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Delayed luggage?


MrHaga

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Hey

Media is full of stories of airport chaos....

What happens if your luggage is delayed at the airport and you actually don`t get it before the ship sails from the port of departure? Will the athe airline company make sure your luggage is delivered to one of the ports of the ships itinerary or just take the easiest solution and send your luggage back to your home address?

Anyone with experience on this?

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@Lovetocruise2002 had an experience with this not long ago.  

There are a lot of "it depends" involved.  Are you talking as an American cruising from Europe?  Or a European cruising from America?  European cruising from Europe?  North American sailing from America?  Transatlantic?  Round trip Caribbean cruise?  Hawaii?  Australia?  etc. 

Domestically in the US airlines in the past would often help each other move lost luggage.  Now?  There may be less cooperation between airlines because of how messed up luggage has become.  International is more tricky as luggage is supposed to accompany an international passenger.  It depends.

Some airlines will attempt to forward luggage if they can.  The legacy carriers have an advantage because they fly to more places.  Low cost or ultra low cost carriers that are mainly domestic may not yield the same success.   It depends.

Hopefully you are flying in the day before in which case the airline may try to have your luggage flown on a later flight or one the next morning.  They might offer to deliver your luggage to your hotel but that adds the complexity of waiting for a delivery company to collect and drive your luggage to the hotel.  If your bag is flying on the next flight after yours waiting in the airport or going to your hotel and then going back to the airport may be smart even though it's inconvenient.  Some airports may not allow you to come back later and get to the luggage carousels, especially with international flights.  It depends.

If your airline offers to forward your luggage to a port of call the first thing to do is notify guest services on board the ship.  They will attempt to work with the airline to facilitate acceptance of delayed luggage.  Royal doesn't take ownership for the movement of the lost luggage but they will try to work with airlines so they know the bag is coming at a port of call.  It's still the airlines job to get it there.  

If your airline doesn't have the relationship with other airlines to forward your luggage (much more complicated with international flights) or they don't offer any assistance forwarding your luggage then your luggage may sit at the city you flew to and wait for you there.  Some airlines will agree to fly your bags back to your home airport when they are so lost you never get them during a cruise.  Some airlines will hold the luggage at the city they were supposed to fly it to and do nothing beyond that. It depends.  

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4 hours ago, MrHaga said:

Hey

Media is full of stories of airport chaos....

What happens if your luggage is delayed at the airport and you actually don`t get it before the ship sails from the port of departure? Will the athe airline company make sure your luggage is delivered to one of the ports of the ships itinerary or just take the easiest solution and send your luggage back to your home address?

Anyone with experience on this?

We had an experience in New Zealand in 2018, before current fiasco.  We used our agent to inquire through American Airline, and they just said they lost visibility when Air Tahiti Nui took over.  We filed luggage claim in Auckland and then told Customer Service when we boarded the cruise the following day.  Royal had a team that worked with NZ Air to track down the luggage-we gave Royal Staff a copy of our claim. They gave us a t-shirt and toiletries, provided free laundry service, and eventually delivered our luggage about day4 of our 14-night cruise.  We had to buy extra clothes and "beauty aids" in NZ and our trip insurance covered all costs (delayed luggage claim with receipts provided).

Could it have been worse?  Yes, the bags might have been lost or stolen.  Hence, a few extra items need to be in your carry-on, always cross-pack, always have a TA, and always have trip insurance of some type (some Airline Credit Cards have luggage coverage).

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Many people are starting to put GPS trackers in their luggage for this very reason.  It may not help the airline get your bag to you, but you may be able to determine if it's still with the airline or if it's been stolen.

One example is below, but there are certainly others.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NRS3YP8?tag=cttv04-20&linkCode=ssc&creativeASIN=B08NRS3YP8&asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.3RY5B8EG2VXLP

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On 7/16/2022 at 9:00 AM, SpeedNoodles said:

Many people are starting to put GPS trackers in their luggage for this very reason.  It may not help the airline get your bag to you, but you may be able to determine if it's still with the airline or if it's been stolen.

One example is below, but there are certainly others.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NRS3YP8?tag=cttv04-20&linkCode=ssc&creativeASIN=B08NRS3YP8&asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.3RY5B8EG2VXLP

Or AirTags in case you're iPhone User

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I had this happen once on my honeymoon cruise. We flew into Rome for a med cruise, and the airline never put my luggage on the plane. 

