Zero bags!

[Sailvi767]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/swiss-plane-arrives-spain-without-115342581.html

A plane flying from Zurich to Spain this weekend arrived without a single piece of luggage onboard, unbeknownst to the passengers, media reported Sunday, as the airline blamed ground staff shortages.

Passengers on the Swiss airlines flight to the northern Spanish city of Bilbao Saturday evening waited by the conveyor belt for their luggage to appear for over two hours, in vain, the Blick daily reported.

Swiss airlines spokesman Kavin Ampalam confirmed that the plane, which Swiss had operated on behalf of Edelweiss airlines, had taken off with 111 passengers but no baggage onboard.

"There was a shortage of ground staff," he told AFP, adding that the crew had waited for the situation to be rectified.

But after "one hour and 16 minutes, the situation was still unchanged, and for operational reasons we decided to fly to Bilbao without the baggage".

The reason, he explained, was the need to pick up passengers in Bilbao and get the plane back to Zurich before the airport closed for the night.

"We understand the situation is not favourable for the people involved, and of course we regret the inconvenience," he said.

Blick meanwhile cited passengers saying the pilot had apologised for the delayed takeoff in Zurich, blaming "a lack of qualified personnel", but said no mention was made of the decision to leave the baggage behind.

Passengers told the paper that no Swiss staff had been on the ground in Bilbao, and that they had then waited for over two hours for their luggage before staff from Spanish airline Iberia informed them that the plane had landed with no baggage onboard.

"Our vacation is ruined," passenger Carsten Redlich told Blick.

Ampalam said he could not confirm that passengers had not been informed about the decision to leave the baggage behind in Zurich.

"We are still analysing the situation to find out what happened exactly and how we can improve," he said.

"This shouldn't happen."


Where was the Captain on this flight? He should have properly informed the passengers about the situation and offered the option to deplane.

[BFSGrad]

Where was the Captain on this flight? He should have properly informed the passengers about the situation and offered the option to deplane.
Sitting in the left seat, right where you’d expect him (or her) to be. I suspect that this was not the captain’s decision. He/she had to be aware of the empty cargo holds. Likely the captain discussed situation with ops and was directed to fly the route with no mention to pax of the baggage snafu, thus banking the route revenue.

As for the spokesman statement about not confirming whether pax were informed, I’d say pax standing in front of an empty baggage carousel for 2 hrs is credible confirmation.

[JanetFlight]

Why this made the news is what keeps me confused...during the covid times it was a almost a common practice with many european airlines in many european airports...

[Globally Challenged]

How is this news. It happens all the time.

I spent €760 and billed Air France (who paid up promptly) earlier this year when no bags were loaded on that flight.

My bag made its way home 2 days later.

I did. get the same annoyance though of the airline not telling anyone about it and we found out by getting bored waiting at the carousel and heading to customer services after 90 mins.

[Bend alot]

Sitting in the left seat, right where you’d expect him (or her) to be. I suspect that this was not the captain’s decision. He/she had to be aware of the empty cargo holds. Likely the captain discussed situation with ops and was directed to fly the route with no mention to pax of the baggage snafu, thus banking the route revenue.

As for the spokesman statement about not confirming whether pax were informed, I’d say pax standing in front of an empty baggage carousel for 2 hrs is credible confirmation.
Exactly why the profession is losing community standing.

Many happy to take credit for the entire ship in good days - but not when thing go pear shape.

The captain is responsible - just as the captain has ultimate responsibility.

[Superpilot]

In order of priority 1.) Safety, 2.) Comfort, 3.) Punctuality, 4.) Anything else. That 'Anything else' is a commercial decision on almost every occasion. An airline captain announcing that commercial decision to the pax will almost always result in no. 3 being compromised by angry passengers and sometimes even no. 1. As stated in the press release, if they didn't depart Bilbao in time, the return pax would have to be accommodated. The airline industry operates on razor thin margins. If the public paid a fair price, maybe more planes/pilots would be available to perform rescue flights for delays that are actually completely outside of their control?

