In a press release today, American Express offered some tips for those who want to protect themselves from lost luggage.
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- Â Tag your Bags – Many people forget to put their name and contact info on a tag outside the bag. Even more forget to add it inside. You can also leave a copy of your itinerary or airline reference number, to ensure they have some way of finding you. After all…they have thousands of flights to try and find you on.
- Take a photo – You don’t necessarily need to carry it around. But being able to show them a picture of the bag will definitely help. Remember…lots of people have similar bags.
- Ship it – It can cost just as much money, or even less, to send your bags ahead. Not only do you avoid excess fees paid at the airport…you can avoid hanging around the baggage claim. Just remember to carry at least one change of clothes with you. Shippers are less likely to lose bags than the airlines(ironically), but no one has a 100% success rate.
And if you are travelling…overseas especially…consider travel insurance. Most policies have a provision for loss or delay of baggage. It is certainly better than sitting around the hotel in your winter gear waiting for your warm weather clothes to be delivered by the airline. That happened to us once…ironically, two days later, when we gave in and bought clothes locally…not only did the bags show…but a cold front moved in.
