My niece has, we were about to take off from Bristol - Larnaca and there was a 1 hour delay (all sat on plane for 1 hour) then they told us it's either some people or 39 cases get off loaded because there isn't enough petrol for both so nobody got off & they had to get 39 cases off (not telling anybody which ones) arrived in Larnaca and got told "if your cases isn't there just wait here fill out your details and we'll get them to you ASAP" 4 days later found out it's been to paphos, cardiff, germany, somewhere else then back to Cyprus! My niece had to sit in thick superdry tracksuit bottoms in 42 degree heat! Bless her, she was only visiting for a week too!

CourtneeLouise xx

i always mix everybodies up between the cases so at least if 1 goes mising then we still have stuff we can wear, if all of ours go missing then we'd be a bit stuffed but thankfully never happened to us

1 of ours did a few years ago, it happened to be the one with all our ciggs & drinks in apparently it went from Palma to Madrid instead of Gatwick......it was delivered to our home address 2 days later - completely intact That was with Easyjet, we could follow the tracking online.

Not so much missing but rather, due to delays it didn't make the connecting flight even though I did! And on both the outbound and inbound flights on the same trip! But having landed on the last flight down from Madrid to Seville, Iberia nevertheless delivered my case to my hotel by 11am the next morning. As it was a work related trip and I needed some decent clothes by the afternoon, I was out shopping when it arrived because the insurance had already confirmed how much I could claim! Whereas it took BA 3 days to get my case from Heathrow to Edinburgh.

This is why I should really be posting on another thread that I make sure that I have a change of the essentials in the hand luggage with me

SM

Mine has never gone missing thankfully but it did go without me once. I had been stuck in Istanbul airport due to snow and finally got onto a flight only to find when we got to the door of the plane that somehow they had made a mistake so about 10 of us couldn't get on. They didn't bother unloading the luggage, they just took off and left us there with only hand luggage and we had to stay overnight at a hotel. Luckily I had my contact lens solution and my toothbrush in my hand luggage or I would have been really mad!

I thought airlines had to unload luggage if the passenger wasn't on board but they didn't.

That time I was alone but I always pack some of our stuff in each of the cases so if one goes mssing we would still have enough.

I've had it go missing one, lucky on the way home rather than outbound. I was stood at the carousel in Manchester thinking there aren't many bags left then there were none and it was just me stood their, then it stopped. After making enquiries, it was still on the tamac at my departure airport! Thomas Cook got it on a flight 2 days later though and delivered it via courier so nothing lost in the end. Once out of well over 100 flights isn't too bad.

Darren

Luckily it hasnt happened to me *touching wood* but my sister in law's brother has just returned from a 4 week tour around America/Canada without any luggage. His luggage didnt arrive at all and because he was here, there and everywhere it was almost impossible to reunite him. I always mix our luggage between the 3 cases (there are 3 of us) and always take a spare set of underwear in my hand luggage - just in case. It would probably be my worst nightmare for all 3 cases to go walkabout One thing about mixing cases though is I have been told that insurance wont cover 3 lots of clothes! Apparently you need to decide who is most important

Only had a bag arrive late on a return let as it didn't make the connecting flight.

As a solo traveller I don't have the luxury of spreading luggage between bags. Last year I bought a set of digital scales and as it was late the seller added a pack of luggage tags from Back2you. You log your detail and in the event of a bag going missing they can find it easier, but I don't know anyone who has had to use it.

I was in Thomas Cook yesterday looking at exchange rates and they also had a similar product. Does anyone know how effective these products are.

Yes mine did a few years ago at Dalaman airport Turkey. A very foolish man grabbed mine and took it off to Calis which was 4 hours in the opposite direction to where I was going. It was such a pain, anyway when he discovered his mistake he phoned me. The airport were not interested in doing anything to help me. Finally the case was put on a series of buses and turned up at my hotel 3 days later. In the mean time I had only the clothes I was standing up in which were no use at all in hot weather|!

