When Can I Order a Second Bag Westjet
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You're standing at the baggage carousel for what seems like forever when the steady flow of bags onto the conveyor belt slows to a trickle, then stops. Your bags are nowhere in sight. Or your bags practise show up, but look similar an angry gorilla has been throwing them effectually his cage for sport. Who's responsible for your damaged, delayed, or lost luggage?
Every bit long as airlines have been checking luggage, they've been sending a few somewhere other than where they were supposed to go. Fortunately, airlines are doing better recently than they did 20 years agone, and so your chances for a happy ending accept improved for two reasons:
- They're losing fewer numberless. The government has been collecting statistics on mishandled bag reports for decades, and the number of mishandled bag reports per 100,000 passengers has dropped from a loftier of seven in the early 1990s to about three since 2009.
- They're getting improve at tracking the numberless they exercise lose. With barcoded tags and even a few RFID-enabled tags, the airlines' systems keep excellent rails of numberless. The last two times I've had a handbag problem, an agent at the lost-baggage desk was able to tell me immediately where my bag was and the flight on which it would go far.
Although airline functioning has improved, what y'all practice when an airline mishandles a handbag remains about as it was in the 1990s. Below is guidance about what to do if your baggage is delayed, lost, or damaged, also as tips for preventing these scenarios.
What to Exercise If Your Luggage Is Delayed
If your bags don't go far on the carousel, try not to panic. Most so-called "lost" baggage really isn't lost; rather, it'south delayed. And in near cases an airline can reunite yous with your luggage within 24 hours.
When you realize that your pocketbook isn't going to show upwards on the carousel, go immediately to your airline'south lost-baggage counter, which yous'll detect in well-nigh big-drome baggage areas. In smaller airports, ask any airline employee where to go. Even if yous have someplace yous need to exist, study missing baggage earlier you leave the drome. (Some airline contracts specify that you must file no later than four hours after arrival; others say 24 hours.) When filing your merits, give the bellboy a hotel or habitation address, as well every bit a telephone number where you lot can be reached.
Mitt over your baggage check (but write down the numbers) and make full out the form, making sure to get a copy of whatever relevant tracking numbers, websites, and phone numbers (some airlines have an online organization while others will provide you with a telephone number to call for updates). Note the name of the agent that handles your merits as well as the estimated time your purse will make it.
If your bags are on the next flight, y'all could have them inside a few hours. If they've been sent to the wrong airport, information technology could take a couple of days. If your baggage is delayed on a connecting itinerary involving more than i airline, y'all deal with the airline that flew y'all to your final destination, fifty-fifty if y'all think the first airline was responsible.
The airlines typically bring you your luggage when it is establish; you will rarely demand to return to the airport to pick information technology up. If you lot're staying at a hotel or resort, warning the front desk virtually an incoming bag. Airlines usually deliver delayed bags at no toll to you, but some may ask you to pay.
Additionally, many airlines volition reimburse any unexpected expenses caused by the loss or delay (keep your receipts!). No law requires whatsoever specific aid, only that airlines must take a policy and make it available to you.
At a minimum, airlines typically comprehend overnight needs such equally toothpaste and such; some lines stock and hand out regular overnight kits at the lost-baggage desk-bound. If your bag is lost on a flight arriving at an airport other than your dwelling house, many airlines offer to cover all or part of the cost of items you lot may demand to continue your vacation or business trip. Some airlines offer a set daily allowance; others offering to reimburse yous for items y'all buy on the basis of receipts. And some airlines say near nothing beyond "Nosotros'll go your bag dorsum." Very niggling is fix; prepare to negotiate.
Only one major U.S. airline, Alaska, provides whatsoever monetary bounty for delayed baggage: If the line doesn't deliver your checked baggage within 20 minutes of arrival at the gate, information technology issues a voucher for $25 toward a future flight or two,500 frequent-flyer miles. Other airlines do non issue refunds of baggage fees until your suitcase is declared lost.
