> When we looked closely at the baggage stub it was clear that they
> had sent my bag to Boston. I got it back 3 days later.
How many of us take a moment to look at their stub? I don't, and
probably should. ( Presumably that particular failure mechanism is
reduced in the age of barcoded baggage stickers generated by the same
computer that is handling your itinerary and possibly printing your
boarding pass. Then again, when things are crowded at the counter,
it's easy enough for the clerk to put the right tag on the wrong
bag...)
I *do* have my name prominently and indelibly marked on the outside of
my bags... and the inside too, as a final line of defense against
truly vanished rather than merely misrouted luggage. The warehouse in
Alabama or wherever that auctions off unidentifiable and too-long-
unclaimed baggage has enough to do; no sense burdening them with my
stuff. (Ah, here we go:http://www.unclaimedbaggage.com/)
As for damage, I don't check (or mail) *anything* unless the contents
are packed to survive being dropped off a second-storey balcony, which
is about the distance to the tarmac from the cargo hatch of a lot of
big passenger jets. And I get luggage out of the secondhand stores
and rummage sales (my gold standard is one of those big Samsonite
clams for a few dollars) and regard it as being, well, disposable
packaging. (Used-looking luggage kinda goes with my aversion to glad-
ragging while on travel anyway. Why look like any more of a target
than I have to?)
That having been said, I've not yet had the airlines lose a bag (knock
on formica...) nor seriously damage one, though I seldom fly the
airlines most notorious for this, per the fun facts on
http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/reports/
nor the airports that people seem to think of as riskiest for luggage.
--Joe
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