As pointed out by others, RCCL was very helpful in providing me with some t-shirts, basic toiletries, a free tux rental for formal night, and one free laundry service. It took about 4 days before my bag finally caught up to the port we were in, and then I had to pay to have my bag actually delivered to the port to get onto the ship. RCCL helped me through the entire process.

Ever since then we do a few things 1) we now always fly in at least one night before sailing in case of any issues (especially on international cruises), 2) pack at least one change of clothes in carry on, and 3) my wife and I each pack at least one extra outfit in each other's suitcase (so, in theory, between what I wear on flight plus clothes in carry on and in spouse's bag, I at least have 3 changes of clothes). 

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On 7/18/2022 at 11:44 AM, Carlos A. said:

Or AirTags in case you're iPhone User

+1 for this solution - I recently went on a business trip to Europe where I had to do a bit of jumping around between countries, and it was so nice being able to see my luggage move through the airport towards my plane and see it move with me as we pulled away from the gate. Great peace of mind. 

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12 hours ago, Ray said:

I'm curious about these Airtags..

You’re sitting on Aircraft watching last of luggage getting loaded and your luggage is still showing in main terminal. Can you instruct crew to find your luggage even if it holds up flight? 

 

 

 

 

I think the answer is no you cant, but at least you will know that your luggage didn't make it, and then you plan to get it to you on the next flight out to your destination? 

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Airtags are not perfect.  Understand how they work.  They don't have a GPS chip in them and they are not connected to the internet directly.  

When a passing iPhone detects an airtag that phone sends an update to iCloud.  The owner of the phone isn't aware of this, it's all coded into the iPhone OS.  Based on the GPS fix of that phone and the serial number of the airtag Apple then presents the location of the airtag for it's owner to see.

When I boarded Quantum in Seattle my luggage airtag appeared to be at a marina half a mile away.  Whatever phone detected my airtag, maybe in the pocket of a forklift driver on the pier or in the pocket of a dock worker, their phone didn't have a very good GPS fix so it reported my airtag where it thought it was.  

For the purpose of tracking luggage it isn't a live GPS feed with an exact location at all times.  If no iPhone has been near your airtag it's position won't be updated until an iPhone does come close to it.  It's not usual for some of my airtags to have no position update for days.  I put one in my car parked at an airport.  Often the position report was 2 or 3 days ago because that was the last time someone with an iPhone walked past my car in the parking lot.

One of the issues folks using airtags in luggage have right now is convincing an airline employee you know where your luggage is.  If their system shows your bag is in Dallas but your airtag is reporting it is in London good luck convincing that airline employee your bag is actually in London.  To an overworked airline employee you are just another upset, angry customer with lost luggage like the thousands of others they talked to that day.   Even if your airtag has a recent update and your luggage is really in London it might not help you at all.  At least you know where it is and if it starts moving you might see that.

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Another +1 for Airtags!  They are a permanent part of all my luggage now. Replacing the batteries yearly is a small price to pay for the piece of mind that one of my bags is 1) in the naughty room 2) is in some other hallway unrelated to my cabin 3) has been left on the dock by some irresponsible porters.

 

 

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On 7/16/2022 at 12:28 AM, MrHaga said:

Hey

Media is full of stories of airport chaos....

What happens if your luggage is delayed at the airport and you actually don`t get it before the ship sails from the port of departure? Will the athe airline company make sure your luggage is delivered to one of the ports of the ships itinerary or just take the easiest solution and send your luggage back to your home address?

Anyone with experience on this?

I sailed in December (flying in from Vancouver - Calgary - Orlando) - and upon landing in Orlando my suitcase was the only one in our family not to arrive.   The airlines were not (and I'm guessing are still not) equipped to handle sending your suitcase to a port of call.   In my case I ended up at Target at 11:00 at night trying to find some basic clothes to get me through 7 days at sea .  This was no small feat as Target, even in Orlando, stocks mostly "winter" clothes in December and cruise-weather clothes were hard to come by.   Luckily we were sailing star class and I just sent my stuff out every day to be laundered.   When the ship returned to Port Canaveral my suitcase was at MCO so we swung by the airport to pick it up on our way to the hotel (we had an extra day in Orlando after our cruise).

The airline (Westjet) reimbursed me for all my clothes and toiletries that I purchased, with the exception of the suitcase that I had to buy to haul all my stuff in (which is so dumb - what was I supposed to put it in?  A giant target bag - a la "the Clampets come to Harmony of the Seas?"   haha

Lesson learned - you really can get by on a cruise with one dress, one bathing suit, one coverup, basic makeup (luckily my shoes and accessories were in a different bag), one pair of shorts and one pair of pants and a couple tshirts.   It wasn't ideal as I had basically bought a whole wardrobe to wear on the cruise - but after my initial meltdown when I accepted that my bag wouldn't make it I let it go and decided to not let it ruin my week.

