Lost luggage — priceless belongings or just assorted clothing?

by Laura Townsend Elion on June 1, 2009

Seasoned travelers have probably long ago made peace with their luggage — that is, made peace with the reality that at some point during their well-traveled lives, they will be separated from it, probably permanently.

There’s an old adage, “If anything can go wrong, it probably will.” If you’re like me, your luggage will disappear at the beginning of a two-week European vacation containing no less than your entire new season’s wardrobe brought to impress your snobby continental cousins.

Or, like another friend that ignored my well-intentioned warnings to include her bridal gown in her carry-on, the wedding of your dreams will disappear somewhere in the bowels of that vinyl-eating suitcase-sadist carousel.

Thinking back to all the baggage-related MIA — Missing IN (thin) Air — experiences I have encountered or heard, I was shocked, yes shocked, to hear someone affiliated with the luggage recovery process admit that passengers do actually occasionally have a strong attachment to the items they turn over to the airlines in those vaguely rectangular containers.

It seems US Airways, in trying to compensate passengers of flight 1549 for the horrors of their once-in-a-lifetime experience of landing in the Hudson River (aka, Sully’s Miracle), hired the kind of experts usually reserved for restoring priceless volumes of ancient tomes. Global BMS, using expensive preservation technologies that often involve freeze-drying items and painstakingly cleaning them, spent four months recovering and restoring 36,000 items from the fateful flight. According to an article in USA Today, the effort to return the waterlogged possessions was a ‘multi-million dollar recovery job,’ a tab that will be paid by US Airways insurance (US government bailed out giant, AIG — so in some sense I guess we’re all paying for US Airways’ nice gesture).

The complicated restoration process included such processes as heating items soaked in jet fuel to 90 degrees to evaporate the fuel, using biocide to kill bacteria and mold and dry-cleaning some items. How good was the process? Several folks got reunited with their still legible boarding passes.

US Airways passenger Barry Leonard now has the other half of his boarding pass from the fateful flight.

US Airways was not required to take such extreme measures to give folks their stuff back and it commendable that they did, I suppose. I just can’t help juxtaposing the words of Mark Rocco, a Global BMS Senior Vice President as he explains US Airways rationale for undertaking the effort, “Passengers’ emotional ties to their possessions … it’s highly emotional. So we just want to make it available,” with the kind of response I get at the airport.

I can assure you that same spirit of cheerful helpfulness was not present in the harried baggage claim worker I once confronted when I arrived in Minnesota. Getting in from Florida, I discovered I would be stepping out into the brisk Minneapolis air in my shorts.

Oh no! I got an introduction to the airline industry’s photo card line-up of bag types in a production that was vaguely similar to memories of police identifications back when I was a law enforcement officer. Task accomplished, “No, it was really more like the one on the left,” it was followed by a brusque command, “Sign here.” Then an 8-ounce toiletry bag (containing the smallest vial of toothpaste I have ever seen) was thrust at me with a carbon copy slip that attempted to sum up the entire contains of my valise — my Prada shoes, my St. John jacket, my silk bits and pieces — in one sentence and a multiple choice circle of a suitcase silhouette: “Assorted clothing, 4 pairs of shoes, underwear and grooming items.”

The “love-your-luggage” philosophy was also not shared by the anonymous letter signer that turned down my follow-up request for further compensation for my designer duds. No one cared that my husband proposed to me in those gilded leather and metal beaded slingbacks (I was wearing them – not him) or that jacket was the very suit of armor I had worn to every job interview for ten years. Instead I got chapter and verse of the minimum legally required compensation.

So, even though, according to Deborah Thompson, US Airways’ Director of Emergency Response, “We did this because we care for our customers and care that things be done right for them,” you might have to go swimming in frigid waters, or have your emergency deplaning witnessed by every media outlet on the planet, before you get that same level of care extended to you and your dearly departed items.

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Tagged as: airline compensation, customer service, Lost luggage, Sully's Miracle

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  • Frank

    Instead I got chapter and verse of the minimum legally required compensation.
    =========================================================

    Two million bags are checked in at airports each day and 99.5% of them reach their destination on the same flight as their owner.
    That leaves .5% of the luggage that are “mishandled”. The definition of mishandled is that they do not arrive with the passenger, arrive damaged or arrive with missing items.

