Lost Luggage: New Tech and Trusted Tips


Jammed airports and planes this summer season will inevitably imply extra checked suitcases, duffels and backpacks that don’t present up at baggage declare.

Tight — some would even say unrealistic — flight schedules and persevering with staffing shortages put stress on baggage administration techniques, stated Jamie Larounis, a journey trade analyst at Upgraded Factors. Generally there simply isn’t sufficient time to get baggage throughout a big airport and onto departing plane. “The slightest delay of a airplane coming in can domino to the following as a result of luggage can’t get from one to the opposite,” Mr. Larounis stated.

Airways and airports are growing new expertise to assist these techniques shepherd your bag via the conveyor belt maze faster and extra effectively.

SITA, an air journey expertise firm whose WorldTracer system is in use at 2,200 airports globally, is teaming up on new initiatives. For instance, it just lately examined a system with Lufthansa to mechanically reroute baggage that missed its flight onto the following accessible flight and let passengers know the brand new arrival time. That notification saves passengers from having to go converse to somebody within the arrivals corridor.

A system made by Siemens can learn crumpled or partly obscured paper tags. It’s getting used at a number of airports in the US and internationally.

BAGTAG, a Dutch firm that makes digital baggage tags, is working with carriers like Alaska Airways, KLM, Lufthansa and Swiss to section out paper tags in favor of e-tags, which may assist scale back mishandled baggage as a result of they’re made from sturdy plastic and are much less more likely to be mangled or torn off.

Alaska Airways is introducing digital tags to a gaggle of two,500 fliers now and plans to make them accessible on the market this fall.

The excellent news is sort of everyone seems to be ultimately reunited with checked baggage. Final 12 months, the overwhelming majority made it again to their house owners with no hitch. Out of the 470 million complete luggage checked on U.S. carriers in 2022, about six out of each 1,000 had been mishandled (misplaced, broken, delayed or stolen), in accordance with the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. And solely a tiny fraction of bags isn’t reunited with its proprietor, in accordance with SITA — about one in 2,250 luggage.

So what are you able to do to depart the bags carousel with a smile in your face this summer season?

Arrive early so your checked bag has loads of time to make it to the airplane. Fly nonstop when doable, as a result of each switch will increase the possibility of a mishap. When you do want to vary planes, don’t guide a good connection. And ensure any earlier bag tags and stickers are taken off.

Rigorously select the kind of bag you test (if doable, keep away from the ever-present little black rolling bag, which may simply get blended up at baggage declare) and festoon it with ribbons, stickers or different aptitude to make it straightforward to establish. Pay shut consideration on the check-in counter: Ensure the tag the agent attaches to your bag has the proper airport code. By no means test remedy, jewellery, or different necessities or valuables.

Benefit from your airline’s smartphone app, which can provide baggage monitoring capabilities. You can even place an Apple AirTag and a card along with your contact info contained in the bag to assist hint it within the occasion it will get misplaced.

However say the worst occurs and your baggage doesn’t arrive as anticipated: Ensure you fill out the declare kind earlier than you allow the airport. The Division of Transportation web site lists the foundations that airways should observe when baggage is delayed or goes lacking, capping compensation at $3,800 per bag. Every airline has its personal particular insurance policies and procedures. Examine their web sites.