[ATC Watcher]

There seem to be a recent customer relation policy that I first experienced just before COVID with one of the airlines I use as Pax the most : Lufthansa ; as soon a something goes wrong . like large delays, no bags on carrousel, excessive queues at security, etc.. , the airline ground staff disappear and Pax are left alone, Swiss belonging to Luft, might be the same policy applies. The argument being for their staff not to face angry mob , understandable, but it does not help building a good relation with their customers either. .
Knowing the bags were not on board ( can happen as explained before) but not telling the Pax and have them waiting 2 hours in front of an empty carrousel is really not acceptable and is not going to help them getting more customers for sure.

[enzino]

Happens all the time as others have said. A couple of months ago we left BCN with no bags due to ground staff strikes. Rush bags arrived to destination the following morning.

However, we informed the passengers on arrival through a PA. It's written in our books to do it like this.

[Ohrly]

In order of priority 1.) Safety, 2.) Comfort, 3.) Punctuality, 4.) Anything else. That 'Anything else' is a commercial decision on almost every occasion. An airline captain announcing that commercial decision to the pax will almost always result in no. 3 being compromised by angry passengers and sometimes even no. 1. As stated in the press release, if they didn't depart Bilbao in time, the return pax would have to be accommodated. The airline industry operates on razor thin margins. If the public paid a fair price, maybe more planes/pilots would be available to perform rescue flights for delays that are actually completely outside of their control?

Just to confirm, it is the passenger's fault for buying tickets at the prices advertised by the airline that they don't deserve to be told that their bags are not going to be arriving with them?

[dixi188]

Friends of mine flew with Quantas from Perth to London recently. Their bags did not arrive for two days. They were told before landing that their bags were not on board. Apparently its quite common on this flight as bags are offloaded to allow for extra fuel to make the 17 hour non stop flight.

[Busdriver01]

Apparently its quite common on this flight as bags are offloaded to allow for extra fuel to make the 17 hour non stop flight.

Maybe i'm mad but if you can't uplift the correct fuel *and* the payload thats...paying for the service... on a regular basis, you shouldn't be operating that service?!

(notwithstanding the *occasional* exception into performance limited airfields etc)

[Uplinker]

Just to confirm, it is the passenger's fault for buying tickets at the prices advertised by the airline that they don't deserve to be told that their bags are not going to be arriving with them?

Basically. Yes - Although I wouldn't put it quite the same way, nor "blame" customers per se.

This is the age of low cost air travel. Low cost means that some corners have to be cut, and service compromises have to be made.

Low cost airlines simply cannot afford to have aircraft waiting for hours after their departure time for something like late bags. The knock-on effects would quickly escalate, and then, not only the passengers of this aircraft, but the next plane-load and the next plane-load after that would be delayed and be made late for their holidays.

It occasionally happens that the Captain has to make a decision between waiting for late bags versus missing a slot, going out of crew hours, compensation etc, and all the knock-on effects to subsequent flights and the operational schedule that would cause. Once in a while we reluctantly decide to go without some or all of the bags.

This is low cost flying. One way to keep it low cost was to sell off all the airline's own handling and baggage staff, and employ handling companies instead for lower cost. To make these handling companies low cost, they in turn don't employ very much staff sickness cover. So we are at the mercy of those companies sometimes. We cannot expect old fashioned first class service if we are all paying the lowest fares - the economics just don't work.

If the Captain told passengers that they would be leaving without bags and then passengers wanted to get off, or started arguing, chaos would ensue, and actually, it would not make the situation any better. I think that the airline was very remiss in not telling the passengers not to wait at the destination baggage carousel, but again, they wouldn't necessarily have their own staff on duty at the destination and would have to rely on third party handling companies, who also work at minimum cost and minimum staffing, so messages don't necessarily get through staff are not necessarily available and things don't necessarily happen.

Also, there are sometimes occasions where the hold bags bulk out or are too heavy to carry so cannot all be carried anyway and have to be sent on the next available flight.

Obviously, it is extremely important that any vital medication etc is carried in a cabin bag, not in the hold bag, just in case your bag does not travel on your flight.

