How to Prevent Lost Luggage
The original was rightly sceptical: nobody can stop an airline losing a bag. What you can do is make it much more likely to come back, and much less painful if it does not.
The single most effective change since this was written is the tracker. An AirTag or equivalent in the bag costs very little and turns "the airline does not know where it is" into "it is at Charles de Gaulle". Several airlines now accept a tracker's location as evidence, which changed how these conversations go. Put it somewhere it will not be found by a casual hand.
The rest is old advice that still works:
- Fly direct where you can. Most bags are lost at connections, not at origin. A tight connection is the highest-risk thing you can book.
- Put your name and phone number inside the bag, not only on the handle. Outside tags get ripped off, and a bag with no external label and a card inside gets reunited.
- Photograph the bag and its contents before you go. Claims go faster with a picture.
- Remove old tags. Stale barcodes genuinely cause misrouting.
- Carry one change of clothes, all medication and all documents in the cabin. This is the part that turns a lost bag from a disaster into an annoyance.
And know the rule that pays. On international flights the Montreal Convention caps airline liability at roughly 1,300 SDR, about £1,300, and you claim from the airline, not the airport. Report it before leaving the baggage hall and get the reference number; claiming later is far harder.
Part of the guide to luggage and travel bags.