    Doing the math: .5% of two million equals 10,000 bags a day.

    The Department of Transportation claims that 80% of the mishandled bags are reunited with their owner within 24 hours and 99% are returned within 5 days. Only 1% are lost forever.

  • Hapgood

    To reiterate the standard advice about checked baggage: “Never check any items that you’re unwilling to do without, either temporarily or permanently.”

    In line with the airline industry’s new “survive and prosper through fees” mentality, I’m waiting for the first airline to announce a fee for tracking down and (possibly) returning “mishandled” bags. This is something that must involve considerable expense to the airline, and it would be grossly unfair to place that burden on an airline’s beleaguered executives and shareholders. So it’s an ideal candidate to be “monetized.”

    The fee structure should reflect the airline’s desire to put the passenger in control by maximizing the range of options. So the passenger first pays a “claim filing fee” to defray the expenses of processing the claim form and tracking down the bag. The passenger always has the choice of voluntarily abandoning the bag, thereby avoiding the fee. A “baggage return fee” is payable when the passenger collects the returned bag. Because no fee is due if the bag is permanently lost, those passengers save money! The passenger also has a choice of picking the bag up at the airport or paying a “baggage delivery fee” for delivery to their hotel or residence. If the bag or its contents are damaged, a “damage claim fee” defrays the expense of investigating and dispositioning the claim.

    I’m sure everyone would agree that the foregoing fee structure provides the fairest way for airlines to provide excellent customer service while giving passengers the most flexibility and choice! Now which airline will be the first to implement it?

  • Bill

    I hope they aren’t spending millions of dollars restoring $20 pants from Wal mart. I can’t speak for always, but my luggage would generally not warrant such recovery efforts.

    I would want my laptop back in whatever state it was so I could get it replaced under the “complete care” warranty.

    Actually, what I would really prefer is that no one be involved in harrowing incidents such as this and I am glad they were all safe.

  • Carlo

    Laura, I get what you’re saying, but I think someone who has been in a plane crash deserves special treatment, with or without the media glare. And if it’s good PR for the airline, so be it.

    I’m not saying you don’t deserve to be treated with respect, I’m just saying the plane crash victims deserve a little something extra, ya know?

  • Karen

    Call me crazy, but I don’t think I would fly to Minnesota in shorts, no matter where I was flying from. In fact, I don’t think I’d ever get on an airplane in shorts. I think it’s a good plan to bring the clothes with me that I expect to need when I first get off the plane. Thnk layers.

    Granted this was a while ago, but I’ve had airlines reimburse me for having my luggage (and its contents) soaked with red wine (not mine) on a flight and a down jacket reduced to mere feathers by careless handling of luggage (and perhaps some bad packing on my part). I agree with Carlo — even if it was a pr stunt, it was a good thing to go to special effort to get back the belongings of those on flight 1549.

  • laura

    @KAren:

    I usually always wear pants inflight, but the hotel in Florida (Disney) had picked up the wrong bags to shuttle to the airport – leaving me with the carry-on of souveneirs to choose from as my attire that morning – I had hoped to get back into more reasonable wear at the airport.

    My point was not that the passengers of the flight on the Hudson didn’t deserve their belongings, or that they weren’t entitled to a little extra care, but that maybe airlines could elevate the type of customer service they extend to ALL passengers, and be a little more considerate when your lugggae is lost, permanently, or temporarily.

    I do think that a $MM price tag is a little excessive, though, esp. in that US taxpayers are footing part of it through their bailout of AIG

  • Jonathan

    Following up Frank’s “do the math” post, yes, there are lots and lots of bags “mishandled” every day, and yes, it would be a huge expense if the airlines compensated every one of those passengers generously, either monetarily or with employee time. However, he left out the last step of the arithmetic. If just 1% of the 10,000 bags mishandled each day are lost forever, that’s just 100 bags a day. That’s not a huge number. I would think that’s a small enough number that they could afford to extend a little more consideration to those customers whose possessions are gone for good.

