01/08/09, 02:44:01 UTC

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Traveling to Europe? Beware airline luggage woes

miamiherald.com

It's the summer of lost luggage for anyone traveling in Europe.

Such is the magnitude of the problem that travelers were advised this month by the Association of European Airlines to avoid checking bags altogether if possible and to take carry-on luggage instead.

The association released figures showing that an average of 10 passengers per flight lost bags between April and June. British Airways was cited as the worst among Europe's major airlines, and is on track to lose a record 1.3 million bags this year.

Fans of the syndicated TV talk show Live With Regis and Kelly heard co-host Regis Philbin rant in July about how British Airways lost two of his wife's bags. When he got them back, one of her favorite dresses had been ruined by water damage.

After a luggage ''mountain'' of some 22,000 lost bags piled up in London, British Airways was forced to use freighters at least twice in the past eight months to reunite passengers in the United States with their belongings, said Laura Goodes, a spokeswoman.

''Our baggage performance has not been as good as we would have liked and we fully apologize to those customers who have been affected by delayed baggage in the past few months,'' Goodes said.

Compounding the problem is a shortage of baggage handlers at London's Heathrow airport, the world's third-busiest airport, where dozens of workers are being taken off duty each day to be trained on a new baggage system at a terminal set to open next year.

The troubles aren't limited to Britain. Italian travelers faced similar luggage horrors this month at Rome's main Fiumicino airport. And even in the United States, reports of lost luggage soared by about 26 percent in June compared with a year earlier.

''It is statistics like these that should make all airlines look at their current procedures and determine their own adequacy,'' said Josh Holm, director of the Coalition for Luggage Security in New York, a group of business people and companies that study safety issues surrounding luggage. ``All airlines should look for alternate means of luggage transportation to ease the congestion in airports and the daily loss rate.''

Delta Air Lines requires outside identification on all checked baggage and recommends placing identification inside bags as well, in case the outside ID gets lost, said spokeswoman Katie Hulme. ''And remember to never lock your luggage,'' she said.

Robert Mann, an aviation consultant at RW Mann & Co. in Port Washington, N.Y., said several factors are contributing to the baggage breakdown.

A spike in delayed flights means there is less time to correctly transfer baggage to connecting flights. Increased security screening of baggage and restrictions on carry-on bags also play a part, he said.

Henry Harteveldt, a travel analyst at Forrester Research in San Francisco, warned that the situation was not likely to improve any time soon.

''The simple fact is that there are more people flying by air,'' he said. ``And the growth of budget airlines, most of which don't transfer bags between airlines, requires passengers to check and re-check bags.''

TIPS TO AVOID BAGGAGE HEADACHES

• Don't put valuables, critical items such as medicine or keys, irreplaceable items, or fragile items in checked bags.

• Don't put pressure on latches by overpacking checked bags.

• Don't check in at the last minute. Even if you make your flight, your bags may not.

• Verify that the attendant checking in your bags has put a destination tag on each one. Throw away old tags to avoid confusion.

• Hang onto your claim check.

• Checked bags may need to be open for security checks. If you wish to lock your bags, go to www.tsa.gov for information on locks that personnel can open and relock.

• Choose nonstop flights whenever possible.

 Printable Version  | published Aug 19, 2007