How to avoid Baggage Delays during Air Travel in Europe

You already know the answer to your question. The only way to eliminate any risk of losing bags is to eliminate checked bags. On a positive note, you have already far exceeded the probability for lost bags on your previous trip, so one hopes you won’t have the same likelihood of losing them again.

You have opened Pandora’s Box. Be prepared for many diatribes about packing light.

I’m sure you’ll get tons of people telling you that’s why they only use carryon bags. I’ve done it (for a 2 week trip in winter) and yes, it’s doable. Although I admit it’s harder as I get older and I’m traveling with my kids. I tend to think I need to pack everything - just in case. As if there are no stores in Europe!

If you choose to check a bag, my strategy would be to only put things in that checked bag that you can do without for the remainder of your trip. If you’re traveling in winter, don’t check your coat. Don’t pack ALL of you shirts in one checked bag. Never check your medications or any valuables. You can pack several outfits in a carryon, so if your checked bag is lost/delayed, it just means you do some laundry in the sink. It doesn’t need to ruin a trip. If you are traveling with someone and you are both checking bags, split your clothes between the bags so if one bag gets lost, you still have clothes in the other bag.

Not sure which travel guru said it first; "there are two kinds of baggage, carry-on and lost"

If you find you cannot do without checked luggage, split things up between/among your bags, so if one goes missing no one has lost everything

You were very unlucky! I have been travelling for more than 30 years, taking at least 2 holidays a year involving flights and we always check a bag in, unless on a short city break. The only time we have had a bag delayed was on a return flight from Washington to London, when the bag turned up at home 3 days later. I have never had a bag delayed on a flight within Europe. I always take direct flights.

I would have less faith in a shipping company getting my bag to the right place than the airline. The alternative is to pack light and just take hand luggage or in future, try to cover places that are better connected in a single trip or with similar climates. Trying to pack for Iceland, Holland and Greece will need 3 different sets of clothes. With Iceland, Ireland and Scotland, you would probably have got away with the same wardrobe!

When you check a bag, make sure the agent puts the correct destination airport on the tag.

To minimize the inconvenience of a lost or delayed bag, take what you need for the first 48 hours in your carry ons. Don't pack one bag per person. Instead, split your stuff up evenly between you.

As others have said, the obvious answer is to take the train. But I must ask, where did you fly and which airlines did you use when your luggage was lost? There are few countries in Europe where flying domestic makes sense (a very common mistake among americans). Living in one of the largest and most elongated countries in Europe I've however done a few domestic flights, and I've never had a lost or delayed bag, so you probably only had bad luck. In fact I've never had a lost or delayed bag at all on an intra-European flight.

We have traveled the World and had little issues with lost luggage.

We generally fly Delta and are Skymiles members. I am usually Silver and I place one of my silver cards on my bag with my name and address.

We did a tour of China and were warned by our tour company to have the small locks for our suitcases when traveling within China. We didn't have any, so the tour guide issued the locks to us. He said if we didn't have them our cases would be rifled through by someone. I did lose a bag internally (Beijing to Xian), but our guide filed our claim at the airport and my bag was delivered the next day. We had one other instance of a missing bag in 9 years of intensive travel and it was my wife's bag was missing when we arrived at our home airport at the end of a trip. The bag was found and delivered the next day to our home.

We do carry small carry-on, just in case.

One of the reasons we don’t check bags is we often immediate travel some distance from our arrival airport. Thus merging temporarily lost luggage a significant disruption. The more we travel, the less we take. See also Janis Joplin’s song.

I once worked for Virgin Atlantic processing claims of lost baggage on flights from London Heathrow to Chicago O'hare.
Most lost baggage occurred when passengers check in minutes before closing the check in and when passengers had tickets with short connecting times between flights or multiple connections

You already know the answer to your question. The only way to
eliminate any risk of losing bags is to eliminate checked bags.

I am actually surprised you didn't get more of that. It's almost a cult thing. Oh, and carry no more than 7kg in a fancy pack.

