Airport worker shares simple hack to prevent losing your baggage

An airport worker on TikTok has given viewers a simple hack to prevent baggage loss.

In a video shared by Ontario Worldwide Airport, a worker on the California-based airport revealed that previous stickers caught to a suitcase may cause baggage to be loaded onto the unsuitable airplane. The baggage handler defined that earlier stickers may be scanned by the machine, main them to be sorted to the unsuitable space and “not get on the airplane”.

“Let’s say you flew American and a month later you flew Southwest. Effectively, there’s somewhat sticker that goes on for American that tells the pc to go there,” he stated. The worker then pointed off digital camera in direction of a conveyor belt additional away, and pointed to a tag on the bag’s deal with. “There’s an opportunity it scans [the old tag] as an alternative of this one,” he added.

The journey hack sparked a energetic dialogue within the remark part surrounding journey suggestions. One person joked: “Who else leaves them on till the subsequent flight for the desk to pull them?”

One other viewer referred to as the baggage handler’s tip a “good PSA,” whereas another person wrote: “One thing I by no means considered however makes a lot sense.”

“I at all times assumed this was widespread sense. Airways received’t even put new stickers on your bag till the previous one is off,” one viewer stated.

The video has since obtained greater than 247,000 views and appreciated over 10,000 occasions.

Losing your baggage could be a little bit of a nightmare, however in accordance to the US Department of Transportation (DOT), airways are “required to compensate passengers if their luggage are broken, delayed, or misplaced.” Though airways could have completely different insurance policies on misplaced gadgets, in the event that they fail to report misplaced baggage as misplaced after an “unreasonable” time period, they are often topic to an investigation by the DOT.

In August 2022, US airways misplaced, delayed or broken 254,502 luggage, in accordance to a report from the DOT. The findings have been launched earlier than a winter storm left over 2,700 Southwest flights grounded the day after Christmas, inflicting an “Armageddon of baggage” the place baggage reportedly took hours to declare.

When passengers want to report their misplaced baggage, Jo Hoban – a journey agent primarily based in Utah – advised CNN Travel that she encourages shoppers to “take an image of their luggage as a result of the primary issues airline workplaces will ask you is what’s the model identify of the bag, what’s the color of the bag, the scale of the bag and the contents of the bag.”

Passengers may also keep away from baggage loss by both buying direct flights, journey insurance coverage, or an Apple Air Tag – which allows customers to monitor the placement of their baggage by way of Bluetooth. In the meantime, Insider advised that vacationers pack strategically to carry their requirements like “medicine and valuables” of their carry-on luggage.