srhjnmgn

if the people who mixed luggage were on seperate insurance policies there might be an issue, but if it was a family or group on one joint policy it shouldn't be a problem. But even before you get as far as a claim you've missed an obvious point. If you took your car to a garage for a service and they lost it would you claim off your insurance - or would you expect the garage to sort it out? Whilst luggage is in their care the airline is responsible under an international treaty (Monteal or Warsaw, I can't remember) so never walk away with just a letter to give to your insurance. Their liability might not cover really expensive items (so insurance would be needed) but for routine holiday clothing it ought to be enough. Same goes for damage, Lufthansa once gave me cash compensation from a flat rate scale for a damaged case before I'd even left the airport - it was more than I'd paid for the case 10 years earlier and the damage was so slight I'd only gone into the claims office to ask for some gaffer tape!!

feebee

the Back2you system seems well thought out but it's an annual subscription and if you think carefully you can copy most of the ideas for free! Find a luggage tag with a strong fastener, put your name and mobile number on it (don't forget the UK +44 prefix). Inside the bag on top of everything else (so first thing you see when opening it) put a big sheet of paper with your name and number again, the flight numbers (with dates) it should have been on, where you will be staying and which dates you will be there(no point in sending it there if you've already gone home). For homeward flight put home address amd work phone as well.

Thanks Steve. The only reason I mentioned it was because I am sure I remember that there was a dispute on here some time ago where an insurance company were refusing to pay out insurance on luggage because the bags had been mixed I might have dreamt it though, which is quite probable sometimes

you might have done, if someone had an individual policy and their bag went missing I would expect the insurers to say they wouldn't pay for someone else's lost property that was in the bag - that person would have to claim off his own policy and then they'd get into an argument because there would only be one baggage irregularity report. But if they were a couple with a joint policy it shouldn't matter who owned the stuff since everthing in the bag would be covered by the same policy.

Also forgot the other grounds for argument. All insurance policies have little clauses about calims that are also covered by other policies. So you might find them querying whether your home contents insurance covered the missing stuff as well and trying to split liablity - much easier just to get the money off the airline!!

no but my case was rifled in malaga airport got some stuff pinched it was only mine. my wifes and daughters were fine

Never happened to us, and I hope it never will!!!!!!!!

No. But I do recall a few years ago in Cyprus that some luggage was not loaded at Manchester. There was a couple at our hotel who were there for their wedding and a case was missing. He was being particularly obnoxious to the rep and I told him so.
There had been problems at Manchester when all the conveyors broke and everyone was delayed. He had been told that his missing luggage would be with him that evening but would not give up with his ranting. Now if it had been his or her clothes for the wedding I could have understood his "concern" - But no. His golf shoes were in the case!
Personally if the prospective bride had kicked him into touch I would not have blamed her.

fwh

A few years ago on a coach transfer from the airport in Portugal to our hotel,we stopped to drop people off at their hotel and obviously cases were removed from the coach.As the coach slowly started to move on,I glanced up ahead and saw a young local woman(maybe 20/25) walking rather quickly dragging a case. STOP i yelled,THAT IS MY CASE!!!. The coach stopped,my husband jumped off,chased the girl down the road,snatched the case back and the girl ran off. Boy,was i glad i got it right..it was my case,but it would have been very embarassing if it wasn't.Then again it would have been a rotten start to our holiday if she had got away with it. Paula

I just had an email from my friend last night and she returned to Gatwick on Monday and her case was taken by someone else off the carousel
She only discovered this had happened when her husband picked up what he thought was their case and it had a big white sticker on one side.
It sounds a mistake so hopefully the people who have her case will return it to Gatwick.
My husband is embarrassed by the amount of bows, ribbons and bright coloured belts on our cases but it certainly wont get taken by mistake.

Yes I lost my luggage for a whole holiday. Infact it was such a saga, when it was eventually returned it had been to so many places that BA should have given it its own gold ff card One of the Goa regulars even made a trip report for it. Aberdeen, Heathrow T5(second day opened) , Milan, Mumbai( after I had returned home at the end of the holiday), Heathrow( where they lost it again), Belfast( sent to wrong person), Heathrow and Aberdeen.
Since then I have had luggage not turned up- at Barbados. But we got £100 to buy basics and it arrived the next day. We didn't need to buy anything apart from Suntan cream.

Yes on the way back from gran canaria one year, though thankfully it was the return journey. As it took five days to get it back. We landed at Gatwick my case went to Newcastle. And if it wasn't bad enough that the airline had put it on the wrong plane, the courier returning it brought me the wrong case and took three days to retrace where mine had gone
Finger crossed my holiday in a fortnight goes without any problems