You've had bad luck I guess. On the way over I had delayed luggage once and it showed up at the hotel the next day. Coming back, once too. Showed up at the house the next day. That is out of about 50 trips representing maybe 200 flight legs. Pretty good track record. They do make a little GPS gizmo for tracking luggage, but that sounds expensive and a bit silly and while you may know where your bag is, still ain't with you.

How about schedule you trip with 2 or 3 nights at your first location so you are there for the bag to catch up to you. Check in at the appropriate time and avoid really tight connections. I worry a lot less about nonstop flights as I suspect that the issue is with connections.

Schedule 2-3 nights near your arrival airport to assure you will connect with your checked luggage. Well, OK. A simple solution.

I’ve been checking a bag on domestic fights in Europe for many years and have only had two delays, both with connecting flights. Arriving well ahead of the closing time for bag check-in can help. Also, at the gate, l often ask the gate agent to check if my bag has been loaded on the plane. This is particularly important if you are on a connecting flight. (If you mention your recent experience with delayed bags, I’m sure they’ll be glad to help)

Your luck is bound to change...have a great trip!

I'll not get into the packing light conversation as I'm sure you'll get lots of advice about how to do that. I will suggest two things however. For the checked bags, put one half of one person's clothes in each of two bags. Put one half of the other person's clothes in the same two bags. If one bag gets misdirected, you'll still have at least half your stuff to get by until it catches up. The other suggestion is try to put at least one change of clothes in a carry on bag. If both checked bags are misdirected you'll still have something.

TC, great advice.

My description of how often I have lost bags want accurate though, as about half the time I travel with carry-on only, so cut the numbers in half.

There have been times when I checked in way early or had a real long layover. I worry about my bags in those situations too... as the bag is laying around for hours in some baggage facility waiting for the plane. So far, I've been lucky.

I usually check my carryon sized bag...this for many decades. The only delay I can recall is I had snow skis delivered later in the evening when we had to almost run to our connection...in the early 1980's. We've had people staying with us whose bag has been delayed and later delivered to our house ( a service I think is lovely)...all these people had a too tight connection. I hate bothering with my main bag in airports or on a flight, even though it is light and does have wheels, so I check whenever possible.

This is what we do to avoid lost luggage...and we've been successful:
1. Get to the airport with enough time for your bags to be loaded onto the flight; ie, the requested 2-3 hours depending on if domestic or international.
2. When your bag is tagged, double check to make sure the tag indicates your destination airport.
3. Allow at least 2 hours between flight changes...I lean towards 2 1/2 to 3.
4. Make your bag stand out from the rest. We use colorful fabric wrapped around the handles. This way the bag can be spotted in a group of bags and/or someone else won't take it by mistake.
5. Take a photograph of your bag when you are ready to leave the house. You can show it to personel if it is among the missing.
6. Don't have tags, etc. hanging from the bag as these easily get caught in the conveyers and create problems for baggage handlers. Also, secure your zippers so it doesn't accidentally spill open. You do not want to aggravate the baggage handlers.
7. Pack in your personal item, which you plan to bring onto the plane, anything you can't travel without: all medications, financials/itinerary, electronics and accessories, entertainment, and change of clothes.

I usually have a free checked bag so I check. Otherwise, I'll carryon or let them gate check. Although, jet blue sends the gate check to the baggage carousel so it is a good practice to always pack as if you are checking, IMO. YMMV

There have been times when I checked in way early or had a real long layover. I worry about my bags in those situations too... as the bag is laying around for hours in some baggage facility waiting for the plane.

I totally agree with this statement by James. Too long and it has to sit in the airport in limbo.

I do many of the things people have listed such as not having a short connection on the outbound segments, getting to the airport early (not a big deal from my teeny airport) and spending the first few nights in the location where I land. I try to have as direct a route as possible with few layovers. I always have 1 at my hub but try to go direct from there.

