Baggage tags on before landing?

[tpbf]

We will be escorted to our hotel in London by Princess. The directions say to pick up your bags then wait for the agent to locate you by looking for your Princess baggage tags. What has been the practice: to just put the Princess tags on before we leave the US (EWR in our case) or to wait until we pick the bags up at Heathrow and then stick the tags on? Is it reasonable to expect the tags will survive the route? We have always just enclosed them in postal tape, using the tape to secure. What do you think?

[Loonbeam]

Do not put the tags on checked luggage before flying. If the airline even allows it, theres a chance the loading crew could scan the wrong tag and your luggage be routed to Borneo or somewhere... Pack them in the carry on and replace the airline tags after claiming your bags.

 

We will be escorted to our hotel in London by Princess. The directions say to pick up your bags then wait for the agent to locate you by looking for your Princess baggage tags. What has been the practice: to just put the Princess tags on before we leave the US (EWR in our case) or to wait until we pick the bags up at Heathrow and then stick the tags on? Is it reasonable to expect the tags will survive the route? We have always just enclosed them in postal tape, using the tape to secure. What do you think?

[paddingtonbear]

Do not put the tags on checked luggage before flying. If the airline even allows it, theres a chance the loading crew could scan the wrong tag and your luggage be routed to Borneo or somewhere... Pack them in the carry on and replace the airline tags after claiming your bags.

 

 

Either that or they will cut them off!:eek:

[toberman]

Agree - put your tags on when you get to the destination airport. The Princess agent should be easy for you to find with his/her white uniform and probably a sign.

[paul929207]

I have the tags already to be put on the bags at baggage claim.

[caribill]

We have always found the Princess rep by looking for the person with the Princess sign.

[EddieCruzer]

We have always flow with our cruise tags on. We fly from EWR. Never had a problem. It would be impossible for someone to scan the wrong tag. An airline tag and cruise tag look nothing alike, nor would the scanner recognize the code.

 

If the airline should happen to separate you from your luggage, at least with the cruise tag on, it might have a chance of making it to the ship. ;) There is no guarantee that suitcase will show up at the baggage claim.

[Putterdude]

I have always flown with our cruise tags on, often we have had the check-in agent spot the tags and put priority tags on the bags and they have been at the luggage carousel before we got there. A luggage handlers scanner is not going to read the bar-code on a ships luggage tag.

[Loonbeam]

Actually, at least USAir and Princess use the same bar code encoding format and same booking number format (6 letters and numbers). While unlikely, it IS theoretically possibly your cruise tag could have the same booking ID as someone elses PNR record flying that day.

 

More likely is the tags will get ripped off during the airline baggage handling process.

 

We have always flow with our cruise tags on. We fly from EWR. Never had a problem. It would be impossible for someone to scan the wrong tag. An airline tag and cruise tag look nothing alike, nor would the scanner recognize the code.

 

If the airline should happen to separate you from your luggage, at least with the cruise tag on, it might have a chance of making it to the ship. ;) There is no guarantee that suitcase will show up at the baggage claim.

[EddieCruzer]

Actually, at least USAir and Princess use the same bar code encoding format and same booking number format (6 letters and numbers). While unlikely, it IS theoretically possibly your cruise tag could have the same booking ID as someone elses PNR record flying that day.

 

More likely is the tags will get ripped off during the airline baggage handling process.

 

Your theory of the scanner reading the wrong bar code and sending your luggage to Borneo is ridiculous. There is a higher chance that the airline will lose your luggage. In over 22 cruises we have never had the cruise tag ripped off our luggage.

[Rochell]

We were told by United that the luggage with the cruise tag get priority when loaded.:D Though I have no idea which has more priority, status at the airline which has "Priority" tag, or cruise tag :rolleyes:

[caribill]

We were told by United that the luggage with the cruise tag get priority when loaded.:D Though I have no idea which has more priority, status at the airline which has "Priority" tag, or cruise tag :rolleyes:

 

Good reason to never take off an old cruise tag.

