The real reason your baggage was lost in transit
Arriving at your destination without your baggage is the stuff of holiday nightmares and can lead to a stressful start to your journey, particularly if you don’t have the appropriate travel insurance. But how can this sort of thing still happen in 2016?
Travel & Leisurehas outlined the four main causes of misplaced baggage on holidays. If your bags have gone missing it’s probably down to one of these reasons.
1. Electrical storms
Inclement weather is one of the main reasons your baggage might be held up in the journey from the plane to the carousel. When lightning or other severe weather strikes, ground crews are generally ordered inside for safety, leading to delays.
2. Size of the airport
Sometimes the sheer size of the airport can lead to hold-ups in the baggage delivery process. If you’re a passenger it’s more likely than not that you have the most direct route to the carousel, but your bags don’t have that luxury to draw upon.
3. Passengers on the flight
The amount of passengers on your flight also plays a role in how smoothly the baggage was processed and as you imagine flights with more passengers are going to take much longer to unload. So if you were packed like sardines on your trip, don’t be surprised if it takes a little while longer for your bag to be processed by the ground staff.
4. State of the airport
Most airports have the baggage claim process down to a T, but there are plenty of locations around the world that haven’t yet achieved such levels of mastery. It’s not uncommon for remote airports that don’t receive as much traffic to have bag processing methods that are considerably less elegant, leading to the occasional misplaced bag.
Have you ever had luggage lost in transit? What happened? And were you able to reclaim it? Share your story in the comments, we’d love to hear from you.
Related links:
10 items people don’t pack but should
8 common mistakes when packing checked-in luggage
10 things you should never pay for on holidays