[Dave Gittins]

After the plane flew back from Bilbao to Zurich was there anybody to offload those bags ? or did another bunch of pax have a fruitless wait in front of an empty carousel ?

[Sailvi767]

Maybe they could have simply swapped the bags. Let the people arriving have the luggage for the departing flight and on arrival they get the luggage from the outbound flight! Think of the cost savings! I hope the CEO of Ryan Air does not think this one up.
As a Captain I could not in good conscience due what this Captain did. Over many years I have found that telling passengers the truth works out best.

[nonsense]

To get into a position where they were unable to load baggage is unfortunate.

To decide to leave the baggage behind to travel next day, rather than delay the flight and thus strand both the baggage AND PASSENGERS booked on the next flight makes sense, unpalatable as it may be to the affected passengers.

To not tell the passengers before the flight is pretty rude, but understandable; the potential for conflict with angry passengers onboard would seem real, but it did deny passengers the opportunity to decide not to travel.

But to leave a plane load of people hanging around a carousel for two hours waiting for luggage which you KNOW will not appear until next day, presumably simply because nobody wanted to be the one to break the bad news, is to me as a potential passenger, unforgivable. Someone senior in a uniform should have been out there as soon as possible explaining what had happened, when the bags could be expected to arrive, how the customers should notify where they want them delivered or forwarded, and what compensation they will be offered.

That's the point where I decide I no longer fly with you if I can possibly avoid it.

[BRE]

Apparently, they hat do go to pick up pax in Bilbao to get back before Zurich closed for the night. I can understand that offering to deplane would have cost additional time, and if at all, should have been offered a little early, together with an announcement that they were likely to leave within 20 minutes without bags and now was the time to get off if that was too much of an inconvenience. I also do not see why someone would have to break the news on the ground. What's the problem with doing a PA on the plane?

Just last week, flew LH Cityline DUB to MUC. Delay of 45 minutes, later extended, was announced early on. Once boarded, the captain said something about issues with baggage handling in Munich. Well, got into MUC about an hour late with most of the terminal and baggage claim already shut down and had to wait for another hour for the first bag to appear. Nobody bothered to inform whether bags had made it all.

[Fly3]

Although I have no axe to grind here, I purchased Apple Air Tags last year and am now able to check if my bag is onboard.

[Uplinker]

@ nonsense; Agreed, but please revisit my comments about airlines not necessarily having their own staff at the destination, so they will have to ask the handling agent to go and make the announcement on their behalf.
Now bear in mind that the handling agent will be servicing multiple airlines, and dozens of flights, so informing the inbound passengers that their baggage was not shipped is going to be a low priority for that handling agent - well below all the delays and challenges of the flights which are about to leave and which they are running around to dispatch. I am not excusing this, and of course the passengers should have been informed.

Which part of "safety" is consistent with being dumped hundreds of miles from home with no clothing, possibly no where to stay and missing essential medication?

If the NHS or Police dumped people on the street with no possessions and something went wrong then they'd be up on manslaughter charges.

To Uplinker's point, yes the airlines operate in a commercial environment, but all commercial environments are constrained by laws. In this case people have bought tickets and got on the aeroplane on the understanding that their bags would go too, or at least the airline would make best efforts to transport them. That's the consent that means you aren't kidnapping them. Change that agreement deliberately and you're effectively kidnapping a few hundred people and stealing their luggage. It's the deliberate part that's important. Same as if a surgeon decided to remove an organ mid-surgery without consent.

Come on now ! Kidnapping ??!? Manslaughter !?!?!
Not having your luggage is annoying, inconvenient, and a hassle; (see my experience below)*
As I said, and as any sensible person would know; vital medication should be carried on the person or in a cabin bag, not in the hold luggage.

I have not recently read all airline's passenger terms and conditions, but I bet they state that they don't guarantee that luggage will arrive at the same time as the passenger.

Your travel insurance will cover the cost of buying emergency clothing and toiletries.

This is low cost, no frills flying. We all "voted" for it, and continue to vote for it with our wallets, but we must understand that we are not going to get first class service for 3rd class money. Normally we do get acceptable no frills service but occasionally things can go wrong.