As a follow up - we sailed again in April, this time out of Miami on Symphony... and guess what.   Landed... no bags.   Shocker.   In this case we missed a connecting flight in Toronto and were re-booked to get to Miami on Delta via ATL.  We had a 6 hour layover in Toronto, so one would assume our bags would have been able to be moved onto this flight - but ... apparently not.   Luckily they made it on a later flight - also into ATL, then to FLL where they landed at midnight and were delivered to our hotel at about 3 in the morning.  Tremendous effort by Delta crew at FLL - I was shocked our bags made it.  But after December, I was fully prepared to do some shopping - and Miami in the morning would have been more fun than Target at 11:00pm  lol

We just flew to the states again this month and had a connecting flight through Calgary again - I now have air tags in all my bags.   While it won't help me get it back in a pinch - I would at least have an idea of whether or not I need to immediately go shopping for essentials rather than waiting to hear back from airlines... especially if I'm going on a cruise because before we leave the gate I can see if my suitcases are on the airplane.

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1 hour ago, DJsMrs said:

I sailed in December (flying in from Vancouver - Calgary - Orlando) - and upon landing in Orlando my suitcase was the only one in our family not to arrive.   The airlines were not (and I'm guessing are still not) equipped to handle sending your suitcase to a port of call.   In my case I ended up at Target at 11:00 at night trying to find some basic clothes to get me through 7 days at sea .  This was no small feat as Target, even in Orlando, stocks mostly "winter" clothes in December and cruise-weather clothes were hard to come by.   Luckily we were sailing star class and I just sent my stuff out every day to be laundered.   When the ship returned to Port Canaveral my suitcase was at MCO so we swung by the airport to pick it up on our way to the hotel (we had an extra day in Orlando after our cruise).

The airline (Westjet) reimbursed me for all my clothes and toiletries that I purchased, with the exception of the suitcase that I had to buy to haul all my stuff in (which is so dumb - what was I supposed to put it in?  A giant target bag - a la "the Clampets come to Harmony of the Seas?"   haha

Lesson learned - you really can get by on a cruise with one dress, one bathing suit, one coverup, basic makeup (luckily my shoes and accessories were in a different bag), one pair of shorts and one pair of pants and a couple tshirts.   It wasn't ideal as I had basically bought a whole wardrobe to wear on the cruise - but after my initial meltdown when I accepted that my bag wouldn't make it I let it go and decided to not let it ruin my week.

As a follow up - we sailed again in April, this time out of Miami on Symphony... and guess what.   Landed... no bags.   Shocker.   In this case we missed a connecting flight in Toronto and were re-booked to get to Miami on Delta via ATL.  We had a 6 hour layover in Toronto, so one would assume our bags would have been able to be moved onto this flight - but ... apparently not.   Luckily they made it on a later flight - also into ATL, then to FLL where they landed at midnight and were delivered to our hotel at about 3 in the morning.  Tremendous effort by Delta crew at FLL - I was shocked our bags made it.  But after December, I was fully prepared to do some shopping - and Miami in the morning would have been more fun than Target at 11:00pm  lol

We just flew to the states again this month and had a connecting flight through Calgary again - I now have air tags in all my bags.   While it won't help me get it back in a pinch - I would at least have an idea of whether or not I need to immediately go shopping for essentials rather than waiting to hear back from airlines... especially if I'm going on a cruise because before we leave the gate I can see if my suitcases are on the airplane.

Can I ask if you cross pack your bags?

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1 hour ago, Pooch said:

Can I ask if you cross pack your bags?

No - I don't.. and frankly the hassle of then figuring out what we have vs. what we don't have isn't much of an advantage.   In this case I knew it was my bag (not my husband's or my kids') so I knew exactly what was missing, and what I would need to get through the week.   If we had cross-packed I'd be buying various clothes for various people and it really complicates everything for a family of four.   It would have been nice if they lost the kids' bag for the week - it would have been a quick trip to GAP for a few things and they wouldn't have cared one way or another lol

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I see your point but cross packing for me means if a bag is lost we all have at least half of what we packed & we can live with that for the trip utilizing a little judicious hand washing.  Probably wouldn’t need to buy anything more than the couple of shirts we normally buy on vacation.  
i will add that we are pretty light packers and always have essentials and a day or 2 worth of clothes in our carry ons.

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