3 Quick Baggage Tips for Travelers By a Traveler - Inspect Your Luggage

In all my years of travel, I must say, I have only had my luggage lost and recovered twice.

Overall, 80% of the time my luggage has arrived to its destination.

There’s nothing like watching travelers be mesmerized by the luggage carousel in baggage claim. Watching it go round-and-round in anticipation of their personalized neon bow-tied, scarf-draped, or designer LouisV luggage appear. What really irritates me is how the baggage handlers toss the luggage like it's a Glad trash bag.

Does that ring a bell? The answer is “YES!”

However, this time I was blindsighted. Yup, happens to the best of us.

The one thing I lost sight of and need to add to my list is ‘damaged luggage’. I didn’t realize until I was half way home in the car my nice Wenger luggage was damaged (big sigh).

Rock, Paper, Scissors - You never know what’s gonna happen.

Here are three quick reminders to keep in the back of your head:

Tip #1 – I have always taken it for granted, but going forward, I will be inspecting my luggage after I take it off the belt. Most times your just happy to get on with your vacay.

Tip #2 – Most luggage companies come with a limited lifetime warranty. Most luggage companies don’t cover improper handling or damage caused by carrier. Upon arrival, check for any damage to your luggage and take pictures with a time/date stamp. Doesn't hurt to take pictures before you leave either - helpful evidence.

One more thing.

Tip #3 – Next, notify your carrier in person before leaving airport or, at the latest, 24 hours after receiving your bag for domestic and 7 days for international travel. Failure to report any damage, releases the carrier from any liability. Every carrier has different rules and regs, so check their individual policy.

And you know what?

It’s true. I missed my opportunity.

Now you know the rules. Jus sayin. In the end you will have to weigh the price of getting new luggage to the incovenience of justifying your case.

Is it worth it? Something to consider.

P.S. Also, at the end of this blog post, I ask you a simple question. I'd love to hear your answer.

Question: Do you have any baggage? Ahem, I mean baggage stories to help traveler?

Travel tip shared by smartbkktravel
www.smartbangkoktravel.com

Posted by: smartbkktravel

on 16 August 2012

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Comments

luggage

Submitted by Patty (not verified) on Fri, 17/08/2012 - 07:14.

There is no safe way. Arrived early for non-stop flight from Phx to St. Louis.They lost my luggage. No excuse.Arrived two days later.

Ive been lucky... So far. I'm

Submitted by Izy berry (not verified) on Sat, 18/08/2012 - 09:39.

Ive been lucky... So far. I'm just waiting for my turn

Damaged luggage

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on Sat, 18/08/2012 - 20:50.

Don't know what good it would do to take any prior photos of your luggage in good condition. We bought brand new luggage, never been used, flew on Southwest Airlines, and...

luggage came back very damaged! We could not even use the zippers to open the luggage. Immediately told Southwest airlines at the airport. Showed them the damage, filed a complaint, never got any response or refund. We had the receipt of when luggage was purchased!

Avoiding Lost Luggage

Submitted by As We Saw It (not verified) on Sun, 19/08/2012 - 17:25.

Had the memorable experience on an international flight of waiting almost an hour for one of our bags. Since then we have been traveling with just one small carry-on each. They...

held enough to see us through 6 weeks in Europe last summer. The bonus: No heavy luggage to drag around on public transport.

Bags damaged by hotels

Submitted by @DMelloAlan (not verified) on Tue, 21/08/2012 - 08:39.

I've had my bag damaged by a hotel bellboy while loading into the car trunk. Only got to know of at next hotel. What's your solution?

Sh*t happens

Submitted by Melvin on Tue, 21/08/2012 - 08:47.

@DMelloAlan I would say, be angry and then??? Shit happens... Nothing you can do about that. Carry your luggage yourself the next time? hahaha

I had my luggage lost once

Submitted by George (not verified) on Tue, 21/08/2012 - 09:04.

I had my luggage lost once after spending all day in the airport it was tragic. But I had never considered having my luggage damaged before will definitely look out for that...

Advantage of Taking Pics

Submitted by smartbkktravel on Tue, 21/08/2012 - 11:30.

I took pics because that was my supporting evidence. This way, I am able to show the airlines the before and after scenario - no questions asked. Until it happens, you will see...

traveling differently. The law of averages works like karma sometimes.

Ah, yes, luggage

Submitted by Jack Norell (not verified) on Mon, 03/09/2012 - 11:34.

Luggage gets broken all the time. From experience, soft-sided luggage keeps up better, especially military grade nylon stuff.

If you have a suitcase, expect handles and...

wheels to break, they're exposed and a LOT of weight gets put on them when being handled.

Zippers fail... use a luggage strap or two (expect they'll be lost though).

However, if a suitcase gets ripped or simply torn apart, that's pretty gross handling errors, so complain. If you're not re-imbursed, small claims will work wonders.

Make sure you have before & after photos of your luggage, just like with a rental car.

It's also a good idea to take photos of what you're packing in the suitcase, both going out and back home, incase it gets lost. Means you won't be able to claim for non-existant stuff, but also that the insurance company can't say you're lying!