* For what it's worth, pilots also have their luggage lost or delayed. I once flew UK military personnel from Brize Norton out to Kansas for exercises. The military managed to lose my hold bag, so I was in Kansas - where it was freezing cold and snowing - with just the thin uniform trousers and short sleeved shirt that I stood up in !
So when we got to the hotel, I took the hotel courtesy bus to the local Mall to buy clothes. As you can imagine, I felt a right Charlie walking around the mall in my airline uniform, and because of the extreme cold, I had to wear my uniform jacket - complete with stripes on the sleeves - but it was all I had. (I always carry a small bag with toothpaste and deodorant etc, so I can freshen up at any point).

Another time, I had flown passengers to Tobago, and again my bag was lost. So for two days, I had to wear my uniform in the hotel and restaurant etc, feeling a right idiot. (And washing and ironing the shirt in my room every night).

[Uplinker]

Well......Good luck taking an airline to court and charging them for manslaughter or kidnap merely because they had to leave your hold bag behind.......

(And as I say; check the airline's conditions of carriage before you go to the police).

[MechEngr]

"There was a shortage of ground staff" seems to hide some far more considerable screw-up, sufficiently embarrassing that taking the public relations hit for screwing the passengers was apparently the better choice. So, how rough was it behind the scenes? I'm betting the shortage was forgetting about this flight entirely and they sent the ground staff home early.

[Superpilot]

Just to confirm, it is the passenger's fault for buying tickets at the prices advertised by the airline that they don't deserve to be told that their bags are not going to be arriving with them?

I'm not being difficult. The aviation industry, its rules, practices and the pricing model is fundamentally broken. Ryanair through their fierce economies of scale model are able to charge €9.99 for you to fly 500 miles. That is not sustainable, but Ryanair does that in order to stifle and kill the competition on that route and free enterprise capitalism does not forbid it even though it's completely unethical. In order to compete, others have to drop their prices. But they can't make it work at those prices so they end up with a thinner operation with less staff in the air and on the ground.

[lederhosen]

I find it ironic that Ryanair gets a bashing on a thread about missing bags. I am pretty sure they are near best in class for lost/delayed bags not least because their business model discourages hold luggage. Airport handling and specifically lack of ground staff is often the culprit behind bag issues. It has been very warm the last few days which never improves morale on the ramp.

[IBMJunkman]

In the 90s I was taking LH LIN-FRA on a 737. The Captain made an announcement asking for volunteers to load baggage. Seems the locals decided to strike. Easy to load the belly of a 737 so a few passengers and the Captain did it.


"There was a shortage of ground staff" seems to hide some far more considerable screw-up, sufficiently embarrassing that taking the public relations hit for screwing the passengers was apparently the better choice. So, how rough was it behind the scenes? I'm betting the shortage was forgetting about this flight entirely and they sent the ground staff home early.

[Rwy in Sight]

In order of priority 1.) Safety, 2.) Comfort, 3.) Punctuality, 4.) Anything else. That 'Anything else' is a commercial decision on almost every occasion. An airline captain announcing that commercial decision to the pax will almost always result in no. 3 being compromised by angry passengers and sometimes even no. 1. As stated in the press release, if they didn't depart Bilbao in time, the return pax would have to be accommodated. The airline industry operates on razor thin margins. If the public paid a fair price, maybe more planes/pilots would be available to perform rescue flights for delays that are actually completely outside of their control?

An issue I see here is if higher fares will mean better service at times of operational disruption or higher bonus for upper management.

[Superpilot]

Exactly. Hence why the airline industry needs a thorough overhaul where the proceeds from the sale of a ticket are ring fenced to allow for a rainy day fund, the payment of proper salaries and sustainability/the environment. Too communist?

[Less Hair]

I see all that past outsourcing as the main reason for the loss of control of processes. Nobody cares for the final product sold (fast travel with baggage), only single purpose subcontractors are working in their limited niche each. It is correct that the service attitude needs to change to be more customer focused again. I see many business travellers have switched to trains or zoom conferences because the hassles of air travel just have become too much. This "climate" must change.

