4 ms·

I'm on a plane at least once a month these days, and I have never lost a bag in all my 20 years of international travel. Am I just lucky?

jackweirdy 9y ago
There's always some risk, though the level is definitely reducing as airport systems get better at handling the edge cases. But even taking into account the improvements there, there's still a bunch of sleep deprived humans at the end of your 12 hour redeye who are happy to take your bag if it looks a bit like theirs (this happened to me even though I covered my bag in unique stuff...)
minikites 9y ago
I've had bags get misrouted and delayed, but I wouldn't consider that "lost". Are you saying you've never had an instance when you didn't have your bag in baggage claim right when you landed? One time my bag was delayed by a day and an airline representative delivered it to my home, which was nice. Another time I volunteered to be bumped in exchange for a voucher but my bag was already loaded so it arrived significantly before I did.
- telesilla 9y ago
  Oh yes, I've had bags delayed and sent to wrong destinations, and taken other people's bags and had my own taken: but they've always found their way back to me. And it's not happened in years since I suppose technology really improved.
astura 9y ago
TFA says airlines are mostly really good at getting bags to their owner - only .01% of bags become unclaimed. It's been an embarrassingly long time since my undergraduate statistics class, so the math might not be 100% correct, but I'd like to attempt it anyway, be sure to tell me if I'm wrong: Worst case, you fly twice a month for 20 years, that's 480 flights. Each flight is a round trip, so baggage is entered into the airlines systems 960 times in 20 years. If the probability that an airline gets your baggage to you each time is 99.99% .9999^960 = .9085 1-.9085 = .0915 So, if my calculations are correct, in 20 years time, there's a 9.15% of chance your bags having be lost at least once. Assuming that the odds of an airline losing all bags are the same - and they are obviously not.
- ghaff 9y ago
  I suspect that the (vast?) majority of people who travel that much don't check luggage regularly. The exception being people who need a lot of gear for whatever purpose they're on the road for all the time. Personally, I'm on dozens of flights a year and I only check luggage for a handful of those flights. Anecdotally, luggage does miss connections on a fairly regular basis and if there are airline changes/international flights involved, it may take a few days to track a bag down. But I've never had a bag lost permanently and I can't remember the last time I've heard someone I know complaining about that happening. I think my parents in all their years of travel may have lost a bag permanently once. ADDED: The statistic in the article doesn't really say what percentage of luggage is lost though. The quote is “Less than one-half percent of bags are ultimately unclaimed." So this is the case where they have the luggage but can't figure out who the owner is for whatever reason. Presumably other bags are just lost--probably most typically stolen.
  - lfowles 9y ago
    The only luggage I've lost (temporarily!) has been carry-on which ended up being gate checked. It was explained that during handling the gate check tag came off.
  - astura 9y ago
    TFA was solely about luggage that was permanently lost, not temporarily. I was answering the GP's question if they are just lucky or if they can expect lost luggage with 20 years of regular travel. The answer is: the odds are highly in your favor of not having an airline lose your bags, even after 20 years of regularly entrusting your bags to the airline.
hourislate 9y ago
I am on a plane once a week and refuse to check anything. I pack light and take it with me on board. Yesterday for the first time in like 3 years I checked a bag and it never made it. They changed gates on me 3 times in a span of 6 hours due to a storm that passed through DFW. It's not lost but it never made one of the gate changes. Lucky it just had some booze ( one of the reasons I had to check it, TSA Rules) in it and a few items that were not that important for my trip. Rule 1 - Pack light and just bring a carry on if possible. Rule 2 - If you are connecting try not to check any bags. Rule 3 - If checking a bag make sure you tag it with your flight number, home address, destination address, phone number, and record locator number (this one is important). I can't wait for the day of fully autonomous cars. Anything within 8-10 hours driving would replace flying for me. My trip was a 2.5 hour flight and took 12 hours to get there before it was all over.
- gbacon 9y ago
  Complete a private pilot certificate with an instrument rating for good measure and fly general aviation?
kalleboo 9y ago
Not on a plane, but I've forgotten a bag on a train once. Lost a bunch of dirty clothes I was bringing home to wash at my parents place. The train companies answer was "call lost and found at the 3 major train stations along the line [one of which is in another country] as well as the police in the 3 cities". Never got the bag back.
jsjohnst 9y ago
> Am I just lucky? The only one “lost” permanently (had many lost temporarily) was put on an earlier flight than mine. Fairly likely wasn’t lost by airline / airport, but rather stolen. Conveniently the cameras near that carousel weren’t working that day.
Symbiote 9y ago
I make about 6 trips a year, and last year my bag was completely lost after a tight connection at Paris. The value of the luggage was much more than I would have expected - clothes add up in cost - but the work travel insurance covered everything. It was a hassle re-buying all the stuff I don't use very often, after I'd put that task off for over a month hoping the bag would turn up somewhere.
- astura 9y ago
  If your not travelling for work, some credit cards come with lost baggage insurance too, especially "travel" cards and those with an annual fee. Check your credit card documents! That being said, I believe, IIRC, the airlines are supposed to compensate you some amount when they lose your bag. You're right though, clothes really add up, especially if your stuff is higher end
  - Symbiote 9y ago
    Air France compensated me €70, which didn't even cover my bag, after losing my claim twice. I wanted them to pay, since they lost the bag, but it took so much time going through their convoluted systems that eventually I had to accept I was wasting work time, and should claim on the work insurance.
oligopoly 9y ago
More likely you don't travel with enough valuables which is smart or aren't wealthy enough.

