Where does lost luggage go?

[nbv4]

I recently flew from the united states to Johannesburg, but when I arrived in jo-burg, my luggage was not there. That was 5 weeks ago. Apparently Air France has stopped looking for the bag and will just reimburse me the money. The only problem is that I had well over 1700 euros of stuff in there, but their reimburse limit is only 1000 euros. Plus, a lot of the stuff I had is not possible to replace in the middle of africa (I'm in Botswana right now and will be for another few months)

I'm wondering one thing where the hell is my bag? Is there a ware house somewhere where they slowly go through each lost bag? What are the odds of me receiving my bag ever again? I've had my bags delayed before, but never outright lost. is this a common thing?

[GRIZZLER]

if luggage is found not to have made the aircraft for some reason...it is normaly sent on as a rush bag...after being screened and checked holding the correct paper work.

on the other hand i have seen a program on the tv of auctions...unclaimed cases and bags, are sold to the highest bidder not knowing what is in them before hand.

the odd bag might not make a plane...fell off baggage cart,stuck on check in belt or just late checking in....but strange if the whole lot has gone.

[nbv4]

The lady at Air France told me the sticker thing fell off. There is no lock on the bag, and there are some pretty distinctive things in the bag which should make identifying it easy. Do you think I should just give up hope, or can I still reasonably expect to see my bag someday?

[Out Of Trim]

Possibly, the tag fell off of your bag at origin or during a connection?

If the latter, sometimes the bag may have been wrongly handed to a different airline - they assume it came from.. - Who knows?

If it occurred in Africa - Good Luck; especially if it contained any valuables!

Of course, you had your Name & Address on and in the bag didn't you?

Lastly, if you carry such expensive belongings; it would be advisable to have travel insurance to cover the value of your goods!
Sorry to say; if it's still missing after five weeks, then it's probably gone for good.

[Schibulsky]

nbv4 just forget about your luggage...in JNB the bags are not lost, they are normally stolen! You should have checked the web b4 putting any valuables into luggage going to JNB, sorry!
Welcome to the "new South Africa"!

[GRIZZLER]

rescue3 on lost baggage

rescue3, do you work for the lost baggage people......i bet poor old nbv4 has had lots of comments like that....none of which very helpful.

[GRIZZLER]

putting your name/address on luggage.

put name and ADDRESS on you luggage....i thought this was supposed to be a bad idea, a person...not as nice as myself or you.... might go and do a bit of midnight shopping while the owner of the case is away on his hols.....as he knows your not there.........just put your name on the bag tag outbound......use name and address on the way back.

lots of people could have seen that address on your case on the way to the airport/ferry.....taxi driver,busdriver,porter,loader, who knows???

[nbv4]

I went from New Your to Paris, then from Paris to Johannesburg. When I arrived in Johannesburg, the lady pulled up my info and told me the bag never was scanned into Paris. So my bag I assume is still in Paris, or perhaps still in New York. I think I may have had my name and address listed somewhere on the bag, but I'm not sure, I kind of packed in a hurry. I know I did have a pair of David Clark's in the bag with my name written on the ear piece.

Rescue3: She told my the sticker fell off, but I think that was just a guess on her part.

[TurningFinals]

You could always try contacting the handling agent directly at both ends?

If a bag loses it's tag the bag can't fly unless it has been ID'd by the PAX to which it belongs.

If not they are normally stored at the airport where they were found and it's normally the PAX that has to chase it up.

[gusset fresh]

nbv4 - 2years is a long time, and the suspense is killing me! Did you ever get it back? On a lighter note........

Chap goes to check-in at BA for a flt to JNB and politely asks the chk-in agt if they could check one of his bags to JNB, another to DXB and his golf clubs to ZRH. The chk-in agt politely advised that this was not possible. Surprised, the passenger says.....but you managed it last week
The old ones are the best

[Little Blue]

I remember a few years ago, my airline sent me out to CDG during a baggage strike, to assist with sorting out the mountain of lost bags that had piled up.
I ended up on top of a pile of HUNDREDS of 'em, all transfer bags from Africa.
One of the bags fell open and thousands of maggots crawled out, all over me, the bags and anyone else on the bag pile !
There was some meat left inside, hence the maggot army.
I hope they owner was reunited with his little friends !
In all of my days tracing lost bags, they were always a number that never turned up.

[Broomstick Flier]

Breakfast in NYC, lunch in London, dinner in J'burg and your luggage in Bali, all on the same day.. The wonders of the jet age

Cheers!

PS. On a previous employer, unclaimed luggage was donated to charity after a given time (six months IIRC)

[GLAbum]

try Camden market this sunday