I'd also add to download the airline app to your phone. This may not be useful for intra-European flights - not sure what their apps are capable of - but the Delta app has a "track my bags" feature. I sign on to WIFI in the airport and always get a notification that my bag has been loaded.

I've only flown twice between points in Europe and just did direct flights, again to a city where I was staying a few nights and have had no problem.

Sorry you had issues.

Prior to 9/11 one piece out of two pieces of luggage was always checked in, the other served as carry-on.

With the rules imposed after 9/11, then I checked in both pieces.

Now with the spinner that piece is obviously checked in and the other duffel shoulder sack I have as the carry on.

I rarely check bags, but when I do I put a bag tag on it with the name and address of the hotel where I will be staying upon arrival. I also put an email address on the tag as well so I can be contacted and can coordinate with the airlines.

For intraeuropean flights I try to fly Easyjet. As far as I know they only fly point to point, no connecting flights. So all luggage that arrives on an aircraft goes to baggage claim. This theoretically should eliminate the possibility of my bag being misdirected to a connecting flight.

On airlines where I self tag my bag, I look for little barcodes on the tag. Some airlines have them some don’t. Peel off one or two. One goes on the back of my name tag. One goes on the bag itself. Barcode should allow the airline to look up your flight info if the main tag is lost or unreadable.

If you are going to check a bag (I rarely do) then timing is another important thing. Get to the check in counter late and your bag may not make it over to the plane in time. Get there too early and it may be forgotten. So...1.5 - 2 hours ahead, maybe?
Also tight connections make it harder.

You are talking about inter-Europe flights, so you could just avoid those. Plan your trips so more of it can be done by train or car so your bag stays with you. Of course, this isn’t always possible depending on your destination but a 5-7 hour train ride often is only minimally longer than the total time of a flight (getting to airport, waiting, flying, waiting for baggage, getting out of airport). Take the train where reasonable even if it’s a little longer - less stress!!

Dropping off a checked bag too early can also be a problem. We did that once and Delta sent the bag to the destination on the flight ahead of ours. Not supposed to happen but it did and our bag sat unattended at the destination for about an hour and a half. We finally found it at another baggage carousel.

Just facing this issue on domestic flight. First time I checked a bag in over 20 years -- it went to the Bahamas, I went to Denver. They will "attempt" to get my bag back to me "sometime in the next few days". How can you confuse DEN with NAS on the baggage tag? Lucky it was nothing but dirty clothes. Still frustrating. Too bad it wasn't the other way around. I could have stayed in the Bahamas "the next few days". ;-)

So it can happen on any flight. But losing a bag has never "ruined" any trip I have been on. It may be inconvenient, but "ruined" is a bit dramatic. I usually pack everything I need for the entire trip, up to 6 weeks at a time, into my carry on bag. I know other people have different needs than me when it comes to what is necessary for a trip.

5-7 hour train ride often is only minimally longer than the total time
of a flight (getting to airport, waiting, flying, waiting for baggage,
getting out of airport). Take the train where reasonable even if it’s
a little longer - less stress!!

TRAIN (using Budapest to Prague as an example)
Time to train station by foot and metro 20 min
Early arrival so you can figure the place out 40 minutes
Train to Prague 6:30
Public transport to your hotel :30

Total, not less than 8 hours and if you have never done it before, figure 8:30

PLANE

Taxi to airport :45
Early arrival 2:15
Flight time 1:30
Deplane and Baggage time :45
Taxi to hotel :45

Total: 6 hours. Deduct :30 minutes you spent eating breakfast in the airport. Either way, I eat. Just assume use the dead time in the airport. Net is 3 to 4 hours faster. And I enjoy the freedom to move around over a train seat.

Okay, you're scaring me now. I have already paid for 3 separate intra-European flights. But based on the tickets I purchased and the way I pack, I should be able to do carry-on only or check a bag. They are nonstop flights, so I'm not too concerned about checking.

However, I really appreciate some of the comments about ways checking a bag can go wrong. And having seen how bags are loaded onto the plane, I would never do it unless I was forced to.

