Tips for protecting your luggage when flying

DETROIT – Not all who wander are misplaced … besides with regards to the baggage wandering with you.

Air journey has elevated tremendously this 12 months, with increasingly individuals touring throughout the summer time and summertime holidays. However air journey has not precisely returned to normalcy.

This summer time, air vacationers around the globe have skilled extra inconveniences than ever: canceled or delayed flights, lengthy traces and, maybe the worst of all, misplaced baggage. With surprising flight adjustments and a big labor scarcity, checked luggage are actually getting misplaced within the commotion.

Based on the newest Air Journey Shopper Report, practically 220,000 luggage have been misplaced or broken within the U.S. in April alone. Final week, a Delta aircraft flew from London to Detroit carrying 1,000 lost bags — and no passengers — in hopes of returning the baggage to their rightful homeowners.

Advert

Extra: Delta flew 1,000 lost bags from London to Detroit after cancelled flights

So, what are you able to do to maintain your baggage from getting misplaced?

Effectively, the primary and most blatant step you’ll be able to take: Don’t verify a bag to your flight, when you may also help it. As a substitute, pack solely a carry-on, that approach you’ll be able to preserve it shut by. Carry-on luggage should not saved beneath a aircraft, however slightly within the storage compartments overhead within the aircraft’s cabin.

Carry-ons should meet sure necessities so as to not be checked in. You can review luggage guidelines for air travel here.

Nonetheless, it isn’t at all times possible to simply pack a carry-on, particularly when you’re touring for an extended time period.

Advert

When you completely should verify a bag to your flight, consultants say to think about following these steps:

• Place a small GPS monitoring system within the baggage;

• Take an image of your valuables inside the baggage; and

• Know your rights with regards to your baggage.

Airways are required to take motion when your baggage is misplaced. Vacationers are eligible for compensation from airways for as much as $3,800 for misplaced luggage for home flights, or as much as $1,780 for a world flight.

Based on the U.S. Division of Transportation, airways could decide a bag is misplaced between 5 and 14 days after the flight, relying on the airline and plenty of components. The airline is required to compensate the traveler for his or her bag’s contents, as much as the utmost limits, along with refunding any charges paid to the airline to move the bag.

Airways are additionally on the hook for damages to luggage, with sure limitations. Learn more about your rights when it comes to lost, delayed or damaged baggage from the DOT right here.

Advert

Associated: New technology at Detroit Metro Airport aims to speed up the travel process