[phantomsphorever]

A lot of the comments above are along the lines of "... business as usual .... why is this even news ..... any sensible person puts important stuff in the cabin trolly ....."

As somebody who has been in the flying business for more than 40 years - and on the above mentioned flight to Bilbao - I am a truly shocked how far we've come as consumers.

Are we really ready to accept this kind of behaviour by a "premium" airline like SWISS?

We were a group of 10 paragliders - and were part of a guided Paragliding Safari through Spain - that came at a cost of close to 2000.- Euro each. Not having our gliders delivered, meant that we've wasted quite a bit of money because some smart managers in SWISS and Swissport decided to run down the manpower to an unsustainable level - all in an attempt to maximize earnings and get that big bonus for the year.

On the day of our arrival (Saturday) we were finally told by an elderly lady at "lost and found", that the earliest we could expect to see our bags was Tuesday night.

So yes, we did start a ****storm by contacting a variety of media outlets with the story.
And guess what - it worked - after a number of Swiss media outliets reported the issue and contacted SWISS, our paragliders did show up at midnight the following day (still a pain, because we had to drive back to Bilbao in the middle of the night and back - roundtrip 5h).

My point:
Don't accept this nonsense.
You pay good money and you expect good service.
Being delivered to your destination means nothing, if you do not have essential gear with you that constitutes the only reason to take that trip.

According to the latest news reports, SWISS and Swissport have stated that they will add staff to the baggage handling crew in Zurich.
Would they have done the same if we would have just shrugged our shoulders and accepted this stupidity?

[Hipennine]

Now that airlines are increasingly breaking up fares into individual options, what is the contractual legal position when they fail to deliver luggage which has been paid for as a distinct seperate element of the total cost?

[Jim59]

My point:
Don't accept this nonsense.
You pay good money and you expect good service.
Being delivered to your destination means nothing, if you do not have essential gear with you that constitutes the only reason to take that trip.

Agree 100%. My air travel is for work in the main, and the first leg by air is not usually the end of my journey. What's the point of baggage arriving at the destination airport a couple of days later if I'm no longer anywhere near there. My checked baggage usually holds work gear for my trip, without which I'm 'stuffed'.

Buying replacement gear at the weekend for a Monday morning start? Forget it.

It would make just as much sense to send my baggage and leave me behind.

Once a business forgets that passengers and their baggage are equally important they are on a slippery slope.

If my baggage is being left behind I no longer need/want to travel and want to de-plane to save the air fare - however inconvenient to the carrier. It's even more inconvenient for me to spend money on a work trip and not being able to work on arrival.

[ItsonlyMeagain]

Jim

Couldn’t agree more.

I am presently in Greece to pick up a cruise having spent September travelling through Europe by rail. Mrs M spent much time planning a superb itinerary which so far has worked without a hitch. However, the first leg had to be by air from NI to London. Multiple cancellations to LGW made us change to STN.

Had we not received our bags on arrival quite what would some of the posters on here suggest we would have done? Buy essential items? They all were. Rush bags? To where, which train? Slip a day; not possible for most reservations….. Without our luggage, there would be no holiday to enjoy.

I could go on, but I am disappointed by the acceptance here of such poor service. I have been a professional pilot all my life. Yet another change I guess.

“Sorry for your inconvenience” seems to sort it all out…..

Me

[starling60]

Not acceptable under any standard. If there are serious issues to make it impossible to deliver luggage this "could" be justified as long as the passengers are notified and given an option.
Taking off with zero luggage on board and not advising passengers is simply unprofessional and outright dishonest moreover when the reason is staff shortage due to economic choices no doubt.
SWISS is not exactly a low cost airline and prides itself for service...well I would say this one doesn't give them credit.
As a mere SLF I usually PAY for my luggage and have the right to be told of its whereabouts, we are no longer in the era when buying an air ticket gave you an automatic 23kg allowance, we now pay for the "privilege" of having our belongings with us, be it for work, holiday or whatever..and it's up to the airline to make sure that passengers get what they pay for, all rest is pure nonsense.

