A baggage handler has shared some information that might shed light on why your bag went missing, and steps you can take to try and avoid it next time.
There’s nothing worse than going on holiday and finding out that your bags have been lost.
Well, posting on Reddit, a member of airport staff has shared an explainer of what to be mindful of when travelling to either avoid this from happening, or to know exactly what to do if the worst is to happen.
They shared that they work in maintenance at an airport in the US, and explained that one of the airlines ‘can have over 120,000 people departing, arriving, and catching a connecting flight through the airport’. That’s a lot of people!
This many people means ‘3,000 to 5,000’ bags per hour can pass through at peak flight times.
He went on to explain that this is by no means official advice, as “I am just a guy who knows what it feels like to travel somewhere and either your bags never made it, or made it and was damaged.”
His top tip includes purchasing hard case luggage, as it holds up better than fabric luggage with a wire frame.
He says: “I have seen both get pinched between diverters and while the hard case will pinch, they usually pop back into place, sometimes the fabric bags get their frames broken or rip open.”
Here’s the catch: the colour or pattern of your bag could be causing it to get lost.
The handler explained that mirrored colours and metallic patterns can wreak havoc behind the scenes.
While they may look pretty, it might end up with your bag going missing.
He explained: “Mirrored colors and paint schemes with a metallic flake act like reflectors and send the beam back to the sensor.”
He said it basically ‘turns the bag invisible’.
The poster continued: “Once that happens, it can’t be diverted to its assigned location to be loaded on the plane it belongs on. We only see it when it passes through the tag scanners again, but with the sheer volume of bags, it gets hard to catch them,” which is bad news for your bag arriving here it should.
He also said that loose straps, buckles, buttons and handles not secured can also snag and cause a bag to get lost.
There’s one type of bag to avoid, too: the humble duffle bag.
“I’d say 50% of the issues I get are calls for duffle bag style bags with handles that are not strapped together and have gotten hung up on a conveyor or trapped under a diverter arm,” he explained.
“This in turn has caused other bags to pile up from different flights and we have to try our best as safely and fast as possible to get everything unstuck and moving again.”
So not only is your bag getting lost, but it’s causing chaos for everyone else, too.
What can you do then to make life easier?
The poster recommends: “Make sure to secure all straps together, roll up and tape down adjustable straps like on hiking packs or military sea bags or packs.
“For small bags with telescoping handles, make sure you can secure them down. If they are supposed to latch but the latch feature is busted or it pulls out easily, chances are it will be open when put onto a conveyor.” Not what you need.
Be careful with ‘identifier items’ too, so scarves, luggage tags and the like, as they get caught easily too.
The other big problem is overfilling bags, with the poster saying they can burst open easily, and again slow things down.
So now you know! Happy travelling.
