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Baggage Handler Strike in Italy September 29

Posted by on

Hi All

I am flying to Italy this week with my family. We leave the USA September 29 but we don't in Italy until September 30. I learned of there is a baggage handler strike planned for September 29. Is this likely to affect September 30? We are trying to decide if we need to go to all carry ons for our family of 4. I am imagining chaos and a lot of lost baggage that could carry on to the next day. But I am just guessing. I would appreciate any insight.

We land in Bologna at 435 PM on September 30.

Posted by
1671 posts

I have an interesting case, consider it as a self made statistic. I was flying on Iberia with a group of 70 persons in January, Tenerife-Madrid-Bologna; then Bologna-Florence by our own bus. The Iberia central server was shut to the point that everybody and everything had to be manually checked - but timely handling and transfer of baggages was impossible at Madrid without electronic tagging. Out of 70 persons, 5 baggages made it to Bologna in time, including my own that was an out of size music instrument (but my suitcase did not arrive); about 15 pieces made it to Bologna and had to be forwarded by courier to Florence within two or three days; 10 days were necessary to retrieve all the baggages but one that was forever lost. A couple of suitcases went to Naples and London but were retrieved at last; an unknown suitcase made it to Florence and had to be sent back. What I mean? If there is a baggage handling disruption, do not assume everything will be clean and ordered by the next day. It could take some days to clear the backlog.

Posted by
3 posts

We will be arriving in Italy on the 29th and are quite concerned about this. Considering we are traveling with a baby we have a stroller, travel crib, hiking pack for baby, and trekking poles that we are not allowed to carry-on. Hoping our luggage will catch up to us quickly.

Posted by
2 posts

Good luck. My travel agent advised us to pack as much as we can in carry ons. She also said these strikes are sometimes cancelled or postponed. I remember the days of traveling with all the baby gear. It goes by too fast.

Posted by
8 posts

We're in a similar situation, flying Thursday evening from NYC and landing in MXP early morning on September 29th. Luckily we have a car service already lined up and should avoid the public transport strike, but definitely concerned about checked bags situation seeing we've doing a 3-week tour and can't shove it all into carryons.

United Airlines sent me an email this morning to warn us of delays and cancellations, not sure what options we'll have at this point (we'll be going straight from Milan to Lake Como, so it doesn't seem like there's an alternate route to consider).

Posted by
1547 posts

I think the biggest issue anyone checking bags these days is how quickly you are moving locations. If you are staying put at your first destination for at least 3 nights you have a good chance of your bags catching up to you. It's when you change locations after a night or two that you run into problems. For example. You land in Rome but your bags don't. You spend 1 night in Rome before heading to Florence. The bag arrives in Rome but you've already left for Florence. Because the courier can't find you in Rome the bag is returned to FCO. The airline then tries to send the bag to Florence, but you've moved to Milan. They try to courier your bags to Milan. But you're in Como. At this point it's not worth it to the airline to try to find you. If your bag doesn't make it to you by your first destination I would tell the airline to ship the bag back to your home.

Posted by
3 posts

Looking at the case from Sep 8th, which was a very similar strike, there does not appear to be much logic between what flights were cancelled vs which landed. Delta flight arrived from ATL just fine for example, but another DL flight with a similar arrival time leaving JFK was cancelled. It does look like flights were landing normally by the following day. I reached out to Delta to ask what happened with peoples luggage for the flights that did land on Sep 8th, but nobody could tell me. I'm certain somebody knows, but there does not seem to be much coordination with communication. Delta has sent me zero communication regarding the strike.

Posted by
14608 posts

"but definitely concerned about checked bags situation seeing we've doing a 3-week tour and can't shove it all into carryons."

@Tim - Actually it can be done. At this point since you are leaving in 2 days you probably can't change what you are taking and what you are taking it in, but yes, many of us on the forum can manage for 6-8 weeks in a carry on bag. My current rolling bag weighs 4.5# and is 21" long. Many pack in a bag smaller than this. IF you decide to go with carry on next trip, start asking for advice (or reading the packing forum here) well in advance and we can give you tips on capsule wardrobes, clothing choices and luggage.

Posted by
2 posts

I thought I was in the clear when I saw the strike was postponed to Oct 9. But I see it does not apply to baggage handlers. I am flying FCO to JFK at 10 AM on Sept 29. Am I going to be stuck at FCO without a flight? We need to get back to NY

Posted by
2 posts

Wild Cod, NO - the link hiu attached shows the baggge handlers are all day. It is the transit workers that were limited to 4 hiurs but then postponed to oct 9. We have our boarding passes, and our flight is showing on tome, scheduled to leave in 18 hours.

Posted by
280 posts

Follow Rick’s time-tested travel advice and pack as light as you can! You can go faster, don’t have to worry about lost bags at airports or hotels, etc., and it’s less burdensome physically.

We go to Europe as a family every year with 4 kids and started when they were babies. Oldest in 14 now. Each person takes what they can carry, even the 6 year old (although we end up helping him). We’ve never lost a bag and we’re on our way to our destination while everyone is still waiting at the luggage carousel.

I don’t think I’ve ever found myself wishing I had packed more. I’m too busy marveling at what we’re seeing and soaking in the rich cultures.

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