United / Swiss Air lost luggage

This is not a good board to bring up the subject of lost luggage. 'Causes some will beat on you for not doing carry-on only. We have had misplaced luggage in the US and it always caught up with us. In Europe we have mostly carryon with some times checking one bag but it has always stayed with us. Hopefully your luggage was tagged and they know what to look for. We always take a picture of our bag just prior to checking should they need a description.

Hi chris. Perhaps the info didn't get communicated clearly at the lost luggage desk, but for Star Alliance airlines such as United and Swiss Air, there is a web feature to track the status of your delayed luggage. Use staralliance.com or United.com and search for 'baggage tracing'. Also, in the meantime, if desired you likely can spend a reasonable amount on replacement items, and be reimbursed by the airlines and/or your credit card. Our luggage missed the connection in Brussels a few years ago, and so was missing upon landing in Bologna, but was delivered intact by courier a few days later to our hotel in Levanto just as promised. Enjoy your trip!

Misdirected luggage happens. It happened to me on the way to Athens ( Alitalia) and on the way to Florence ( AirFrance). I got the luggage to Athens during the night but I never recovered the luggage from AirFrance. Someone must be wearing my underwear in Paris!
That was actually a great opportunity for me to buy a brand new wardrobe, I never regretted that loss (and AirFrance refunded me $640, that is $20 for each Kg of allowable luggage) I found my best clothes there. If you are in Cortona you are lucky. Very near you there is a huge Outlet Village in Foiano Della Chiana. You can buy the smartest clothes and shoes there at a fraction of what you'd pay at home. Forget you bag. Go on a shopping spree and you'll never miss your bag.

Don't be so quick about spending on the basis of being reimbursed... only spend what you would be comfortable with.

United delayed my bag 2 days when I arrived in Hawaii this past January. United's Customer Service Rep had to authorize $60 on the phone for me to replace immediate items. When I submitted the expenses 2 weeks later, they refused to reimburse anything at all.

1) Call them everyday for a status
2) Make a list of the contents of your bag while it is fresh in your memory.

I've had my bag "lost" 4 or 5 times. It always caught up to me and the longest delay was 5 days. On about day 4 of the 5 day delay, the airline asked me to make a list of the contents of my bag in case the baggage tags on the outside had been lost. It turned out that I didn't need the list as I got a call early on day 5 that my bag would be delivered.

Hoping your bag shows up soon.

Thanks all for the ideas and sharing what if anything you went through. I agree I expected to get a lot of crappy comments as we see on almost every post - asking for over clarification on this and that rather than just reading the post and offering some words of wisdom. As much as I'd love to carry on everything for this trip it wasn't possible - we aren't backpacking we're rolling all over Tuscany/Umbria in a nice convertible! :) The luggage is supposed to be here tomorrow, so I'll be able to hang up my red chinos and driving moccasins. Seriously though, thanks all I alwAys appreciate hearing who went through what and how they dealt with it.