I’ll start off by saying this:  do as I say, not as I do.

As much as I travel, I’m blessed to have had infrequent times when my luggage got lost. (Knock wood.)  My best “worst luggage experience” story happened many years ago when I went to an industry conference in Iceland. In December. From there, I decided to visit Malta, after which I would do a site inspection to Sicily.

(I wasn’t as smart back then. Nowadays, I’d say that was a crazy plan!)

Can’t recall the exact itinerary, but from Reykjavik, I’d connect in London to Valetta, Malta.  Malta to Catania (probably with a connection in Rome).  Catania to Rome and then home to LA.

Crazy, right?

But I’m a professional – I can do this! There was only one problem: When I checked in with Iceland Airways for the flight to London, they advised me that they did not interline luggage (transfer it to a different carrier). My suitcase was checked only to London, where I’d have to claim it and re-check. Except I didn’t have sufficient time in London to do that. Yikes!

So there I was, on the floor of the airport, re-packing the ‘essentials’ into my carry-on bag. Hoping I’d have everything I needed for the next week of travel. As I recall, I had a pair of jeans, one pair of black slacks (not too dressy, not too casual – just right), one pair of black shoes for walking and another pair for slightly dressier occasions, assorted tops/shirts, favorite curling brush and toiletries. I returned to the ticket counter and kissed my suitcase goodbye – wondering if I would ever see it again.

Iceland Air would get it to Heathrow. After that it wasn’t technically lost – just orphaned.  Oh – did I mention that I was not coming back through London? I doubted they’d be responsible for getting it shipped home to me in Los Angeles. Aside from the fact that they didn’t fly to LAX, they would have – technically – satisfied their obligation by getting it to the final destination: London.

Off I went – and tried not to think about it for the rest of my journey. Tried not to think about the thermal underwear I didn’t have when it was snowing on Mt. Etna. Tried not to think about it when my (incredibly handsome) personal butler came to my room at the St. Regis in Rome and offered to help me unpack. (Damn!)

What did I learn? I learned that a decent pair of black slacks is just about the most critical travel necessity (that, and a tube of mascara).  I managed to survive all those places, all those experiences, with just a carry-on. Did I do a lot of rinsing out at night? Yes.  Did I vow to travel lightly with just a carry-on from that point forward? Yes.  Did that ever happen?  No.

I still pack too much. I pack within a couple of hours of departure to the airport (I hate packing!) – so I don’t plan well.  Plus, I discovered those great Space Bags that allow me to pack a lot more stuff in a smaller amount of space. And so I take much more than I absolutely need.

Did I get my suitcase back?  Yes – with the help of my Sales Rep from Iceland Airways.  Not sure what would have happened if I didn’t have that connection.

Warning: these compression bags are either a godsend or a curse!

Another story:

Gabriel Haigazian, my VP Operations, travels at least as much as I do. He doesn’t travel light, either.  (He’d probably agree that he takes MORE stuff than I do – although his shoes are twice as big!)

1. Pack light.
2. Consider shipping your stuff ahead of time. (Expensive, though…. )
3. Separate items – pack some of everything in each of your bags, and pack enough in your carry-on to survive two days of travel.
4. Put ID tags on the inside and outside of your bag.
5. Take a photo of the outside of your bag. (Better if it’s not black …!)
6. Take a photo of the stuff you’re packing (the airlines will ask for an inventory list).
7. Don’t pack anything valuable or sentimental in checked luggage.
8. Double check the claim ticket to make sure the agent has correctly tagged it to where it’s supposed to go.
9. Give yourself plenty of connection time between flights.
10. If you’re departing on a cruise, plan to overnight the night before embarkation. (Cruise passengers are moving targets!)
11. Have the details of your itinerary – dates, names and addresses where you’re staying (the airlines will ask).
12. Don’t travel on separate tickets. Airlines are not required to interline luggage if your segments are not on the same ticket. (FYI, it’s the final carrier that is responsible for your bag – regardless of where it got lost.)
13. Best to travel with carriers of the same alliance, although there are no guarantees.
14. Download a size conversion app in case you need to buy clothes in a foreign country. (Gabriel’s shoe size in Europe? A whopping 44!)
15. At each connection point, show your claim tags to the gate agent and ask if your bags have been loaded onto the flight. Nothing you can do about it if they say “no,” but at least you won’t be surprised when it doesn’t show up on the carousel.
16. If the airline has no clue as to the whereabouts of your bag (amazing as it is in this era of bar codes), go to the airport (if possible!) to look. It may be sitting there – as Gabriel’s was!  On July 2, he asked our agent in Rome to have one of his people look for it (the photo – see #5 – helped the person know what she was looking for). She found it sitting forlornly next to a huge pile of orphaned luggage near a carousel in the baggage claim area!  Eventually, Alitalia would probably have scanned the claim tag . . . but why they hadn’t done so for all the days it had been sitting there . . . who knows?
17. Don’t lose your luggage in Italy.
18. Use a good travel agent who has connections with people on the ground.  (Sorry … don’t call us because we don’t do individual travel …)
19. Have baggage insurance.  Carry the policy information with you.
20. Read #1 . . . if you travel lightly, you’ll never have to worry about any of this!

When you seek the opposite of a boring, black suitcase! Nobody will possibly mistake your bag for theirs!

What’s in YOUR bag?

In May 2014, there were 3.34 lost bag reports filed per 1,000 enplaned passengers (as per the U.S. Dept of Transportation’s Air Travel Consumer Report). A (supposedly) miniscule percentage of bags are never reunited with their rightful owners.

What exactly happens to unclaimed bags?

Eventually, after a (supposedly) exhaustive search, domestic airlines sell unclaimed luggage to Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama. According to their website, truckloads of lost luggage are transported to their facility every day, sight unseen. Bags are opened and unpacked; items are tossed, sorted, cleaned/laundered/dry-cleaned, appraised and priced for resale in their 40,000 sq. ft. store. Personal data is (supposedly) erased from electronics.  Much is donated to charity. 

Some of the weirder items they’ve unpacked . . .

• A 41-carat emerald
• Aluminized fire suit
• 50 vacuum-packed frogs
• A missile-guidance system from a fighter jet
• A porcelain vase (later identified as Limoge, valued at $18,000)
• Ashes of a loved one
• A shrunken head

BREAKING NEWS!

It’s too soon to share details, but save these dates*:

August 21 – 29, 2015

* Only if you want to participate in one of the most AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, FANTABULOUS travel experiences of a lifetime!

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