3 ms·

> Now would it be more ethical than not contacting them? That’s up to debate, but at least the owners would have a choice. There's the rub: luggage ends up at

> Now would it be more ethical than not contacting them? That’s up to debate, but at least the owners would have a choice. There's the rub: luggage ends up at UnclaimedBaggage after the airline has exhausted all other avenues to try and find the owner. (this particular article doesn't focus on that aspect. Here's another I quickly found that does: https://www.afar.com/magazine/what-happens-to-airline-passengers-unclaimed-baggage https://www.afar.com/magazine/what-happens-to-airline-passen...) There are no contactable owners, so the ethical dilemna solves itself. This is why it's always good to put contact information inside the luggage, where it can't get ripped off in handling.

newsclues 3y ago
Do companies have a true incentive to do the work? Or can they provide limited token compensation minus the sale of the lost luggage, and come out ahead vs doing a good job at not losing luggage and returning it when found? If government/contracts limits compensation liability, then cut costs as much as possible and bring in some revenue selling luggage?
- Sohcahtoa82 3y ago
  > Do companies have a true incentive to do the work? The article states "When they can’t find your bag, they are liable to compensate you for your loss (up to $3,500 for domestic flights and $1,780 for international)."
  - newsclues 3y ago
    What is the cost to improve the system so that it is an exceedingly rare occurrence? It could be cheaper to pay the fines.
  - shkkmo 3y ago
    It's pretty important to note that those aren't per bag payouts but per bag liability limits, after you provide documentation for the value of the contents of the bag. Thus allowing a company to buy "lost" bags directly decreases the incentive the airlines have to find the owner of the bag.
dataflow 3y ago
> There's the rub: luggage ends up at UnclaimedBaggage after the airline has exhausted all other avenues to try and find the owner. > There are no contactable owners, so the ethical dilemna solves itself. Er, that's a very... convenient excuse for absolving people of ethical responsibility. Geez, there's no contact info on it, how could I possibly reunite it with its owner?? It's not like we have any clue who's lost their bags or what those bags looked like, right?? The owners are still able to describe and recognize their bags and their contents... the fact that an airline doesn't provide adequate means to search through lost bags doesn't mean it's somehow impossible to pair some of the owners and bags correctly.
- NoPicklez 3y ago
  I don't think it's worth cherry picking what they said. They also said that it ends up there once the airline has exhausted all avenues for contacting them. Once an airline does that and a large period of time has passed, what else can they do? Surely, there is a shared level of responsibility for the owner of the lost bags to at the very least to try retrieve them. It's not hard for anyone to contact an airline or an airport to query lost bags. Now if someone has been contacting the airline and the bags cannot be found and the airline continues to sell those bags whilst the customer has been attempting to retrieve them then that's a problem.
  - shkkmo 3y ago
    > Now if someone has been contacting the airline and the bags cannot be found and the airline continues to sell those bags whilst the customer has been attempting to retrieve them then that's a problem. I would assume that this is the case for a non-zero amount of the bags sold. The article talks abot specific items where the owner was known but the item was not returned.
    - NoPicklez 3y ago
      Exactly as per my earlier point, because the owner may have been known and the airline may have exhausted their avenues to contact them. In which case after a period of time, what is the airline to do but get rid of the bags
KolmogorovComp 3y ago
That’s because airlines don’t open the luggage. If you find a ring with Ms xxx written on it, is it difficult to find it?

newsclues 3y ago

Do companies have a true incentive to do the work? Or can they provide limited token compensation minus the sale of the lost luggage, and come out ahead vs doing a good job at not losing luggage and returning it when found? If government/contracts limits compensation liability, then cut costs as much as possible and bring in some revenue selling luggage?

Sohcahtoa82 3y ago
> Do companies have a true incentive to do the work? The article states "When they can’t find your bag, they are liable to compensate you for your loss (up to $3,500 for domestic flights and $1,780 for international)."
- newsclues 3y ago
  What is the cost to improve the system so that it is an exceedingly rare occurrence? It could be cheaper to pay the fines.
- shkkmo 3y ago
  It's pretty important to note that those aren't per bag payouts but per bag liability limits, after you provide documentation for the value of the contents of the bag. Thus allowing a company to buy "lost" bags directly decreases the incentive the airlines have to find the owner of the bag.

dataflow 3y ago

> There's the rub: luggage ends up at UnclaimedBaggage after the airline has exhausted all other avenues to try and find the owner. > There are no contactable owners, so the ethical dilemna solves itself. Er, that's a very... convenient excuse for absolving people of ethical responsibility. Geez, there's no contact info on it, how could I possibly reunite it with its owner?? It's not like we have any clue who's lost their bags or what those bags looked like, right?? The owners are still able to describe and recognize their bags and their contents... the fact that an airline doesn't provide adequate means to search through lost bags doesn't mean it's somehow impossible to pair some of the owners and bags correctly.

NoPicklez 3y ago
I don't think it's worth cherry picking what they said. They also said that it ends up there once the airline has exhausted all avenues for contacting them. Once an airline does that and a large period of time has passed, what else can they do? Surely, there is a shared level of responsibility for the owner of the lost bags to at the very least to try retrieve them. It's not hard for anyone to contact an airline or an airport to query lost bags. Now if someone has been contacting the airline and the bags cannot be found and the airline continues to sell those bags whilst the customer has been attempting to retrieve them then that's a problem.
- shkkmo 3y ago
  > Now if someone has been contacting the airline and the bags cannot be found and the airline continues to sell those bags whilst the customer has been attempting to retrieve them then that's a problem. I would assume that this is the case for a non-zero amount of the bags sold. The article talks abot specific items where the owner was known but the item was not returned.
  - NoPicklez 3y ago
    Exactly as per my earlier point, because the owner may have been known and the airline may have exhausted their avenues to contact them. In which case after a period of time, what is the airline to do but get rid of the bags

KolmogorovComp 3y ago

That’s because airlines don’t open the luggage. If you find a ring with Ms xxx written on it, is it difficult to find it?