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What to Practise If Your Luggage Is Lost
If an airline doesn't get your bag back to y'all within five days, the purse may be truly lost. An airline defines "lost" at anywhere from five to 30 days, at which indicate both you and the airline proceed on the assumption that you'll never run into your pocketbook again.
If the airline loses your bags, make certain y'all get a written merits for amercement. This may crave a different form than the original "missing baggage" grade. This can be done at the airport or online.
The maximum an airline pays on lost bags and their contents is generally limited to $3,500 per passenger on U.Due south. domestic flights, and a varying rate per rider for checked baggage on international flights based on the Warsaw Convention or the Montreal Convention. In the United States, if you lot paid a checked baggage fee for your lost bag, the airline must refund your fee. Check your carrier's website for specifics.
You can purchase "backlog valuation" protection from your airline if your checked luggage is worth more than these limits, but before doing so, make sure the items aren't already covered past your homeowner's or travel insurance policy. Some credit carte du jour companies and travel agencies besides offering optional or automatic supplemental baggage coverage.
The airlines typically have a long list of items for which they will not be held responsible; these include jewelry, money, heirlooms, and other valuables. These items should e'er exist left at domicile or packed in your conduct-on bag.
Whatever lost baggage claim process is obviously a negotiation. Airlines volition typically encompass only the depreciated value of whatever you say you lost, not the original purchase price. They will ask for receipts, fifty-fifty for a suit yous bought ten years agone. You lot may go back and forth several times before reaching a deal. The airline may offer you a voucher for future travel in lieu of cash, which is generally a good deal only if the voucher value is double to triple a satisfactory cash value and, fifty-fifty then, simply if the voucher conditions actually allow you to travel.
What to Exercise If Your Luggage Is Damaged
Once you've gotten your bags off the carousel, immediately bank check them for damage or other signs of tampering or mishandling. Written report any damage before leaving the airport; airline customer service agents volition often want to inspect the pocketbook.
Proceed in mind that most airlines won't cover minor impairment such equally bumps, scratches, dents, and scuffs, nor will they cover damage to straps, pulls, locks, or wheels that are the upshot of normal article of clothing and tear. Airlines will more often than not cover broken delicate items packed in your baggage only if they are packed in a container designed for aircraft. And they exclude damage or loss claims for a long list of high-value items such equally jewelry, computers, and cameras that are both fragile and tempting targets for theft.
Airlines won't take responsibility for damage that occurred during a TSA inspection. If you retrieve your baggage was damaged during a TSA inspection (all inspected numberless volition take a written notification within), call 866-289-9673 to report it. When that happens, expect a protracted "he said, she said" tussle betwixt the TSA and the airline.
You lot will near probable need to produce a receipt for whatever repairs or be required to use airline-sanctioned luggage repair vendors. Ask the baggage claim attendant for specific data. You don't want to find out that yous have paid for a repair that isn't covered.
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What to Practise If Your Luggage Is Stolen
Head directly to the baggage carousel when you get off your flying to minimize the potential fourth dimension for your purse to be stolen. Many airlines scan bags when they're loaded into the baggage claim area and go along records, especially at larger airports. If your bag goes missing after you've left the baggage merits area, your merits is no longer with the airline, but with the police. Your homeowner's insurance may cover a stolen suitcase; if it doesn't, consider purchasing travel insurance.
How to Appeal Your Lost Luggage Complaint
If you can't accomplish a satisfactory resolution with your airline and you feel the need for further aid, file a complaint with the Department of Transportation's Aviation Consumer Protection Segmentation.
How to Prevent Lost Luggage
Of course, all of this data assumes the worst has already happened and damage control is needed. Zilch undermines a well-planned vacation quite like no-show luggage. So how can travelers safeguard their stuff? The obvious solutions are to book a nonstop flight or pack everything in a carry-on, but clearly this won't work for anybody. Fortunately, there are other ways to ensure you tin avoid these worst-case scenarios altogether.
