Missing luggage a curse but it's not a lost cause

KAREN HOLDOM reports on the air traveller's nightmare - missing luggage - and offers advice for the unwary.

If there's one thing guaranteed to get your holiday off to a bad start, it's standing in a deserted airport baggage claim area watching an empty carousel go round and round.

Lost luggage is the curse of international air travel and every airline knows it, yet all the labelling and electronic tracking devices in the world can't seem to prevent it.

According to airline insiders at Auckland International Airport, there's at least one lost luggage story for every international flight. Most bags are found relatively quickly using an international electronic tracing system and re-routed to the right destination within 24 hours. But every now and then a passenger loses his or her bag for good.

Cathay Pacific Airways New Zealand manager David Figgins says Cathay Pacific aims never to exceed two lost cases per 10,000. "We have never reached that target and our rate is maintained at less than that."

Other airlines, including Malaysia, Air New Zealand, British Airways and Garuda also claim a very low rate of permanently lost luggage.

If the system is so good, then, why do bags get lost at all? Airlines say it usually comes down to human error and/or a problem with baggage labels. For instance, many a bag labelled for Auckland International Airport (for which the three-letter code is AKL) has ended up in Adelaide (ADL) - a simple case of a misread label.

Another common problem is torn-off baggage labels, when a bag stays put until someone tracks down the owner and finds out where he or she is headed. Then there's airport transit trauma: you've changed flights but the baggage handlers have failed to get your bags off one aircraft and onto the next in time.

British Airways' New Zealand marketing and revenue development executive, Justine St John, says mistakes, or "mishandling," like this can occur where "transfer facilities may not be to the same high standard that we maintain at our hub in London."

In all of these cases, airlines can track the missing bag virtually straight away through the electronic tracing system which links back to those barcodes the airline staff stick to the back of your tickets when you check in your luggage. The airline will re-route the bag to the correct destination and deliver it by taxi to your home or hotel as soon as it arrives.

If you're travelling abroad, you'll receive a one-off compensation payment at this point of between $80 and $200, depending on the cost of living of the country you're in. This is supposed to cover the cost of incidentals such as toothpaste, toothbrush, clean underpants and perhaps a meal out until your bag arrives. But don't expect this payment if your bags are lost on your way back to New Zealand, because you're not entitled to it if you are a resident of your destination country.

When bags are lost for good, the process is equally black and white. The world's major airlines are signatories to the International Air Transport Association, which means they are bound by the limitations of the Warsaw Convention dictating liability over lost luggage.

The word "limitations" is the key. The rule followed by all the major airlines is that passengers will be compensated no more than $US20 ($40) a kilo up to the maximum free baggage allowance for the class they were travelling in - usually 20kg for economy and 30kg for business class. If your bags were overweight and you got away with it, you won't get away with claiming compensation for the extra weight.

All up, that's a maximum payout of $800 for an economy flight or $1200 for a business class flight. This may cover the contents if you're a backpacker travelling light, but if you had invested in a good quality suitcase or pack and were carrying a couple of decent outfits, chances are you'll be out-of-pocket, which is why airlines and travel agents strongly urge travellers to insure their luggage.

Arguing with airlines about the value of the contents of your lost bags won't get you anywhere - they won't make exceptions. "We had one guy who claimed he was carrying three leather jackets, an Armani suit and an expensive gold watch in his suitcase," says one airline spokeswoman. "He had no way of proving it and neither did we."

If you are carrying expensive items in your luggage, airlines recommend you declare them, but even then they're more likely to advise you to get travel insurance than agree to cover the cost themselves.

"Anybody travelling overseas is very unwise not taking full insurance," says Peter Lowry, chief executive of the Travel Agents Association.

"These days it's not often that bags go astray, but they do and although the airline will cover some, you have to ensure you are fully covered."

Lowry has had his bags lost just twice in 50 years of travelling several times a year. Both times they were returned to him within a day or two.

"I'm amazed at the way computerisation these days can trace baggage. It may have gone in the wrong direction but it doesn't take long for the airline to see that it went to Tokyo instead of Hawaii and to re-route it to the correct destination."

Chris Ryan, chief executive officer of the Insurance Council of New Zealand, says if you have travel insurance for lost luggage there is no need to get into a lengthy settlement process with the airline - just go direct to your insurer or travel agent, depending on who has provided the insurance.

CASENOTES


* Before checking in your bag, cut off any old destination labels. Label your baggage as clearly as possible, on the inside as well as the outside. When buying luggage, choose brightly coloured bags or mark your existing bags with stickers or coloured rope or tape so they can be easily identified.

* If you're going to be packing expensive items in your luggage, let the airline and your insurance company know in advance.

* Don't leave any credit cards, money or other critical items in your check-in luggage.

* Pack a toothbrush and spare pair of underpants in your hand luggage, so if your bag is lost you can spend the compensation on your holiday rather than essential items.

* Don't overfill your bag, and don't carry breakables onto the plane with you.