claim First, make sure you’re at the right luggage carousel. Seriously. Many airports have several, and they may not all be within line of sight of each other. Even if the LED sign above the carousel shows your flight’s number, some baggage may have been misdirected to another chute. Check the walls for a map of the airport to help you locate any alternate baggage pickup areas. If there’s still no sign of your stuff, report first to the airport’s baggage office. If there isn’t someone who can help you there, go straight to the airline’s ticket counter. Most airlines only allow a short window of time in which you’re expected to bring the problem to their attention. This window is open 24 hours a day at United and American, for instance, but only four hours at Southwest and Frontier. At the baggage office or ticket counter, fill out the form(s) provided to you. You’ll typically need to supply your baggage claim check given to you when you checked your bags before the flight. “It is used to trace baggage through the customer’s name, ticket number, and airport of origin,” says United Airlines spokesperson Andrea Arroyo. “Customers are also asked for an exterior description of the bag and a list of interior contents.” Be sure to tell the airline where you’ll be staying and for how long. Contact the baggage service center again when you change hotels or fly home. Missing luggage can leave you short of personal items you use every day. Note that some hotels offer complimentary toiletries, such as toothbrushes, in case travelers have lost or forgotten theirs. Lost Or Found After the airline finds your luggage, it will probably ship it to you by a courier or carrier service, such as UPS. Many, including United, try to return misplaced baggage to customers within 24 hours. Some airlines let you track the progress of your claim; Continental Airlines offer this at www.continental.com/travel/tcbagtracing.asp. If your bags don’t surface within a certain amount of time, some airlines may send you another form to fill out in order to submit a more formal claim. For example, Frontier Airlines will send you a claim form if it doesn’t find your lost luggage within five days. You’ll probably have a limited time to return a form like this (30 days with Frontier). If your bags appear to be gone for good, virtually all airlines will compensate you for your loss, to a point. A typical maximum amount in this case is $2,800 per customer, unless you paid for extra baggage insurance when you checked the luggage. Note that some airlines may pay less or nothing at all to discount-fare customers, such as “industry reduced-rate passengers and buddy pass riders” at Frontier. Tips For The Future The following advice may not help you right now, but it may help you reduce the risk of having your bags lost on future flights. Remove old baggage claim check labels to avoid confusion. Attach clear, legible tags with your name and current contact information to your bags; business cards work well here. Also, Arroyo says, it’s a good idea to put a copy of your itinerary and hotel contact info inside your luggage so that it’s noticeable should a baggage handler need to open a bag. Carry on all of your luggage if you can meet the airline’s carryon policy. This should go without saying if you’re flying standby. Speaking of which, be sure to read the baggage policy’s fine print about liability and compensation for lost items if you’re traveling on a reduced rate. Of course, there’s not much you can do about weather and other delaying factors, which often postpone flights and send confusion rippling throughout the baggage routing system. Likewise, mechanical failures can cause the airline to move passengers to an alternate plane at the last minute. In either scenario, there’s a high risk that the luggage might be loaded onto (or left on) the wrong airplane. At least now you’ll know what to do about it. Visit the Business Travel 911 section of the PC Today Web site (www.pctoday.com) and click Lost Luggage for airline contact information.  by Marty Sems
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