- Put your name and prison cell phone number on the outside and inside of your numberless, and include a travel itinerary. Luggage tags can easily exist torn off in the rough-and-tumble treatment process, only a name and contact info—forth with a copy of your itinerary—placed on top of your belongings inside your bag will almost certainly stay put.
- Take a film of your luggage. If your bag has gone AWOL and yous're attempting to become it back, photograph evidence will help. Take a picture of the outside of your handbag to evidence the airline staff member who is helping you locate it. Snap a pic of the within of your purse as well; this volition come in handy in example yous demand to file an insurance claim for your lost property. It's also wise to take a quick photo of your baggage-claim ticket, in case you lose information technology.
- Customize your luggage. Suitcases, unfortunately, sometimes suffer from a instance of mistaken identity at the baggage carousel. This is especially likely to happen when half of your plane is traveling with the same black Samsonite. Give your handbag a makeover with a colorful luggage strap or some neon duct tape. For more than ideas, see 9 Ways to Make Your Luggage Stand Out.
- Go far at your departure airdrome early. Travelers who check in tardily—whether they arrived at the airport with only minutes to spare or got held up in a meandering bank check-in line—are more than likely to get separated from their numberless. Baggage handlers need fourth dimension to procedure luggage and load it onto planes. Aim to arrive at the airport a couple of hours before your flight (or more for international flights or busy holiday periods).
- Avoid tight connections, as these increment the likelihood that your bags volition get missing. If your flight is late, the window of time for aerodrome staff to transfer your bag from i plane to the next narrows. Some booking sites sell domestic multi-leg itineraries with layovers of less than an hr, which doesn't get out whatsoever wiggle room in an industry in which flights are frequently delayed. International connections can take even more than time if you accept to reclaim your bags, go through security, and check them again. For this reason, it's of import to allow enough of time—2 or more hours, ideally—on international layovers, and at least 90 minutes for domestic connections.
- Don't put valuables or "can't exist without it" items in your checked baggage (medicine, of import papers, jewelry, laptops). Pack all such items in your acquit-on. See 10 Things Not to Do When Checking a Bag for more data.
- Make a list of packed items and their estimated value before you lot get out. It sounds tedious, but when an airline asks what was in your handbag, you don't want to forget anything of value. If you make a packing list before you travel, hang on to it—this is an easy mode to recollect everything you put into your bags. Go on receipts for any expensive items you pack, as you may exist required to send copies of them to the airline in the case of a lost bag. If you admittedly have to cheque some of those items, insure them separately: An airline won't encompass them even if you buy excess-value coverage.
- Brand sure the person who checks your baggage attaches the correct destination ticket to every purse, and get a merits ticket for each. Ever remove old claim tags to prevent confusion well-nigh your destination. Amend still, opt for a smarter luggage tag. Several high-tech brands of tags feature codes or microchips that travelers tin use to find lost baggage. Consider Dynotags, SuperSmartTag, or ReboundTAG.
- Pack a alter of clothes in your carry-on bag so you'll have something to wear if your checked bag is lost or delayed. If yous're traveling with a partner, consider dividing each person's clothes between your checked numberless; this way if one of the bags is lost, you lot'll each still take some of your belongings.
- Travel insurance is the best guarantee that you lot'll recoup any losses. See Travel Insurance: What Yous Need to Know for more information.
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More from SmarterTravel:
- The Worst Airlines for Lost Baggage
- vii Things Non to Practise When Packing a Acquit-on Purse
- The Best Foldable Travel Bags and Foldable Luggage
Editor's note: This story was originally published in 2017. It has been updated with the latest information. Ed Perkins, Caroline Costello, and Margaret Leahy contributed to this story.
We paw-pick everything we recommend and select items through testing and reviews. Some products are sent to us free of charge with no incentive to offering a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions and do not accept compensation to review products. All items are in stock and prices are accurate at the time of publication. If yous purchase something through our links, we may earn a commission.
Source: https://www.smartertravel.com/lost-luggage-heres/
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