[Loonbeam]

I'm glad you've been lucky and I hope you realize Borneo was an exaggeration for effect. I never said its likely, just possible and I HAVE had other tags ripped off during the baggage handling process including some fairly heavy duty luggage tags.

 

Unless there is a benefit to putting them on earlier (as noted perhaps for United), there is no real downside to holding them until you arrive and taking all of about 30 seconds to put them on then, even if the chance for problems is infinitesimal.

 

Your theory of the scanner reading the wrong bar code and sending your luggage to Borneo is ridiculous. There is a higher chance that the airline will lose your luggage. In over 22 cruises we have never had the cruise tag ripped off our luggage.

[pris993]

I have been expressing my dissatisfaction with Princess for not doing a better job of managing luggage from the pier to the ship in San Francisco on another thread.

 

But likewise, I am always amazed, how travelers don't take more responsiblity for their luggage throughout their trip. We would never put a ship tag on our luggage until we completed our air travel. We usually take private transportation to the ship, so we put our tags on at the dock and then we don't just leave it. We tip the dock crew and stick around to see where our luggage goes making sure it is handled properly.

 

When you check in at the airport you can tell the staff you are headed for a cruise, ask for a priority tag, generally they will tag your luggage and then you only have the airline routing and priority tag on your luggage.

[Times Prince]

I'm glad you've been lucky and I hope you realize Borneo was an exaggeration for effect. I never said its likely, just possible and I HAVE had other tags ripped off during the baggage handling process including some fairly heavy duty luggage tags.

 

Unless there is a benefit to putting them on earlier (as noted perhaps for United), there is no real downside to holding them until you arrive and taking all of about 30 seconds to put them on then, even if the chance for problems is infinitesimal.

Our experience has been the opposite - there can be a major downside to waiting.

 

Princess has always recommended putting the tags on before you leave home, and we have always done so, and our experience supports that recommendation.

 

Although we've had tags mangled, we have never lost a tag during airline travel. We did have an instance of a late airline arrival where we were given the choice of "Do you want to wait for your luggage or do you want to make the ship :eek:". We chose the ship and only the presence of our Princess tags allowed Princess employees at the airport to identify our luggage, which was hand carried by them and was the last thing through the door onboard ship before we sailed. Without the Princess tags being put on before we left home we would not have had our luggage.

 

We always carry a spare tag in our carry-on just in case a tag goes missing. The only time we've had to use it was when a tag was lost during a bus transfer from airport to pier.

[cruznliz]

I agree to put them on before leaving home. I always like to look around at the airport and see who else might be on our cruise. ;) Also when you get your luggage and are looking for the Princess Representative, it always seems to be a rushed and stressful time. Why have to worry about tags?

 

By the by, do you bring a stapler and/or clear packing tape to put them on at the airport? Sounds like a lot of work! :eek: Would much rather do it at home.

[Loonbeam]

One thought just occurred to me. If you tag your luggage for a cruise, would it be less or more attractive to potential luggage pilferers?

 

I really don't know the answer, just wondering...

[pris993]

One thought just occurred to me. If you tag your luggage for a cruise, would it be less or more attractive to potential luggage pilferers?

 

I really don't know the answer, just wondering...

 

 

Good point, that is another reason, not to put cruise line tags on in advance.

 

We always travel at least one day ahead, so that allows luggage to catch up if need be, before we board the ship. We would not want to rely on others to get our luggage to the ship.

 

Another thing we do to minimize loss of luggage is we always book travel with a primary air carrier, vs a code share with a partner airline. We try to stay with the same carrier throughout our trip, again no code share/partner airline. We also try if at all possible to book non stops or limit stop overs. The only time we have had luggage delays in 30 years of traveling is when we did not follow these rules.

[Putterdude]

We never have anything of value in our checked luggage so they can pilfer all they want.

[timetravler]

All that is in our checked bags is clothes and wine. Never had a thing missing. We always put our tags on at home and cover them with clear shipping tape. That makes them very strong. Plus no need to carry tape with you. Also like others, once we are off the plane and have our luggage we want to get going asap, the sooner the better. Don't want to fuss with digging out tags and tape or staples to put them on.