[Bend alot]

In order of priority 1.) Safety, 2.) Comfort, 3.) Punctuality, 4.) Anything else. That 'Anything else' is a commercial decision on almost every occasion. An airline captain announcing that commercial decision to the pax will almost always result in no. 3 being compromised by angry passengers and sometimes even no. 1. As stated in the press release, if they didn't depart Bilbao in time, the return pax would have to be accommodated. The airline industry operates on razor thin margins. If the public paid a fair price, maybe more planes/pilots would be available to perform rescue flights for delays that are actually completely outside of their control?
I assume #2 is referring to yourself, not your customers?

Ever lived in Darwin and flown to Auckland?

Swapping the thongs for ugg boots, shorts for jeans and singlet for a puffer jacket - none of that is my carry on.

The worst and it happened to me, was the Captain stood in front of us and made the announcement explaining a fault with a cargo door and that was why we were late and had a strange planning and deplaning method - I think everyone appreciated that honesty.
However at around midnight after a 5 hour flight the carousel stopped & about 20 of us had no bags!!!! No announcement and no staff insight to help NOTHING!!! So I got the attention of a baggy airside and he found us a staff for missing bags - she already had all our names.

At very least between takeoff & leaving the airbridge we should have been informed of no bags - not waiting till the carousel to stop wasting an hour at that time.

You as the Captain knowing you have no bags or less bags need to make sure that at some point and by some means the punters are informed of what is happening. You as the Captain are responsible for both passengers & freight.

In my case a simple announcement some bags were left behind just prior to getting off the plane & someone will be at the baggage area to assist.

[WHBM]

The airline industry operates on razor thin margins. If the public paid a fair price, maybe more planes/pilots would be available to perform rescue flights for delays that are actually completely outside of their control?
The public do pay a fair price. They pay just what the airline asked them to pay for the service. Not less. The price paid by each passenger is wholly set by the airline. It's up to the airline to manage their finances.

And if the response is "We 'have' to price like that, otherwise Easyjet take the business", that's all telling. Isn't it ?

[Uplinker]

To attract the customers, airlines are posting low ticket prices that don't, or only barely cover their costs.

Therefore, they must claw back as much money as they can by charging for everything they possibly can. So tea, coffee, sandwiches - (even alcoholic drinks used to be free - included in the ticket price) - are intensively sold on board, your suitcase in the hold, sitting together with the others in your party, a seat with (any) legroom, an airport that is in the city it pretends to be in, instead of actually being 30 miles away, paying to choose a seat, using very cheap baggage handlers, setting off at 0500 or 2300, printing out your own boarding pass using your own printer, paper and your own ink, having your knees almost touching the seat-back in front of you, paying exorbitant prices for car parking - or even dropping passengers off, using agency engineers instead of employing their own.......etc etc.

Many years ago, when the LoCos were getting started, I thought to myself that the CAA should legally mandate ticket prices being above a certain minimum, and that money ring-fenced to ensure a certain minimum level of safety, service, maintenance and standards. Beyond that, airlines would have to compete in other ways to attract passengers, e.g. by providing a better service, employing their own service staff, or providing extra frills, etc.*


*+ carrying spare seat cushions !

[Hipennine]

Once landed in Narita with BA, got to the top of the airbridge and there was a notice board with an envelope attached clearly marked with my name. Inside was a note from BA apologising for our bags non-arrival, would be delivered to our hotel within 48 hours and in the meantime attached were £75 pre-loaded cash cards for each party member for purchase of any essentials. Would that happen these days?

[WHBM]

One wonders if there was an organisation Snafu between Swiss and their flight contractor Edelweiss. This flight is coded WK for Edelweiss, normally operated by one of their A320s. Although owned by Swiss, they have a separate AOC and brand image. However, just one of the flights to Bilbao a week, the one in question, is operated by Swiss themselves, with a smaller A220, although still coded for Edelweiss, in a sort of reversal of the more common approach where separate independents operate for the mainstream brand. My hunch is there are separate dispatch operations for two separate AOCs, and between them something got dropped and the baggage handling was never booked by either party. Seen this sort of thing before.

One hopes the FOCA in Switzerland will look at the flight dispatch, whether the bag load was incorrectly shown, and whether the commander was informed they had been left off, or just accepted the paperwork with bags = 0 shown.

