Ten Tips for Dealing with Lost Luggage

Last summer, my husband and I lost our luggage on the way to Venice, Italy. Then we figured out on day one that we had no luggage and probably would not have any luggage for the duration of our trip, due to a major conveyor belt snafu in London Gatwick. Upon further inspection of the situation, we found out that 30 million bags were temporary lost last year and 200,000 bags were never reunited with their owners.

At that moment, I remembered seeing a tv show about a very successful entrepreneur who founded a business in 1970 called Unclaimed Baggage. The very successful business purchases the unclaimed luggage from the airlines and resells over a million items each year. I could just see the entire contents of my baggage up for sale at one of the Unclaimed Baggage locations.

Our saving grace was that we had packed a carry-on bag with a few days clothes, our bathing suits, an extra pair of shoes, and my jewelry and makeup. This was the best thing that we could have done because it gave us a head start on trying to figure out how to we were going to outfit ourselves for the next 11 days.

Here are ten tips that will help you in the event that you lose your luggage on your next trip:

1. Always pack a few clothing items and essentials in your carrry-on bag.

2. If your luggage does not show up on the baggage carousel, report the lost luggage immediately to the lost bags desk in the airport. Even if the line is long, go ahead and report it anyway so that you can get a claim number. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: lost luggage, Travel | Posted in Life and Learning | No Comments »