Packing itinerary in checked luggage

I always place a copy of the itinerary in my luggage, in the outside pockets. I have a sample document on my web site, in which anyone can use - just revise for your cruise: https://mycruisetravels.shutterfly.com/taoct15. It's under Documents for your Use in the left column.

Monica

I'm pretty confident that airline baggage handlers know exactly what an airline baggage tag looks like. It's appearance is entirely different from a cruise tag. ;)........:)

Not disagreeing with you. However, Delta - out of Detroit Metro - the airline I routinely fly with says no other tags, and will remove them.

waterbug123 - The airline may know what airport your bags are suppose to go to if the tag is still attached, but delayed. However, without an itinerary in the pocket, they have no idea where YOU are going to be traveling.

I always fly in a day or two early. My first cruise, I did as suggested by the cruise line. The airline staff removed the baggage tags for the cruise line stating that the cruise line tags would interfere with the airline tags, and cause issues with the baggage handlers. This could result in lost or delayed luggage. I had packed my unused cruise line luggage tags in my carry on luggage. After I go to the hotel, I put the spare luggage tags on my suitcases.

 

I fly Delta, and was told policy stated that the only thing allowed to hang on the outside of a suitcase (other then airline tags) was a personal identification tag. Nothing else hanging - no pom poms, not fancy ribbons, no cute key chain decorative items, etc. Cute things to help one more easily find their suitcases after they are unloaded onto the conveyor belts. Each time I fly I see staff ask people to remove things from the outside of their suitcases before they are accepted.

 

I do put a copy of my itinerary inside of an outside pocket of each suitcase that has home phone number, hotel I am staying at, and cruising information.

I also fly Delta a lot. I have the metal tags that I mentioned in an earlier post, and also a rainbow ribbon. Never been told to take them off. Perhaps it depends on which airport you fly in and out of? ;)

Has anyone used thetileapp. You put the tile in your luggage. Then you can track it.

I will look into this. The last time I flew, it happened to be on American. I downloaded their luggage tracker app and could not get it to work. It was, however, smack in the middle of the switch from USAir to American, so maybe that was the reason. :rolleyes:

Another thing that we do to reduce the risk of lost luggage is to fly with no more than one stop - CTL or ATL - when flying anywhere in the world. Yes, we pay more, but it gives us a little peace of mind. And if possible, I look out the windows of the airport terminal to see if our luggage is being loaded on the next leg of the flight. :D

waterbug123 -

 

 

I also fly Delta a lot. I have the metal tags that I mentioned in an earlier post, and also a rainbow ribbon. Never been told to take them off. Perhaps it depends on which airport you fly in and out of? ;)....:D

I would not be surprised. Each airline, and airport, seem to have their own set of rules. Way to many rules, it gets confusing. DH used to travel with a piece of medical equipment. Each airport had a different policy as to how it would be/should be handled by the TSA agents. Some required it to be completely removed from the carrying case before physical checking, others only wanted the case opened before physically checking, and others just let it go through the scanner without a physical check. Each stated it was TSA national policy.

I normally print a full page of our itinerary, including dates at pre and post hotels, cruise line contacts including cabin number, departure port etc.

I forgot on our last cruise and guess what? Yes, British Airways 'lost' our bags due to the farce that is the baggage system at London Heathrow Terminal 5.

What I did learn is that for future cruises I will not just put any pre & post hotel details with the cruise start date, but each of the ports we are visiting, and even more importantly the hours in port.

I learnt from the Celebrity Concierge (who handled the situation excellently) that they contact the port agent who normally travel to the airport to pick up any bags, but only when they have been cleared by the airport authority. Therefore, depending where the closest airport is to your port of call, it is important for the airline to understand how long you are in port before the ship sails.

For example, BA 'lost' our luggage on Sept 9th when we arrived in Rome and we spent the night in a hotel in Civitavecchia. We sailed on 10th Sept and our first stop was Sorrento on Sept 11th. Although BA sent 1 of our missing bags to Naples which is the closest airport to Sorrento, there was no guarantee the port agent would be able to collect it due the distance from Sorrento to Naples. It did make it.

However, the 2nd bag (although located by BA) could not be sent to Sicily which was our next port stop on 12th Sept and was sent to Athens instead, arriving there on Sept 13th.

Unfortunately Sept 13th was a sea day for us so the bag did not arrive until 14th Sept, a full 5 days since we last saw it.

Glad you got your bags eventually.

That's really helpful information and easily followed. Thanks

So, for those that put copies of their itinerary inside checked luggage, do you not use locks? And if you do use locks then exactly how would the airlines get to your itinerary without breaking into your luggage? I'm not sure that they would break your locks to look inside. Maybe, but do you really want airline personnel sifting through your bags contents?

I have experienced several instances where the airline has managed to tear off my name/address tag in transit - fortunately for me the bags didn't get lost. Since then I have put two tags on each checked bag with the idea that one of the tags will remain intact. Depending on the style of the tag(s) being used I am thinking it might be possible to insert a small printed copy of an itinerary in each. Some of my bags don't have external pockets, but they do have telescoping handles, so perhaps affixing something to the handles might prove workable.

So, for those that put copies of their itinerary inside checked luggage, do you not use locks? And if you do use locks then exactly how would the airlines get to your itinerary without breaking into your luggage? I'm not sure that they would break your locks to look inside. Maybe, but do you really want airline personnel sifting through your bags contents?

Perhaps this explains why the bags are 'sealed' using plastic ties when they are sent unaccompanied so that nobody en-route can open the bags using the TSA release keys.

If the airline or security services have reason to force open your bag, I'm sure they wouldn't hesitate to break your locks.

waterbug123 - The airline may know what airport your bags are suppose to go to if the tag is still attached, but delayed. However, without an itinerary in the pocket, they have no idea where YOU are going to be traveling.

I guess my point is that the airline isn't going to look inside every bag that doesn't get collected right away and automatically send it on to wherever an itinerary says it's supposed to go. Their job is to get the bag to its destination as per the flight itinerary. If you are traveling on somewhere from there and your bag doesn't show up on the carousel, would you just assume "oh, the airline will look inside, see my itinerary, and send my bag onto the next port of call?" Of course not, or at least I hope not! No, you would go to the airline baggage office, and complete a claim for the missing bag and part of that process involves telling them where the bag needs to go next, be it your hotel or the first port on your cruise or whatever.

I will also add that I know of several situations in which a pax arrived to the cruise departure city with no bag and the airline having the itinerary didn't help at all. In one case, the bag didn't show up for several months, at which point it was clear from assorted tags on it that it had indeed completed the cruise itinerary, but always a day or two (or more) behind the ship (likely due to the need for connecting flights, and the delays from same). In the other case, the bag finally showed up back at the pax's home airport a month or so later. In supposedly trying to get the bag to the pax the airline kept handing it off to its airline partners in Europe and each airline kept blaming the other and telling the pax they weren't responsible.

I share these stories only to point out that even having an itinerary inside is no guarantee that your bag will get to you, and in fact it may take longer to get to you if you keep trying to have it play catch up. In both cases, the pax would have been better off just requesting that it be immediately sent back to their home airport and held for them there.

I'd rather play the "just in case" game and have the itinerary in the bag (stratixman - front zipped pocket, not inside a locked bag.) it takes 5 minutes to make up the paper.

As I mentioned before, I had special metal tags made up that do not have my name or address on them. They have a monogram and then a place on the reverse that says to look inside front pocket for additional identification information.