    Spending millions of dollars on one plane load of passengers is clearly going above and beyond (and is clearly a deliberate PR move – both in terms of good press coverage and as a way of telling the passengers “we’re doing all that we can for you – remember, we’re all victims in this unfortunate accident – please don’t sue us”). However, for those few passengers each day who are are permanently separated from their possessions without a plane crash, it wouldn’t be that costly (and would breed a lot more good will and good PR) to provide a little more attention than forms and paperwork, and a little more compensation than the bare minimum required by law.

    I’ve had airlines lose my checked bags several times. So far, in each case they’ve managed to locate my bag and had it delivered to my hotel or home within a day. I generally had a change of clothes in my carry on so getting my bag to me by the next day was good enough. I didn’t incur any extra expenses so I didn’t seek any compensation from the airline. None was necessary. But I have been immensely grateful for those amenity kits, regardless of how puny the portion of toothpaste had been.

    Of course, there was the time that I was on a business trip and my bag caught the continuing flight to Rio during Carnival. Why didn’t I think of trying that…

  • Frank

    On June 1st, 2009 at 5:04 pm Jonathan said If just 1% of the 10,000 bags mishandled each day are lost forever, that’s just 100 bags a day. That’s not a huge number. I would think that’s a small enough number that they could afford to extend a little more consideration to those customers whose possessions are gone for good.
    ==============================================================

    If your bag isn’t on the carousel and isn’t found and returned, the airline is liable for compensation up to a maximum of $3,300 per bag (it was raised from $3,000 a few months ago). If the contents of your checked bag are worth more than that, you might consider purchasing “excess valuation” coverage if the airline offers it. To find out more about lost baggage compensation and how to claim it, go to http://airconsumer.dot.gov/publications/flyrights.htm#baggage.

  • Kathleen Eaton

    There are centers in the United States that sell items recovered from lost baggage. There’s one in Alabama. You can walk in off the street and shop.

    Wouldn’t it be reassuring to people who have not had their luggage “found” to know where these centers are and have a process by which they could find out if their “lost” items ended up in one such center.

    As far as I know, most people are unaware of this.

  • laura townsend elion

    @Frank-

    Thank you for reading, and while I appreciate your point about the potential compensation for lost bags, it by no means a certainty that your will re-coup $3,300 per lost bag.

    As Chris, our master ombudman, would surely agree, there is a burden to prove the value of the items -whether you are going for compensation from an airline or a third party insurer. So even if I paid $2,000 for that jacket (& that was ten years ago) I had to have the receipt. Who keeps receipts that long? And the airline and/or insurer will do everything to ensure that they mitigate how much they have to pay.

    It wasn’t so bad, though – since I’m a woman, I used my misfortune to justify a shopping spree to replace the items.

    And to clarify, my position was less about the monetary value of luggage items than the disparity of treatment – Sully’s folks got primo treatment because of the PR value of spending many millions to restore their luggage – when you and I turn up at the counter we get much less consideration even though our loss is at least as inconveniencing -if not more, because we are continuing our trip and need the items we intended to have with us.

    All I’m saying is that the logic of spending millions to return things to about 150 people while they ignore the goodwill that could be derived from extending better treatrment to the other tens of thousands fo folks who lose their things seems a bit shortsighted.

    It’s not that Sully’s people deserve less, it’s that the rest of us deserve a little more consideration than we’re getting.

  • KP

    When I loose luggage, my first stop after signing all the docs etc is to find out how much per day I’m allocated to replace my items – and then spend it all. I’ve done this many times, and have always eventually been reunited with suitcases (on a world trip 3 years ago, one took nearly 10 days, travelled to more places than we had, and with completely different airlines (not even aligned with ours), one took 24 hours..).

    We spend our allocated amount each day on clothes, toiletries etc. I’ve always been successful in claiming reimbursements (last one with the aforementioned suitcases totalled $500), plus our one borrowed suitcase was damaged and I was able to get it replaced back home.

    I don’t put valuable items in checked luggage – I have a special jewellery ‘pouch’ that contains the minimal items I would like for the trip and keep it with me at all times in my hand luggage.

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