jackweirdy 9y ago

There's always some risk, though the level is definitely reducing as airport systems get better at handling the edge cases. But even taking into account the improvements there, there's still a bunch of sleep deprived humans at the end of your 12 hour redeye who are happy to take your bag if it looks a bit like theirs (this happened to me even though I covered my bag in unique stuff...)

minikites 9y ago

I've had bags get misrouted and delayed, but I wouldn't consider that "lost". Are you saying you've never had an instance when you didn't have your bag in baggage claim right when you landed? One time my bag was delayed by a day and an airline representative delivered it to my home, which was nice. Another time I volunteered to be bumped in exchange for a voucher but my bag was already loaded so it arrived significantly before I did.

telesilla 9y ago
Oh yes, I've had bags delayed and sent to wrong destinations, and taken other people's bags and had my own taken: but they've always found their way back to me. And it's not happened in years since I suppose technology really improved.

astura 9y ago

TFA says airlines are mostly really good at getting bags to their owner - only .01% of bags become unclaimed. It's been an embarrassingly long time since my undergraduate statistics class, so the math might not be 100% correct, but I'd like to attempt it anyway, be sure to tell me if I'm wrong: Worst case, you fly twice a month for 20 years, that's 480 flights. Each flight is a round trip, so baggage is entered into the airlines systems 960 times in 20 years. If the probability that an airline gets your baggage to you each time is 99.99% .9999^960 = .9085 1-.9085 = .0915 So, if my calculations are correct, in 20 years time, there's a 9.15% of chance your bags having be lost at least once. Assuming that the odds of an airline losing all bags are the same - and they are obviously not.

ghaff 9y ago
I suspect that the (vast?) majority of people who travel that much don't check luggage regularly. The exception being people who need a lot of gear for whatever purpose they're on the road for all the time. Personally, I'm on dozens of flights a year and I only check luggage for a handful of those flights. Anecdotally, luggage does miss connections on a fairly regular basis and if there are airline changes/international flights involved, it may take a few days to track a bag down. But I've never had a bag lost permanently and I can't remember the last time I've heard someone I know complaining about that happening. I think my parents in all their years of travel may have lost a bag permanently once. ADDED: The statistic in the article doesn't really say what percentage of luggage is lost though. The quote is “Less than one-half percent of bags are ultimately unclaimed." So this is the case where they have the luggage but can't figure out who the owner is for whatever reason. Presumably other bags are just lost--probably most typically stolen.
- lfowles 9y ago
  The only luggage I've lost (temporarily!) has been carry-on which ended up being gate checked. It was explained that during handling the gate check tag came off.
- astura 9y ago
  TFA was solely about luggage that was permanently lost, not temporarily. I was answering the GP's question if they are just lucky or if they can expect lost luggage with 20 years of regular travel. The answer is: the odds are highly in your favor of not having an airline lose your bags, even after 20 years of regularly entrusting your bags to the airline.

hourislate 9y ago

I am on a plane once a week and refuse to check anything. I pack light and take it with me on board. Yesterday for the first time in like 3 years I checked a bag and it never made it. They changed gates on me 3 times in a span of 6 hours due to a storm that passed through DFW. It's not lost but it never made one of the gate changes. Lucky it just had some booze ( one of the reasons I had to check it, TSA Rules) in it and a few items that were not that important for my trip. Rule 1 - Pack light and just bring a carry on if possible. Rule 2 - If you are connecting try not to check any bags. Rule 3 - If checking a bag make sure you tag it with your flight number, home address, destination address, phone number, and record locator number (this one is important). I can't wait for the day of fully autonomous cars. Anything within 8-10 hours driving would replace flying for me. My trip was a 2.5 hour flight and took 12 hours to get there before it was all over.

gbacon 9y ago
Complete a private pilot certificate with an instrument rating for good measure and fly general aviation?

kalleboo 9y ago

Not on a plane, but I've forgotten a bag on a train once. Lost a bunch of dirty clothes I was bringing home to wash at my parents place. The train companies answer was "call lost and found at the 3 major train stations along the line [one of which is in another country] as well as the police in the 3 cities". Never got the bag back.

jsjohnst 9y ago

> Am I just lucky? The only one “lost” permanently (had many lost temporarily) was put on an earlier flight than mine. Fairly likely wasn’t lost by airline / airport, but rather stolen. Conveniently the cameras near that carousel weren’t working that day.

Symbiote 9y ago

I make about 6 trips a year, and last year my bag was completely lost after a tight connection at Paris. The value of the luggage was much more than I would have expected - clothes add up in cost - but the work travel insurance covered everything. It was a hassle re-buying all the stuff I don't use very often, after I'd put that task off for over a month hoping the bag would turn up somewhere.

astura 9y ago
If your not travelling for work, some credit cards come with lost baggage insurance too, especially "travel" cards and those with an annual fee. Check your credit card documents! That being said, I believe, IIRC, the airlines are supposed to compensate you some amount when they lose your bag. You're right though, clothes really add up, especially if your stuff is higher end
- Symbiote 9y ago
  Air France compensated me €70, which didn't even cover my bag, after losing my claim twice. I wanted them to pay, since they lost the bag, but it took so much time going through their convoluted systems that eventually I had to accept I was wasting work time, and should claim on the work insurance.

oligopoly 9y ago

More likely you don't travel with enough valuables which is smart or aren't wealthy enough.