It's a good discussion as a little common sense awareness can be beneficial, but the odds of loosing a bag are pretty low.

One other thing to be aware of, is what is in your bag. I have had luggage with coffee and bags with kitchen knives searched by TSA (they leave a note in the bag when they search it) Searching may delay the bag and it might miss the flight. Coffee? It's used to hide drugs from drug sniffing dogs so they are trained to find coffee too.

You already know the answer to your question. The only way to
eliminate any risk of losing bags is to eliminate checked bags.

That's the only answer for complete elimination of baggage delays.

Given that Baggage Delays within Europe Domestic Flights...

I'm lost with that one. You mean within a country like from Paris to Nice, Munich to Hamburg or Athens to Santorini? Europe is a continent, not a country with domestic flights. Are you speaking about intra-Schengen flights? Intra EU flights? Baggage delays/loss can happen in any and all of the above when you check them.

I now have to check a bag because of my spinal condition: trust me, I hate that. The only thing I can do is fly directly with no change of planes and hope for the best. Flights that are not direct increase the likelihood of baggage delays or, worse, lost luggage. Within the European continent, I have taken trains depending upon cost and travel time; I have also flown discount airlines like EasyJet and Eurowings. I count myself fortunate that both discount European airlines have not lost my luggage.

"Given that Baggage Delays with Europe Domestic ... seems very common." What does that internet "wisdom" mean? Is it true? Or do people with bad luck just speak the loudest? Don't make decisions based on ...er ... Fake News.

Since most of the situation is out of your control, you should focus on things you can control:

Think about whether your bag is sturdy enough to keep using it. Think about whether the cheapest airline is "worth it."

Watch the bag ticket printing and application. Make sure your destination and stops are visible on the tag. Know the airport codes.

Start to walk away from your check-in, but watch to see if the bag is placed on the belt. Be aware of odd situations, like piles of bags behind the counter because something is wrong in the belt system. Ask what's happening.

Remove all tags, AND secondary bar code stickers in hidden places, as soon as you have verified that you have picked up the right bag after arrival. Don't wait to get to the hotel room, because you might forget to remove them.

Put two address labels on two different places on the exterior of the bag. Place multiple business cards or printed addresses inside the bag. Put a copy of your itinerary inside the bag.

Make a sensible locking decision. I use plastic cable ties.

Write down, and store online, a description of your bag, with English and Metric dimensions, so you can file a claim if you need to.

Given that there are literally hundreds of airports in Europe, each unique, and all operating under different rules, conditions and budgets and being served by dozens of airline companies with fantastic to miserable records, any blanket statement about the quality of baggage services is sort of useless. Every year I am on legacy carriers out of the most heavily used airports in Europe and I am on discount airlines out of rinkydink airports and my last baggage issue in Europe was in Vienna over 12 years ago. Got my bag delivered to the hotel late that same day. Similar experience at a midsized US airport about 7 years ago.

40 years and millions of travelled miles taught me to check my bags only on my return flight.
There is nothing worse than having to shop for a change of underwear in Penang the night that you arrive, other than buying a shirt in the HK ferry terminal.... devoting your energy towards reporting, finding, replacing your luggage can ruin your travel.

If your flights include transfers from your international to the domestic flights...carry on.
If your itinerary does not allow you to stay at your arrival area for several days...carry on.
If you are transferring through Newark, Washington Dulles, PHILADELPHIA, Charles De Gaulle, Gatwick, or Frankfurt....carry on.

If you check...carry a photo of the bag, remove all tags except current identification, watch it get tagged (correctly) and loaded and make sure that nothing of significant value is contained...then wave goodbye to it and head for the nearest lounge for a drink...

There’s a company called send my bag. I’m on another group for expats in Italy and many people have recommended. (I have not personally used, but will when we move back to US)
If you need 1-2 day, it’s expensive. But 3-4 days not bad. Something to look into.

send my bag

Too bad piitr2005 hasn't checked back in on this 30-reply thread!