[megan]

A no bag story with a happy ending. Flew into the US and had to pick up a connecting flight, the recommended time for connecting with a domestic flight after an international arrival was adhered to at the booking stage, arrived at final destination and no bags, trot of to service desk and lo and behold there they were, had arrived on a previous flight, wondered about the carriage of bags when the pax are not on board.

[oldtora]

BA was very helpful for me as well . Flight from BKK to Delhi , with connection on Indian Airlines . A wild scrum at Indian Airlines check-in counter , and I could not get past the mob . I asked a passing BA local employee what to do ? Without hesitation , he went behind the counter , told the IA people that he would help me as I am a BA passenger , and he then came around and handed me back my ticket and a boarding pass , and told me it was the last seat . He refused to take my proferred $ 50. tip .

[Hartington]

Indian Airlines? Back in the 70s I was a travel agent. Getting any kind of confirmed booking out of Indian Airlines was impossible. Then in 1978 I went to India and, as usual, everything was still "on request" as I left the UK. Everywhere I went I did actually get on the plane, in one case I was told I was number 16 on the waitlist but I still got on (737-200). My abiding memory was Calcutta where I was sent to the reservations desk to find out if I had a seat. Like oldtora it was a scrum but I managed to get to the front. When I asked if I was on the flight the person on the counter asked me to wait, disappeared and came back with a very, very large sheet of paper (A300 sized) and started working his way through all the little boxes to see if my name appeared (it did!).

Over the years I've had all sorts of things happen but not just on airlines. Train broke down. Car stuck in a jam because of a crash ahead. Road washed out on a coach tour in Alaska so they flew us that bit. Business class seat electronics failed so it wouldn't turn into a bed. Go arounds and diversions. Landslide blocked railway near Andover leading to a diversion and enough delay that the railway refunded the whole fare. Catamaran in dry dock so put on ferry, missed train but got on the next one. In Chile and Bolivia I failed to understand their ticket sale policies and didn't get on the train at all. Oh and San Francisco to Los Angeles checked a bag, not on the carousel but United had put it on the previous flight. I've learned to "go with the flow".

[threep]

Imagine going on a trip where you can send your luggage ahead of you so you don't have to struggle with multiple bags getting to & from the airport.

Well in Japan they have takkyubin, a service where you can do just that. You send your luggage ahead of you so that you only need minimal hand luggage. Travel becomes simpler and less stressed if you are not burdened with bags, It works well because its reliable, secure and reasonably priced. Arriving at a hotel and finding your luggage already in your room is joyous.

I would happily use such a service if available elsewhere.

[WHBM]

Imagine going on a trip where you can send your luggage ahead of you so you don't have to struggle with multiple bags getting to & from the airport.

Well in Japan they have takkyubin, a service where you can do just that. You send your luggage ahead of you so that you only need minimal hand luggage. Travel becomes simpler and less stressed if you are not burdened with bags, It works well because its reliable, secure and reasonably priced. Arriving at a hotel and finding your luggage already in your room is joyous.

I would happily use such a service if available elsewhere.
Believe it or not the railways of Britain, no less, provided such a service 100 years ago ! It was called Passengers Luggage in Advance, PLA, and the railway lorry called at your house a few days beforehand, took the bags, they were sent in a rail van with other parcels etc to your destination, and delivered to the address there by the local railway lorry again. Looking at old price lists for this, it didn't cost a lot either. You just had to have rail tickets for the journey as well. Nothing like it on the railway nowadays, inevitably.

[Peter47]

PLA was very useful when I went to university in late late 70s / early 80s.
You still can still send luggage in advance in Switzerland at a price of CHF per bag.

[DaveReidUK]

You still can still send luggage in advance in Switzerland at a price of CHF per bag.

That's very cheap ...

[Winemaker]

PLA was very useful when I went to university in late late 70s / early 80s.
You still can still send luggage in advance in Switzerland at a price of CHF per bag.
I'll bite. Congestive heart failure?

[hans brinker]

I'll bite. Congestive heart failure?
swiss francs