My son recently went through an experience where his luggage was lost, I thought I would share it "Around the Campfire" to see what other stories people had.

On short notice my teenage son was selected to do a 2 week trip to canoe the Nahanni River in the Northwest Territories, Canada. We quickly assembled his gear and packed it in 2 bags. His clothing and equipment for the river trip all went into a waterproof duffle bag that was to be checked with the airline. In a carry-on backpack he had clothing and essentials for 2 days, his new camera, entertainment items for on the trip and any last minute purchases.

The trip started with an all day (2) bus ride to get to Toronto. The difficulty started the next day when his checked bag was placed in the wrong cargo section of the plane, this was identified before takeoff and the airline baggage staff tried to correct it, but there was not the time so the error was just noted for the next baggage handler. The connecting flight in Edmonton was in a short timeframe so the airline did the checked baggage transfer. Later that day in Yellowknife, my son's checked bag was not present.

The lost bag was reported to the airline and my son texted me the news. The next day he received no contact, but an airline staff person did call our home, unfortunately she spoke to our young daughter who provided her with limited information and did not take a contact number!

Time was getting short because soon my son would be heading for the bush, if the bag was not found quickly then he would need to do a lot of gear shopping in Yellowknife ASAP!

That evening I got involved, I spent hours on the telephone trying to be connected to the correct person. I finally found what I thought was the correct department, in the right location, but had to continually call the number in the hope of getting through. After about 2 hours and just before the department closed I managed to speak to a real person. She was terrific, no more run-around and re-routing of my call. Within a minute she was able to tell me that the lost bag was already in Yellowknife, had been there for 8 hours, what the on-hand luggage number was and that is was available to be picked up the next morning.

I contacted my son through the hotel he was staying at and he was very relieved!

So, lessons learned. Check your ticket to be sure that your connections and final destination are clearly marked on it. Take a carry-on bag with essential, expensive and important items in it, you can live out of this for quite a while if required. Clearly identify your bags with not only your home information but also your trip contact info (e.g. cell phone number), and stay available for the carrier to contact you. Report lost items ASAP and record the lost item occurence number, it is key to tracking the bag.

I have not heard from my son since this contact 3 days ago (teenagers?) so I suspect he was able to recover his bag and is now enjoying the spectacular scenery while canoeing through the remote mountains.

Lets hear your "Lost Baggage Horror Stories" and please educate us on the lessons you learned from the experience.

Mike